Slow pace of firearm deer season continues

MARQUETTE — The slow start that firearm deer season got off to over the weekend has continued this week.

So far, the DNR’s deer check stations have had about 50% fewer deer brought to them than last year. Michigan DNR deputy public information officer Debbie Munson Badini says 2013 was itself a down year by U.P. standards, making this year’s decline all the more notable.

Here’s how many deer they had each checked in as of midnight Tuesday night, followed by the total from the same date last year:

Newberry: 33 this season, 31 last year

Marquette: 41 this season, 82 last year

Escanaba: 142 this season, 192 last year

Baraga: 42 this season, 48 last year

Crystal Falls: 35 this season, 109 last year

Munson Badini says Crystal Falls has taken the largest hit because that area of the U.P. has received the most snow in the last week and a half, making access to camps more difficult there than elsewhere. She says hunters in the south central and southeastern U.P., which received much less snow than the rest of the region are doing better than hunters in the northern areas.

Anyone interested in daily field reports can find them on the DNR’s website at www.michigan.gov/deer.