LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Today marks the opening day of firearm deer season, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is keeping tabs on the number of hunters heading out to bag their buck.

Michigan hunters can use a firearm to bag deer from November 15-30, then archery season picks back up in December. DNR Cadillac Wildlife Biologist Vernon Richardson told Up North Live that a slight increase in the number of hunters in the woods increased recently, it follows several decades of decline.

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“The last 25 years, we’ve seen a decrease in the total number of firearm deer hunters, and deer hunters in general, in the state of Michigan,” Richardson said. “As the baby boomers are aging and some of them aren’t hunting anymore, and in the next 10 years a lot more of them will not be hunting anymore,” Richardson said. “We don’t have the same rate of hunting in the younger generations to make up for the loss of the baby boomers in the hunting population.”

DNR officials are reminding hunters that harvest reporting is required after successfully taking a deer. Harvests can be reported through the DNR Hunt Fish app or at Michigan.gov/DNRHarvestReport.

In addition, hunters can find out how the season is progressing in real-time by accessing the reporting dashboard.