Building community through responsible deer hunting

By Ashtin Brewer, Delta College Student Submission

MICHIGAN — In the 2024 rifle season, Michigan hunters harvested more than 136,000 deer. Across all seasons of deer hunting, from Nov. 15 to Jan. 2025 hunters totaled just under 300,000 deer. With those deer harvested, 140,000 pounds of venison, which is equivalent to half a million servings of food, were donated to the Hunters Feeding Michigan Program.

The donation program began in 2005 through legislation and began operating in 2007, under the Department of Natural Resources. It is a partnership between the Michigan DNR, wild game processors and charities. At select locations across the state, hunters can drop off their whole, legally harvested deer.

All donated venison will be distributed to Michigan food pantries, so your participation directly helps families in need across the state.

Hunters have harvested just under 200,000 deer across this year’s archery and rifle seasons.

Surprisingly, Saginaw County leads the harvest report with over 6,000 deer through both archery and rifle seasons. Although Saginaw is mainly known for its cities, it is home to over 17,500 acres of woods and another 10,000 acres of wetlands. These areas can host large deer populations. Sanilac County comes in second place with 5,094 deer harvested. Montcalm County follows with 4,553. Lastly, Tuscola County harvested 4,219 deer.

The early rifle season finished Nov. 30, but the Muzzleloader and late rifle season are continuing. With these numbers, hunters could be on track to shoot more than 360,000 deer this season if the early trend continues. This is the most successful hunting season since the implementation of the online hunting report system.

To date, 40,000 deer have been donated this season, bringing the total to 300,000 pounds of venison annually. If you do not hunt and still want to donate, the program takes monetary donations. With every $50 donated, more than 65 individuals will receive a venison meal. This financial donation covers the cost of a fully processed deer.

Two diseases to watch for this deer season

Chronic Wasting Disease is a contagious illness that affects the nervous systems of deer and elk, leading to weight loss, unusual behavior, and total loss of body function. Although Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has not made a significant impact on hunters, it is still a prominent threat to deer in Michigan.

Seventeen counties have confirmed CWD cases this season. Allegan, Clinton, Dickinson, Eaton, Genesee, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Jackson, Kent, Mecosta, Midland, Montcalm, Ogemaw and Washtenaw.

The total deer with CWD as of Nov. 21 is 326. The DNR is conducting a focused collection on harvested deer in the following counties: Baraga, Dickinson, Houghton, Iosco, Keweenaw, Luce, Mackinac, Ogemaw, Ontonagon and Schoolcraft.

CWD testing is free for harvested deer and should be sent to your county’s corresponding drop-off site for testing. They have also made an online reporting system for anyone who believes they are seeing it in the field.

Along with CWD, a disease to watch out for this season is Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD). This disease is caused by biting flies or midges. It causes deer to experience fevers, weakness, swelling of the head, neck, and tongue, with death coming within 48 hours. Michigan State University tested deer in Eaton, Jackson, Van Buren and Washtenaw counties with confirmed cases.

Although EHD is not transmitted through deer-to-deer contact, it cannot be transmitted to humans or pets. Harvested deer in those counties are strongly encouraged to test for EHD.