Deer season’s second half, through Thanksgiving week

The opener is behind you, the tag is still in your pocket, and Nov. 30, a Monday, is the last day of the regular firearm season. Statewide, the 2026 Deer Hunting Regulations Summary lists that season as Nov. 15–30 and the late archery segment as Dec. 1 – Jan. 1. The legal day gets shorter from here, a bow in the woods follows the firearm rules, and Thanksgiving falls inside the season.

Hours and bows after the opener

Statewide, the summary (its rules apply Aug. 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027) puts legal hunting hours for deer at “one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.” Its table prints Zone A, in Eastern Time. Zone A is 20 Lower Peninsula counties: Presque Isle, Alpena, Alcona, Iosco, Arenac, Bay, Saginaw, Shiawassee, Genesee, Livingston, Washtenaw, Monroe, Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac, Lapeer, St. Clair, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne. The summary’s map adds 6 minutes to the Zone A time for Zone B, 12 for Zone C and 18 for Zone D, and in Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson and Menominee counties (Central Time) the summary says to subtract one more hour.

These are the summary’s Zone A lines for three days of the second half. The weekdays are calendar arithmetic, not DNR text; Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday, is the 26th.

From the first day to the last, the first legal minute moves from 6:53 to 7:11 (18 minutes later) and the last from 5:48 to 5:40 (eight minutes earlier), so the legal day is 26 minutes shorter on Nov. 30 (18 plus 8).

Statewide, the summary’s season table prints the early archery segment as Oct. 1 – Nov. 14, so a bowhunter in the woods on Nov. 15 is hunting in a firearm season. The summary says: “you can use archery equipment if you follow all firearm season regulations, including the hunter orange clothing requirement and APRs.” An antler point restriction (APR), in the summary’s glossary, allows only bucks with a certain number of antler points on a side to be harvested. APRs vary with the license and the hunting location, and print on charts; the licensing guide in this issue covers the licenses.

The orange exemption for archery hunters covers the archery deer seasons only; during a firearm deer season, the summary says, archery hunters “must follow all firearm deer season requirements, including the hunter orange requirement.” For firearm deer hunting statewide, the summary requires a cap, hat, vest, jacket or rain gear of hunter orange as the outermost layer, visible from all sides, and counts camouflage that is “not less than 50 percent hunter orange.” The DNR’s hunting safety page, read Oct. 30, 2026, separately recommends wearing as much hunter orange as possible. In the Lower Peninsula, the summary says a crossbow “can also be used during any season in which a firearm is allowed,” and for the Upper Peninsula it answers yes for Nov. 15–30.

The other seasons in the same woods

Statewide, the 2026 Small Game Hunting Regulations Summary prints cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare and fox and gray squirrel at Sept. 15 – March 31, and its tables state no closure during the Nov. 15–30 firearm deer season. Ruffed grouse is printed as Sept. 15 – Nov. 14 and Dec. 1 – Jan. 1. Pheasant ended Oct. 31 in the Zone 1 pheasant management unit (Menominee County and parts of four neighboring counties; the rest of Zone 1 is closed to pheasant) and ends Nov. 14 in Zones 2 and 3. Bobwhite quail, open only in the 27 southern counties the summary lists, ends Nov. 14. Grouse, pheasant and quail are therefore closed through Nov. 30; ruffed grouse statewide and pheasant in the December pheasant management unit, which the summary says includes all of Zone 3, reopen Dec. 1. Statewide, a small game hunter, crows excepted, must wear hunter orange “from Aug. 15 through April 30.” The public-land guide in this issue covers off-road vehicle and snowmobile hours on public hunting land.

Ducks run on waterfowl zones, not small game zones; the North Zone is all of the Upper Peninsula. The 2026 Waterfowl Hunting Regulations Summary prints the coot, duck and merganser seasons this way:

The December explainer in this issue carries the December parts of those seasons and of the small game seasons above. Coyote hunting is listed as Oct. 15 – Mar. 1 on the DNR’s hunting season calendar and as statewide in the 2026 Furbearer Harvest Regulations Summary. This guide does not state that summary’s firearm rules for Nov. 15–30; read its text, and the zone explainer in this issue, before you hunt.

Thanksgiving week and the turn to December

The DNR’s deer donation drives page lists three drives from Friday, Nov. 20 to Sunday, Nov. 22, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day: Jay’s Sporting Goods in Clare, Jay’s Sporting Goods in Gaylord, and Frank’s Great Outdoors in Linwood. The page says “All deer must be whole (with head attached), legally harvested/tagged, harvest-reported and field-dressed prior to donation.” It states no year; its weekdays match 2026 (page read Oct. 31, 2026). The guide to giving a deer away in this issue covers the program.

The DNR’s page of disease sample submission sites lists each office’s staffed and closed dates. Six offices staffed past Thanksgiving, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., list “Nov. 26, 27” as closed: the Alpena Field Office in Alpena County, the Atlanta Field Office in Montmorency County, the West Branch Field Office in Ogemaw County, the Mio Field Office in Oscoda County, and the Gaylord and Roscommon Customer Service Centers. The Lincoln Field Office in Alcona County (staffed Nov. 15–22) and the Standish Field Office in Arenac County (staffed Nov. 16–20) list the same closed dates. The page says locations could change as the season progresses and recommends calling first (page read Oct. 31, 2026). The field-care guide in this issue covers tagging and reporting.

In Muskegon County, the 2026 Waterfowl Hunting Regulations Summary says the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center, the land of the Wastewater System goose management unit, is “Closed to hunting Thanksgiving Day.”

Statewide, the summary’s season table opens the late archery segment on Dec. 1. The December firearm deer season in the Lower Peninsula, the muzzleloader deer season in the Upper Peninsula and the late antlerless firearm season follow, and the December explainer in this issue carries their dates. In the Upper Peninsula, the 2026 summary says, “All Upper Peninsula DMUs are CLOSED for the early and late antlerless firearm deer seasons” (a DMU is a deer management unit). In the Lower Peninsula, the DNR’s 2026 deer hunting preview, read Oct. 30, 2026, says, “After the December Firearm Season, Lower Peninsula firearm deer hunting will be for antlerless deer only.” And statewide, the summary says, “The extended late antlerless deer season and the January archery season have been eliminated” for 2026.

What to bring

• Hunter orange as the outermost layer, for a bow as well as a firearm.
• The license and tag you hold, matched to the deer as the licensing guide explains.
• The phone number of the submission office you plan to use, to call first.
• Disposable gloves: MSU Extension’s 2013 field-dressing gear list includes “tight-fitting, disposable gloves,” as guidance, not law.

When to check again

Before Thanksgiving week, reopen the DNR’s disease sample submission sites page, which says locations can change, and its donation drives page, which states no year. Check the summary’s season table and the DNR’s hunting season calendar too. For fishing, see the last-open-water guide in this issue. On Nov. 30, the next page to open is the December explainer.