MARQUETTE, MI-- This year’s Marquette County deer harvest numbers are the lowest they’ve been in a long time.
That’s according to wildlife biologist Brian Roell at the Department of Natural Resources Marquette Field Office. He says numbers at their deer checking station are down about 60% from last year and are about 55% off the 10-year average.
Roell says with cold temperatures and a storm that dumped feet of snow across the U.P. officials knew they’d be dealing with lower deer numbers heading into the hunt.
“Particularly in Marquette County, where we have migratory deer. So you could have your blind set up, you could have been baiting deer and the deer were coming all along, and then that storm hit. Those deer actually started migrating. And so they just left the area—something that usually doesn’t happen until late December.”
Roell says a combination of factors—like weather and predators—affects the deer population and the U.P. will need several warmer winters to regrow the herd. He says to help the process the DNR is improving deer habitat, allowing the early feeding of deer this month, and structuring predator hunts.
