LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – This may come as a surprise to some legislators in Michigan but not everyone has a smart phone, or is computer literate, has access to either, or has good cell service when they are out hunting in Michigan.

But that didn’t seem to matter in June of 2022 when the Natural Resources Commission unanimously approved an amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Order that requires mandatory deer harvest reporting beginning with the 2022 hunting season.

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The Commission is a seven-member public body whose members are appointed by the Governor and has the exclusive authority to regulate the taking of game and sports fish.

Michigan hunters are now required to report their deer harvests within 72 hours of “retrieving” the deer and before the deer is transferred to someone else (such as a processor) through the DNR’s website or through their app Michigan DNR Hunt Fish.

Hunters will be required to report the unique kill tag license number that was attached to the deer, the hunter’s date of birth, the exact harvest location, the type of deer harvested (fawn/antlered/adult doe), number of antler points (if a buck) and date of kill.

Some hunters will also be asked additional management-related questions such as what type of hunting device was used to take their deer.

This new law, which was not reported widely in June, has come as a surprise to many now that deer season is soon upon us with archery deer season opening on October 1st. If hunters don’t comply with the law, they could face criminal penalties. They can be charged with a 90-day misdemeanor and have to pay up to $500 in fines.

Originally a voluntarily requirement for apparent scientific reasons, the reporting of deer killed is used so that the DNR can track the deer herds and diseases of the approximately two million deer in Michigan.

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Attorney Steve Dulan was on The Steve Gruber Show recently discussing the law with fill-in host Scot Bertram from Hillsdale College. Dulan said that it’s a good idea to track the deer because we have about 50K car-deer accidents per year in Michigan and losses of tens of millions of dollars in crops to the deer. He said that because deer
season is such an important activity for tourism and our economy, it’s a good idea to know where deer are and where they are harvested.

However, he doesn’t agree with the mandatory requirement’s threat of jail time and excessive fines. Dulan said, “People are so comfortable with using the threat of government force to control behavior that somehow it didn’t even make the news or raise a lot of concerns that we now have a law for the first time this year that says a hunter can be thrown in jail for 90 days for failure to log into a website to report his deer harvest within 72 hours.”

He said that even if you’re in the middle of nowhere at deer camp and you have shot a deer lawfully with a license and everything else that is needed “if you don’t go onto the website and report details about that harvest within 72 hours, you can go to jail for three months.”

Rep. Andrew Fink (R-Adams Township) said in a statement about the bill, “I’ve been in staunch opposition to the NRC’s mandate since the moment I heard about it. It is not the role of unelected bureaucrats to impose rules and penalties on Michiganders, especially ones as unreasonable as this one. The state should do all it can to
encourage participation in the sport, rather than creating more obstacles for our hunters.”

With approximately 650,000 deer hunting licenses processed every year, and many hunters being older and not necessarily technically savvy, that’s a lot of potential jail inmates entering the legal system and a lot of fine money going to the Whitmer administration.

Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton) has sponsored House Bill 6354 that just passed the Michigan House on Wednesday in a 70-38 vote and moves onto the senate that will remove the jail component in the bill and lower the fine for not reporting to $150.

The DNR supports Hoitenga’s bill. They say that when the mandatory reporting was implemented, the only penalty available under statute was a criminal penalty. They would like to see a proposal to decriminalize the mandate as soon as possible. However, they don’t support a wholesale elimination of the rule.

Regardless of the penalty that will ultimately be levied for not reporting, the DNR officials are reportedly focusing on education of the new regulation rather than enforcement.