Michigan’s BLEAK 2024 Deer Harvest: County By County Breakdown

As another year closes, we mark another whitetail season in which Michigan's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has done everything short of begging hunters to shoot antlerless deer (does). In 2023,  274,282 hunters reported taking a deer, of which 155,649 were antlered (bucks), or 56% of the total harvest. Thanks to the DNR online harvest reporting tool, we can get an early look at 2024 numbers.

While the year may have ended, the whitetail season continues well into January, with the extended late antlerless season running through the 12th (some Deer Management Units (DMUs) are not included).

Michigan's '24-'25 Whitetail Deer Season Doesn't End January 1, 2025

Another season that runs into 2025 and that you may not be familiar with is the relatively new urban archery season. This late addition is meant to cull the herd in some of the state's more densely populated DMUs. Click here for more.

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With Michigan's whitetail deer population reaching dangerous levels for drivers and farmers, the state's decision to expand antlerless deer hunting into '25 is based more on the desire to remove the imminent danger presented to those behind the wheel of a car or combine.

Michigan's Deer Harvest in the 2024 Calendar Year

While the below information isn't final, it does give you an idea of which counties in Michigan harvested the most deer in 2024. Let's countdown to the county that tagged the most deer in the 2024 calendar year.