What Last Year’s Harvest Could Tell Michigan Bowhunters: 83 County Report

The white-tailed deer archery season is coming soon, and you can see and hear the signs throughout Michigan. That truck parked at the entrance to a cornfield? A hunter is somewhere pulling the memory card out of a trail cam. That handsaw you hear chewing through a limb in the distance? That’s someone clearing a shooting lane.

Whether it was a stray limb blocking your shot or a glimpse of a trophy buck last season, learning from history helps hunters avoid last year's mistakes. If your heart is somewhere on October 1st in a treestand, waiting for legal shooting light on opening day, here's a look at the 2025 season to whet your appetite.

Lower Peninsula Buck Limits Change in 2027

two deer standing next to each other in a forest

Thanks to Michigan's "One-Buck Rule," which takes effect in the Lower Peninsula in 2027, this archery season may be the last year hunters in the Mitten State can take more than one buck. This is the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) way of trying to undo decades of hunters hammering bucks while letting too many does walk.

Get our free mobile app

The goal is to restore Michigan's deer herd to better balance by taking some pressure off young bucks, allowing more to reach maturity, and encouraging hunters to fill more antlerless tags and their freezers.

2025 Archery Season Harvest Report Was Buck-Heavy

brown deer on green grass during daytime

In short, the DNR is saying: take more does, let more young bucks grow up, and we'll create a healthier, better-balanced herd.

RELATED: Michigan Deer Hunters Face Major Rule Changes in 2026

The county-by-county 2025 archery harvest below helps illustrate that pattern. Few counties reported more antlerless deer than antlered deer, with most totals leaning heavily toward antlered harvests.