Michigan Deer Population and Management Archive - Michigan
View the archive by scrolling through the two windows below for 2016 forward or for 2010 to 2015, or load the documents using the links. Historic deer hunt data is below the Archive windows on the left column with links to sources.
Annual Deer Hunt, From Survey
1958: 25,733
1996* 478,342
1997: 478,725
1998: 597,980
1999: 544,895
2000: 541,701
2001: 462,706
2002: 476,215
2003: 499,747
2004: 456,422
2005: 417,251
2006:455,969
2007: 483,984
2008: 489,922
2009: 444,231
2010: 417,850
2011: 422,014
2012: 418,012
2013: 385,302
2014: 329,040
2015: 334,612
2016: 348,222
2017: 376,000
2018: 361,000
2019: 364,000
2020: 411,000
2021: 395,000
2022*
339,189
*Mandatory reporting started in 2022.
* 1996 and 97 from 1998 report
The deer harvest hit a low in the early 1970s, falling to below 100,000. Mild winters and improved forest habitat brought the harvest back to more than 400,000 in the mid 1980s. Hard winters dropped the harvest into the mid-1990s, but by 1998 the harvest peaked at 597,580.