Here's what to know about Michigan's 2025 deer hunting season
Michigan's deer hunting season is right around the corner.
"[It's] chaotic, busy, fun. You wait all year to squeeze everything into these three months we have to play in," said Robert Gillow, a Michigan hunter.
Gillow has been bow and firearm hunting for around 40 years.
"You make your shot, and then you send the youngest kid or the dog out to retrieve them while you go back to drinking coffee and eating donuts, you know, important fun stuff," Gillow said.
Michigan's deer hunting season will kick off with a youth hunt Sept. 13-14. Young hunters still need a license to hunt that weekend.
Brent Rudolph with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said for the most part, regulations have remained the same for 2025.
"Some of the key things to keep in mind are that we have a couple different main types of licenses, and we need to look at what types of deer those licenses are good for," said Rudoph, who is the deer, elk and moose specialist with the DNR.
Rudolph said in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, hunters have a lot of opportunities to hunt antlerless deer, which are female and young deer without antlers, to help with overpopulation.
"An antlerless license can be used pretty much anywhere in the Lower Peninsula," Rudolph said.
Early antlerless firearm season is Sept. 20-21, with archery season happening Oct. 1 through Nov. 14 and again Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, 2026. Regular firearm season runs Nov. 15-30, with muzzleloading scheduled for Dec. 5-14.
Gillow said that nothing beats the quiet of a hunt.
"You get rid of this bustle and busy of your everyday, and people having to get somewhere now to take a deep breath and watch everything come up natural, the way everything started," he said.