To all my hunting friends that are crying this morning
I know a lot of guys are fired up about the NRC voting to change the deer regs, but honestly, I think some people are missing the bigger picture.
Starting in 2027, Lower Peninsula hunters are looking at being limited to one buck per year. The reason behind it is pretty simple: Michigan has too many does in a lot of areas, and not enough antlerless deer are being taken. If the goal is to actually manage the herd, then hunters need to be part of that solution, even when the rule change is frustrating.
I get why people are annoyed. Nobody likes feeling like something was taken away, especially when it comes to hunting opportunity. Even if most hunters weren’t shooting two bucks every year, they still liked having the option. Losing that second buck tag feels like a loss, and I understand why that rubs people the wrong way.
There’s also the trust issue. A lot of hunters don’t trust the DNR, and I get that too. Some people feel like the state makes broad decisions without understanding what’s happening on the ground where they hunt. Deer numbers are not the same everywhere. Some guys are covered up in does, while others sit for days without seeing much. So when people hear “Michigan has too many deer,” they think, “Maybe where you are, but not where I hunt.”
Those are fair concerns. There are real questions here. Will this actually make more people shoot does? Will some guys just shoot one buck and quit for the year? Should the rules be more local instead of one broad Lower Peninsula change? I think those are all fair things to ask.
But at the same time, we have to be honest about what the current system has produced. In a lot of areas, we have too many does, too many young bucks getting shot, and not enough people taking antlerless harvest seriously. If the herd is out of balance, something has to change.
And that’s where the culture part comes in.
In Michigan, shooting a buck has always been treated like the big prize. For a lot of hunters, deer season feels like a failure if they don’t punch a buck tag. It doesn’t always matter if it’s a spike, fork horn, or little basket rack — if it has antlers, it gets treated like success. Meanwhile, shooting a doe often gets treated like a backup plan instead of an important part of managing the herd.
Nobody wants to say it, but there’s some ego involved too. A buck gets bragging rights. A doe doesn’t get the same reaction at camp or on Facebook. You don’t see many people posting a doe with the same excitement as a buck. So when the rules start nudging people toward shooting does, some hunters act like it’s beneath them.
That’s the part that bothers me. A lot of people call themselves conservationists, but the second conservation means changing how they hunt, they get mad. Managing the herd means more than buying a license and wearing camo. Sometimes it means passing a young buck, shooting a doe, and doing what actually helps the deer herd.
The blunt version? Some of the guys crying online want to call themselves conservationists, but they don’t want to do the unglamorous part of conservation.
I’m not saying the rule is perfect. It probably won’t fix everything on its own. But acting like this is the end of deer hunting in Michigan is ridiculous. If anything, this is a push for hunters to be more intentional. Shoot a good buck if you get the chance. Take does where the herd needs it. Stop acting like every spike and fork horn is a trophy just because it has antlers.
At the end of the day, if we want healthier deer herds and better hunting in the future, Michigan hunters are going to have to get past the “brown it’s down, but only if it has horns” mindset.