Outdoor News Daily

With the early firearm deer season starting in just a few weeks, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reminds hunters that the DNRE would like to check as many deer as possible during all the deer seasons to continue gathering critical data on Michigan’s deer herd. The data is important for monitoring the herd’s health and determining population size.

For a list of 2010 deer check stations that will be open Nov. 15-24 and Nov. 29-30 during the Regular Deer Firearm season, please visit the DNRE website at http://www.michigan.gov/dnre and click on Natural Resources.

During all other deer seasons, deer can be checked at the DNRE Operations Service Centers from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday (except state holidays). In the nine-township Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance zone in Kent County, where deer check is mandatory, there will be several locations open for deer check throughout the 2010 deer hunting seasons. These locations can be found online as well. The last day to check your deer will be Jan. 7, 2011.

The DNRE will test any deer that is identified as “suspect” for CWD and bovine tuberculosis (TB). The DNRE will also sample deer from areas where disease concerns have been identified, which include the five counties in the northeastern Lower Peninsula within the TB area, as well as Iosco, Shiawassee, Cheboygan, Emmet and Kent counties.

Hunters are also reminded that it is illegal to feed or bait deer across the entire Lower Peninsula.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is committed to the conservation, protection, management, and accessible use and enjoyment of the state’s environment, natural resources and related economic interests for current and future generations. For more information, go to http://www.michigan.gov/dnre.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.