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Michigan DNR Might Cancel Deer Hunting Season In Upper Peninsula

ST. IGNACE (WWJ/AP) - Michigan's Department of Natural Resources is considering, among several things, canceling the fall deer hunting season in the Upper Peninsula as a response to a smaller deer population.

Deer management specialist Chad Stewart doubts the fall season will be scratched, but he said it's one of six options to be presented to the Natural Resources Commission at its May 7 meeting.

"That would be the most extreme, sort of a knee-jerk reaction, but yeah, that would be the most extreme action they could do," Stewart told WWJ's Beth Fisher. "It's just simply one potential option that's being brought forward."

In December, state biologists estimated that the harvest was down as much as 40 percent across the Upper Peninsula. Some places had 40 inches of snow by mid-November, and recent winters have been extreme. Stewart said the number of deer killed in the Upper Peninsula during the 2014 season was one of the lowest in 30 years.

Terry Minzey, DNR's Upper Peninsula Regional Supervisor, said the number of deer brought to check stations declined as much as 60 percent in some locations.

"The deer harvest that we've been seeing in the U.P. has been on a steady decline for a couple years now and our predictions for this coming year for the U.P. are about 20 to 30 percent lower than they were last year," said Stewart.

[DNR: Deer Harvest Down During 2014 Firearm Season]

Closing the U.P. hunt would be a blow to tradition and culture.

Hunting gives a big lift to the economy north of the Mackinac Bridge. Some young hunters skip school on Nov. 15, opening day. A character in the 2001 comedy about Michigan hunters, "Escanaba in Da Moonlight," says opening day is "like Christmas with guns."

Closing the season "would be a huge impact," St. Ignace Visitors Bureau President James Dekeyser told WPBN-WTOM. "All the people that have camps and come up and buy groceries, eating in the restaurants. ... They have a lot of small communities and there'd be a lot of hurt on all those small communities."

Other options for the DNR include restricting the killing of does and limiting hunters to just one buck. Stewart said he expects a decision by July.

"My personal hope is that they hear that option of shutting down the U.P. season and consider it for about one second and then decide that that's not something they want to pursue," said Stewart.

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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