Even though deer hunting with bait remains illegal across the entire Lower Peninsula, most of the counties in the southern third of our state (Region 3) will be the best places for deer hunters to fill tags this fall, based on 2008 hunting success estimates by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Last year was the first time that deer baiting was illegal peninsula-wide because of a captive whitetail in Kent County that was diagnosed with chronic wasting disease (CWD). Baiting was banned because of concerns the disease might have also infected free-ranging deer and, if that were the case, it is suspected that baiting would speed up the spread of the disease.

The good news is that testing of thousands of wild deer bagged by hunters in both regions of the Lower Peninsula last fall failed to turn up any cases of CWD.

Before the 2008 deer seasons, some hunters claimed they wouldn’t be able to see many deer, much less shoot one, without bait, and others claimed that they simply were going to quit deer hunting. Reduced hunting success was predicted, both because of elimination of a popular hunting method and lower hunter numbers. Preliminary MDNR figures from last fall indicate that was not the case.

The number of deer bagged by hunters last year actually increased from 2007 in the northern LP (Region 2) and remained almost the same in Region 3. Success rates for deer of either sex ranged from “fairly constant” to “slightly increasing” for all seasons during 2008 over the year before in all L.P. districts. And the total number of deer hunters actually increased last fall in spite of a decline in the number of bowhunters by about 15,000. The number of hunters who participated in firearms seasons increased by more than that, according to MDNR figures.

Deer numbers are simply so high in most of Region 3 that baiting is not necessary for hunters to connect on whitetails. Forty-nine percent of the deer hunters who hunted in Region 3 during 2008 bagged at least one animal, according to MDNR statistics. That compares with success rates of 38.7 percent for the Upper Peninsula (Region 1) and 37.7 percent for Region 2.

The highest deer hunting success rate in Region 3 last fall for all seasons — 50.2 percent — was experienced in the South-Central District. The Southwestern and Saginaw Bay districts weren’t far behind, with success rates of 47.5 and 45.9 percent, respectively.

The district with the lowest success rate in Region 3 — 38 percent — is the Southeastern District because it includes the metropolitan Detroit area. Because of development in this district, deer hunting in some townships is limited to bow and arrow. Areas with archery-only restrictions are listed in MDNR hunting regulation booklets and on the MDNR Web site.

A significant increase in the number of antlerless permits available for Region 3 because of the emergence of CWD and an effort to reduce deer numbers played a key role in the resulting elevated deer harvest and hunting success. Hunters bagged 282,456 bucks and does in Region 3 during 2008, compared with 282,362 in 2007, an insignificant increase of almost 100 animals. The kill of antlerless animals went up by 8.9 percent (to 153,522 from 140,922), and the harvest of antlered bucks declined by 8.7 percent (129,056 versus 141,393).

Although the deer kill in Region 3 was close to the same for all seasons during the last two years, the figures for archery and firearms hunts show that the ban on baiting negatively affected bowhunting success, but that was offset by higher success in the gun season. Hunting success by archers declined by 16.1 percent in both regions 3 and 2 between 2007 and 2008. During firearms season, success in Region 3 only went up by 4.7 percent, but it jumped 20.5 percent for Region 2, according to MDNR figures.

The antlerless harvest increased and the buck kill decreased during the November gun hunt in all Region 3 districts last fall, with the notable exception of the South-Central District. Both the buck and doe harvests increased in that district, which is why the district posted the highest overall success rate. The buck kill increased by 5.7 percent (to 30,321 from 28,689), and the antlerless take went up by 11.7 percent (to 30,341 from 27,159).

The number of deer hunters who tried their luck in the L.P. last fall increased for both regions, according to MDNR estimates. The tally was 367,763 hunters versus 365,993 for Region 3, an increase of .5 percent. Hunter numbers went up by 4.3 percent (301,978 compared with 289,596) in Region 2. The tally for firearms hunters increased by 2.4 percent (314,499 and 307,224) in Region 3 and 6.8 percent (271,218 and 253,842) in Region 2. The number of bow deer hunters declined by 5.4 percent (172,465 versus 182,346) in Region 3 and 4 percent (111,588 versus 116,274) for Region 2.

The elimination of baiting may have contributed to the reduction of bowhunters in the L.P., but that factor alone is not responsible for all of the decline. Participation in archery hunting has been on a downward trend for a number of years statewide, and that trend continued in 2008 in the U.P., where baiting is still legal. The number of archers hunting deer in the U.P. last fall declined 2.4 percent (to 26,336 from 26,993).

Reduced participation in archery deer season may be halted and even reversed starting this year with new regulations allowing the use of crossbows statewide during the early bow seasons for hunters who are at least 50 years old. In Region 3, anyone who is at least 12 can hunt deer with a crossbow during the entire archery season, including December.

The total number of deer hunters who tried their luck in Region 1 during 2008 increased slightly, according to the MDNR. The tally was 107,412 hunters compared with 106,231 during 2007, an increase of 1.1 percent. The number of firearms hunters for the region increased by 2.2 percent (96,732 compared with 94,696), according to the MDNR, despite numerous reports during the season that hunting pressure was down.

Although the overall chances of filling a deer tag with a whitetail of either sex are highest in Region 3 during both archery and firearms deer seasons, if you are interested in shooting an antlered buck during the gun hunt, your odds are best in the U.P. — and, more specifically, in the western U.P. And bowhunting success for deer of either sex is close to the same in Region 1 as Region 3. If you are interested in taking an antlerless deer with bow and arrow, the success rate is actually higher in Region 1 than 3.

The reason bowhunting success for does is so high in the U.P. is that far fewer antlerless permits are issued for the region than for the L.P. In fact, no antlerless per
mits are issued for northern U.P. counties, but antlerless deer are legal statewide for bow­hunters. The quota of antlerless permits for southern U.P. counties was also lowered last year, which means there’s a higher proportion of does in the herd. Bowhunter pressure is also much lighter in the U.P. than in the rest of the state.

That’s why U.P. bowhunters had an 18.9 percent success rate on does during 2008 compared with 13.5 percent in Region 3 and 11.8 percent for Region 2. Bowhunting success for deer of either sex in Region 1 was 30 percent last fall, according to the MDNR, versus 31.3 percent for Region 3 and 24 percent in Region 2. If you bowhunt in the western U.P. instead of the east, the success rate on does is 20.1 percent, far better than anywhere else in the state, and 31.8 percent for deer of either sex, putting that district in second place for the state by three-tenths of a percent behind South-Central District.