MICHIGAN — Hunters in the Lower Peninsula will be limited to one buck starting with the 2027 deer hunting season after the Michigan Natural Resources Commission approved the change Wednesday in Gaylord.
The seven-member public body, appointed by the governor and responsible for the state’s hunting and fishing policies, voted after a meeting that stretched more than 9½ hours on Wednesday, May 13. Commissioners also amended staff recommendations by excluding the Upper Peninsula from the one-buck limit.
The move is among the most consequential deer policy shifts Michigan has made in years. Supporters said the change is meant to help a hunt that has long leaned heavily toward buck harvests, a pattern they say has left the herd out of balance and made it harder to grow older deer. In the 2025 season, Michigan hunters harvested 142,000 does and 152,000 bucks, while Pennsylvania — the state cited most often during debate — harvested 320,000 does and 185,000 bucks.
Thumb-area resident Rashel Hubbard told commissioners the one-buck limit was needed “so that we don't see year-in and year-out a deer herd that is imbalanced, that doesn't look anything close to what it biologically should.” Hubbard also criticized the long-running approach of allowing more antlerless harvest while keeping buck limits looser, saying, “The mentality of 'give two doe tags but keep two buck tags' is what we have been doing for decades, and how has it worked?”
Justin Root, a hunter who pointed to Pennsylvania as evidence that a one-buck policy can work in a state with similar deer and hunter densities, said the numbers show a meaningful shift in age structure. “In 2003, 85% of Pennsylvania's buck harvest was less than a year-and-a-half old; last year it was under 35%,” Root said. “What more do we need for an example of how to manage populations, sex ratios and age structure than those numbers?” Pennsylvania’s 2025 season included a 1.7 doe-to-buck ratio, compared with Michigan’s 0.9 ratio.
The Upper Peninsula was left out after commissioners said its deer population faces different pressures, including cold, heavy snow winters and predators such as wolves, cougars and bears. Commissioner David Nyberg said only about 2% of U.P. hunters with the chance to take more than one buck actually do so, and argued the debate there is less about trophy expectations than hunting tradition. “It's less about the desire or expectation of harvesting two bucks; it's more about the opportunity to participate in hunting traditions that may be somewhat unique to the U.P.,” Nyberg said.
That carveout leaves the commission with a policy that treats Michigan’s two peninsulas differently even as the same broader concerns helped drive the change. The Lower Peninsula has been at the center of complaints about an imbalanced herd, crop damage in some southern areas and frustration from hunters who say older trophy bucks are becoming harder to find. In the U.P., by contrast, commissioners accepted the argument that harsh winters, predators and a different hunting culture and economy justify a separate rule.
The commission’s vote does not change this season, but it sets up a new framework for 2027 that will alter how many hunters approach future license purchases and deer camp conversations. Roger Thorman, another hunter who backed the shift, said only about 6% of hunters who bought combo licenses took a second buck. “So basically, we have been doing the one-buck rule now for years, other than a minor little pe...” he said, before the meeting moved on. For now, the policy leaves one part of Michigan’s deer country on one track and another on a different one, with the divide locked in by a vote that took more than half a day to finish.
