Michigan's firearm deer season opens with fewer hunters; DNRE points to day of week, economy

Published: Monday, November 15, 2010, 7:45 PM     Updated: Monday, November 15, 2010, 8:22 PM

 Howard Meyerson | The Grand Rapids Press

Cory Olsen | The Grand Rapids Press

 

Sara Schaefer, the DNRE state wildlife supervisor for southwest Michigan, left, hands a successful hunter patch to Brad Hartwell of Grand Rapids on Monday morning at Barb's Deer Processing in Rockford. This doe was Hartwell's first deer.

Fifty degrees and sunny. It couldn't have been nicer for deer hunting.

But state wildlife officials said it appears that fewer hunters than normal turned out at many West Michigan hunting areas for Monday's firearm deer season opener.

"I counted 165 cars and trucks in the Allegan State Game Area," said Maria Albright with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. "It was one of my lowest counts for any opener, no matter what day."

Albright said 1998 was a peak year for hunting there. That season opened on a Sunday. The car count, a ritual drive of back roads and two tracks for 30 miles, turned up 299 vehicles in the game area.

In 1999, a Monday opener, there were 263 vehicles parked in the game area. In 2004, another Monday, there were 204 vehicles, she said.

But those were better economic times. DNRE staffers say they are not certain just why the count was down in various areas, but they suspect the reason has two parts: This year's firearm season opener was a weekday during tough economic times.

"I talked with some guys who said they can't get off," Albright said. "Maybe people who are working feel like they shouldn't take the time and are grateful (in these times) for what they have and figure to work hunting in around the job."

That wasn't the case, however, for John Hare, an Otsego hunter and business owner, who dropped a 7-point buck Monday morning.

"It was a beautiful morning. You couldn't have asked for a better opener," Hare said. "I always go out. I didn't feel good, but it was opening day, you have to go out."

Earl Agy, a 40-year-old Allegan hunter, said his shop closed down for the deer opener. It does every year. The four employees all take a week off. Agy shot an 8-point Monday morning while hunting a cut cornfield with his wife Carol.

John King, 33, works on a portable electric generator in deer camp he is sharing with hunting buddies for opening day of the firearm deer hunting season in the Allegan State Game Area on Monday. The morning hunt for the deer hunters was unsuccessful except the old buck skull found in the woods."My wife couldn't get her gun up in time, so I took this one," Agy said. "We'll go back later and see if we can't get her one."

Antlered bucks were plentiful at Barb's Deer Processing in Comstock Park, according to Sarah Schaefer, the DNRE wildlife supervisor for southwest Michigan. Barb's Deer Processing is one of two designated chronic wasting disease check points, along with the Rockford Sportsman's Club.

The sites were set up by the DNRE to collect deer heads for disease testing, following the 2008 incident where a Kent County penned deer tested positive for the disease. Hunters who kill deer in the nine-township CWD surveillance zone within the county are required to bring their deer to one of the two special check stations.

"We saw a lot of nice antlered bucks Monday," Schaefer said. "We had a couple deer come in from Cannonsburg State Game Area and up north from the state forest in Newaygo County, but most were from private lands in Kent County."

Hunters talked of having spent the weekend at deer camp even though the season opened Monday, she said.

"There were a fair number of people who enjoyed it as a Monday opener," Schaefer said. "They felt like they had an extended weekend. They got to play around in the woods and hunt on Monday and go home."

Schaefer said she saw what appeared to be an average number of cars at the Barry State Game Area when she drove through a portion of it Monday morning.

But John Lerg, who managed the West Walker Sportsman's Club in Ottawa County on Monday, said fewer hunters came in than usual. Lerg checked only seven deer as of 4 p.m. Monday. Two of those were bow kills.

He also drove area back roads and counted fewer vehicles than usual parked along road sides. There were also fewer deer tracks on dirt roads -- a predictable sign of deer moving, pushed by stalking hunters.

"Deer movement (on opening day) is connected to hunters moving," Lerg said. "If you don't have hunters moving, you don't have deer moving."

E-mail Howard Meyerson: hmeyerson@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/HMeyerson