LANSING, Mich. — Hunters heading into the woods for the Nov. 15 opener of Michigan firearm deer season will notice one big difference in the southern half of the state: the old line that kept high-powered rifles out of southern counties is gone.
The Natural Resources Commission voted in May to do away with the Limited Firearms Deer Zone that covered the southern Lower Peninsula. That means any legal firearm, including rifles chambered for bottleneck cartridges, can now be used anywhere in the Lower Peninsula, and guns bigger than .22 rimfire are allowed statewide.
For years, deer hunters in the southern part of the state were held to shotguns, muzzleloaders and a few shorter-range rifle rounds because of the denser population there. This fall, popular deer calibers such as the .308, the .30-06 and 7mm magnums are legal in those areas for the first time.
State wildlife officials say the change carries a safety message. A tree-stand shot angled down into the ground does not travel far, but a round fired across an open field can carry a long way, in some cases close to a mile if the muzzle is tilted upward. Part of the reasoning behind the new rule was that so many hunters now shoot from elevated stands. The commission can revisit the decision next year if problems show up.
Plenty of hunters may not change a thing. Many are expected to stick with the shotguns and straight-wall cartridges they already know.
The rifle line is not the only rule that shifted for 2026. The statewide muzzleloader season was trimmed from 10 days to three, starts the first Friday in December and has been renamed the December Firearm Deer Season, with any legal firearm allowed in the Lower Peninsula. The Late Antlerless Season now opens the Monday after that hunt and runs through Jan. 1, and the extended late antlerless hunt and the January archery season were cut, so all deer hunting ends after New Year Day.
In the Upper Peninsula, the antlerless access drawing was dropped, and hunters there can use universal antlerless licenses only in certain deer management units. Seniors with a valid senior deer license may also hunt with a crossbow in the late U.P. archery season.
Bigger changes are on the way in 2027 for the Lower Peninsula, when hunters will be limited to one buck each and a single deer license will cover either a buck with at least three points on one side or an antlerless deer.
Hikers, bird watchers and anyone else using the woods over the next two weeks should wear hunter orange.
Filed under: Lansing MI Hunting News
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