December, in brief

Under the 2026 Deer Hunting Regulations Summary (the PDF cover says rules apply Aug. 1, 2026 – July 31, 2027), the Upper Peninsula muzzleloader deer season and the Lower Peninsula December firearm deer season each run three days from the first Friday in December: Dec. 4–6. The Natural Resources Commission (NRC) made the change, and the DNR’s May 15, 2026 release says it acted after “extensive public input.”

For the Upper Peninsula, the DNR’s deer hunting preview says the shorter season reduces “late-season hunting pressure.” Dates here are as of Oct. 31, 2026. The DNR, NWS and NPS pages were read Oct. 30; the DNR newsroom, read Oct. 31, lists no release touching December seasons.

Deer by peninsula

In the Lower Peninsula, the December firearm season (Dec. 4–6) allows all legal firearms, and after it, the preview says, firearm deer hunting is for antlerless deer only. The late antlerless firearm season begins the Monday following, Dec. 7, and runs through Jan. 1, 2027, on public and private land in every deer management unit (DMU) except 145 and 245.

In the Upper Peninsula (Zone 1), the muzzleloader season allows only a muzzleloading rifle, muzzleloading shotgun or black-powder pistol. Crossbows and modified bows are barred in that season and in late archery unless the hunter holds a disability permit or, effective Sept. 12, 2026, is a resident senior with a senior deer, senior deer combination or senior universal antlerless deer license. All Upper Peninsula DMUs are closed to the early and late antlerless firearm seasons.

Statewide, late archery runs Dec. 1 – Jan. 1. The summary says the extended late antlerless season and the January archery season are eliminated, so deer seasons end Jan. 1. In the Lower Peninsula’s late antlerless season, the summary says, “All hunters are required to wear hunter orange”; the full rule, for a bow too, is in the second half of November. Licenses are in the licensing guide in this issue.

Early December, dated

Statewide small game hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset from Dec. 1, 2026 through Feb. 28, 2027, per the 2026 Small Game Hunting Regulations Summary. Dates, per the same summary:

• Ruffed grouse, statewide: Dec. 1 – Jan. 1.
• Male pheasant, all of Zone 3 (the December pheasant management unit): Dec. 1 – Jan. 1.
• Elk, per the calendar: Dec. 1–15 for the unit pairs H and X, and I and X.

The 2026 furbearer summary sets bobcat trapping in Unit A, the Upper Peninsula except Drummond Island, and Unit B, Drummond Island, at Dec. 1 – Jan. 18. Lower Peninsula Units C, D and G (county groups the summary lists) run Dec. 10–29, and Unit H runs Dec. 10–20. Fisher and marten trapping runs Dec. 4–13 in the Upper Peninsula except Drummond Island.

The 2026 Waterfowl Hunting Regulations Summary uses its own North, Middle and South zones, not the hunting Zones 1 to 3. Ducks have no December days in the North Zone, Dec. 12–13 in the Middle Zone, and days through Dec. 13 and Dec. 26–27 in the South Zone. Geese run to Dec. 16 in the North Zone, Dec. 18 in the Middle Zone, and Dec. 13 then Dec. 26 – Jan. 3 in the South Zone. The Allegan County unit reopens Dec. 19 through Feb. 14 and the Muskegon County Wastewater System unit runs to Dec. 19; both sit outside the South Zone dates.

The NRC meets Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026, 9:30 a.m., at the DoubleTree by Hilton Bay City – Riverfront. Applications run Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2026 for the Pure Michigan Hunt (deer summary) and Jan. 1 – Feb. 1, 2027 for spring turkey (DNR turkey page).

Water and first ice

The 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations, in force April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, list the stream classes Type 3 and Type 4 statewide as Open All Year for fishing; both listings point to the county exceptions on pp. 48–65. Which rivers stay open depends on the type. The DNR’s steelhead page describes a seasonal pattern, not a river report: lake steelhead enter spawning streams from late October to early May, and many overwinter there.

On Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and the Detroit River, the regulations’ muskellunge possession season runs to Dec. 31; the walleye, perch and muskie guide in this issue has the water-by-water rules. The DNR’s weekly fishing report is suspended after Nov. 4 and resumes early next year, per its Oct. 28 report.

No DNR page captured for this issue gives an ice thickness or date, and this page gives none; the NWS cold-water page and the Pictured Rocks page are the two agency statements here. The National Weather Service’s cold water page, read Oct. 30, 2026, lists falling through the ice among cold-water risks. The National Park Service’s Pictured Rocks page says that on Munising Bay the responsibility for judging ice “lies solely with the angler” (updated May 8, 2025).

The Winter issue follows in December. After the NRC meets Dec. 9, check its page and the DNR newsroom for any notice.