The limited firearm zone is gone from the Lower Peninsula

The 2026 Deer Hunting Regulations Summary, the DNR’s condensed guide to the deer rules, says the limited firearms deer zone “has been eliminated” and that, beginning Sept. 12, 2026, hunters “can use all legal firearms across the Lower Peninsula.” A DNR release dated May 15, 2026 adds a detail the summary leaves out: the change allows all legal firearms “including bottleneck cartridges.” In the same list item the release says firearms larger than .22 rimfire “are now permitted statewide.” The statewide regular firearm season, Nov. 15 to 30 in the summary’s season table, is the first since the change.

The record gives no reason for the zone in particular. The release says the Natural Resources Commission approved this change among several for 2026 and 2027 “Following extensive public input,” acting on, and amending, recommendations developed by the DNR “to support healthy deer populations while balancing hunter opportunity and public feedback,” a description of the whole package. The Commission’s April 8 and May 13, 2026 draft agendas are listed only as PDF files that Michigan Hunt and Fish has not read, so no discussion, vote or commissioner is quoted.

What the zone was, in the DNR’s printed record

The 2026 deer summary no longer describes the old zone; it says only that the zone is gone. A printed description survives in the 2026 Michigan Furbearer Harvest Regulations Summary, whose rules apply through April 30, 2027. It says Michigan “is divided into a northern zone and a southern limited firearms deer zone, where only shotguns, certain firearms and certain handguns can be used” before and during the regular firearm deer season.

The same digest, which still carries the pre-Sept. 12 language, describes the dividing line between its northern zone and the southern zone as running from “a point on the Lake Michigan shoreline directly west of M-46, then easterly to M-46, then easterly along M-46 to U.S. 131 at Cedar Springs … easterly on M-57 to M-52 near Chesaning … northerly on M-47 to U.S. 10 west of Bay City … northerly on I-75 and U.S. 23 to Beaver Road (about 1 mile north of Kawkawlin), easterly to Saginaw Bay, north 50 degrees east to the International Boundary.” The digest’s full description names every road; the zone lay south of this line.

For fur harvesters hunting or trapping in the zone from Nov. 15 to 30, with exceptions for killing certain animals in a trap and for hunting with dogs between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., the digest lists legal firearms that include a shotgun “with a smooth or rifled barrel of any gauge,” a conventional handgun “.35-caliber or larger and loaded with straight-walled cartridges” capped at nine rounds in the barrel and magazine combined, and a “.35-caliber or larger rifle loaded with straight-walled cartridges with a minimum case length of 1.16 inches and a maximum case length of 1.8 inches.” That is the digest’s printed text; the deer summary and the NRC release say the zone it rests on is gone, and this piece does not state what furbearer hunters may carry from Nov. 15 to 30 now. The digest’s cover tells readers to check Michigan.gov/DNRDigests “for possible changes to the limited firearms deer zone.”

What still governs a deer firearm in the Lower Peninsula

Statewide, in any firearm deer season, the 2026 summary lists what counts as a legal firearm:

• A shotgun.
• A rifle of any caliber larger than a .22-caliber rimfire.
• A muzzleloading firearm, including black powder handguns, loaded with black powder or a commercially manufactured black powder substitute.
• A handgun of any caliber larger than a .22-caliber rimfire.

The same summary limits capacity statewide: “You cannot hunt deer with a semi-automatic shotgun or semi-automatic rifle that can hold more than six shells in the barrel and magazine combined.” It also bars cartridges “containing tracer or explosive bullets.”

Hunter orange is required statewide when a hunter takes deer with a firearm. The summary says the hunter “must wear a cap, hat, vest, jacket or rain gear of hunter orange,” and that the orange garments “must be your outermost layer and be visible from all sides.”

The safety zone is statewide too: “all areas within 150 yards (450 feet) of an occupied building, dwelling, house, residence, cabin or any barn or other building used in a farm operation,” in the summary’s words. It bars hunting in, shooting through or shooting at a wild animal or bird with a firearm inside one “without the written permission of the owner or occupant of the property,” and adds that the safety zone “applies to hunting only.”

Posted closures are local, by county and township. The summary says “Townships or parts of townships” in these counties “are closed to hunting or restricted to types of firearms or the discharge of firearms as posted”: Alcona, Arenac, Barry, Berrien, Crawford, Dickinson, Eaton, Emmet, Genesee, Iosco, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Livingston, Mackinac, Macomb, Manistee, Oakland, Otsego, Ottawa, Presque Isle, Saginaw, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne. A posting can therefore restrict the types of firearm used in a township, which makes it a separate question from the statewide rule. The summary sends hunters to the township clerk or township police department for descriptions and to the DNR’s laws page for county rules, and adds that some local municipalities may be closed to hunting, trapping or the discharge of firearms.

Which cartridge suits a Lower Peninsula deer is a separate question. The gear piece in this issue reads other people’s published tests of straight-wall and bottleneck cartridges. The quiet period before the opener has its own firearm restrictions, covered in the two-week plan in this issue.

The December season, and two gaps in the record

The 2026 summary says the Upper Peninsula’s muzzleloader season and the Lower Peninsula’s December firearm deer season “have been reduced to three-day seasons, beginning the first Friday in December.” The May 15 release says the muzzleloader season was cut “from 10 days to three days” and that in the Lower Peninsula “any legal firearm may be used during this season,” now called the December Firearm Deer Season.

The summary’s equipment answer matches: in Zone 2 or Zone 3, the Lower Peninsula’s hunting zones, a hunter in the December firearm deer season “can use all legal firearms to take a deer.” The dates are in the December piece in this issue; this piece does not date the season.

Furbearer hunters are the clearest gap. The printed digest ties its Nov. 15 to 30 firearm rules to the old zone and tells readers to check for changes. Michigan Hunt and Fish has not captured a live digest or DNR page that restates those rules after the elimination, so this piece states none.

County-specific township closures are the second gap. The DNR’s laws page was not captured, so this piece names no township. Check again the DNR’s regulation digests page for any reissued furbearer summary, and its laws page for the county where you hunt.