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Autumn 2026 · The Fifteenth Free newsletters: The Sunday Almanac The Daily Dispatch
Michigan Hunt & Fish News

Region: Statewide

Stories whose scope is the whole state: rules, orders, stocking plans, Great Lakes-wide reporting.

Typographic card: Foam, inflatable or float coat on a cold-water walleye boat REVIEW Gear · Statewide · 4 hrs ago Foam, inflatable or float coat on a cold-water walleye boat No independent cold-water test of inflatable life jackets was found, so this research-based guide sets Michigan's carriage law and the label beside the pool tests that exist and what each one left out. A sandy road runs between tall red pines, with orange saplings on the left and a snow-covered bank on the right. EXPLAINER Hunting · Statewide · 4 hrs ago December, in brief The December firearm and muzzleloader seasons now run three days from Friday, Dec. 4, the late antlerless season follows on Dec. 7, and nothing here says when the ice is safe. Typographic card: Public land for November, by region, with its managers EXPLAINER Destinations · Statewide · 4 hrs ago Public land for November, by region, with its managers Five regional lists name a selection of the forests, refuges, lakeshores, parks and game areas that their managers' own pages support, each with its agency and the access rule its page states, where it states one. A snow-covered highway with a roadside signboard reading U.S. Forest Service, Information, Deer Survey, Registration Booth, 500 Feet. EXPLAINER Conservation · Statewide · 4 hrs ago Michigan’s deer in the record, from 1859 to this November From the first season limit in 1859 to a live count of reported harvests, what the DNR's numbers and archival pictures can and cannot tell a reader. A sandy forest road runs past oaks holding brown and gold leaves, with patches of snow along the roadside. GUIDE Hunting · Statewide · 4 hrs ago Deer season’s second half, through Thanksgiving week The regular firearm season runs through Nov. 30 with Thanksgiving inside it, and on Dec. 1 the calendar turns to late archery, with two familiar late seasons gone for 2026. Typographic card: A whole deer in the kitchen, from the cuts to the freezer EXPLAINER Lifestyle · Statewide · 4 hrs ago A whole deer in the kitchen, from the cuts to the freezer The federal chart puts venison at 160 F, aging is optional and may suit an older deer, and the CDC's advice on CWD comes with hedges worth keeping. Typographic card: Once the deer is down, the tag, the report and the cooling GUIDE Hunting · Statewide · 4 hrs ago Once the deer is down, the tag, the report and the cooling Michigan gives a hunter 72 hours from harvest to report a deer, less if it changes hands first, and the county it fell in decides where its head can be tested. Typographic card: How to give a deer away GUIDE Conservation · Statewide · 4 hrs ago How to give a deer away Hunters Feeding Michigan takes deer at 16 listed processors at no cost to the hunter, if the deer arrives whole, tagged, reported and field-dressed, and tested when it comes from a CWD or TB county. A sandy forest road runs straight between hardwoods in red, orange and yellow leaf, with fallen leaves scattered across the ground. FEATURE Hunting · Statewide · 4 hrs ago The fifteenth, the date Michigan built a deer season around In 2026 the opener falls on a Sunday, in the first season after the Natural Resources Commission rewrote the rules around it. A narrow, clear river bends through woods in orange, yellow and green leaf, with fallen limbs across the water. EXPLAINER Fishing · Statewide · 4 hrs ago Reading a Michigan river’s type before you fish it Type 1 and 2 streams closed to all fishing on Sept. 30, Type 3 and 4 streams stay open, and a river in none of the lists, booklet or Fisheries Order, runs on a rule of its own.