Michigan

A base license comes first. Deer licenses sit on top of it. There is not a separate archery deer license in the fee table. What you may carry depends on the season, the peninsula, and sometimes your age or a disability permit. Antlered and antlerless opportunity depends on the kill tag and the deer management unit.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

Several 2026 changes are easy to miss if you are using an old digest. The limited firearms zone in the Lower Peninsula is gone as of September 12, 2026. The Upper Peninsula muzzleloader season and the Lower Peninsula December firearm season are each three days, December 4–6. The late antlerless firearm season starts December 7 and runs through January 1 in Lower Peninsula DMUs except 145 and 245. The extended late antlerless season and a January archery season are eliminated. Early antlerless firearm is the second weekend of September, the same weekend as Liberty Hunt.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations; Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting preview. Checked November 7, 2026.

A resident senior base license is $5, a senior single deer license is $8, and a senior combo is $28. Nonresidents under 17 may buy a resident base license. A DNR Sportcard is $1 and is not required if you have a state driver license or ID. Buy at a license agent, at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses, or in the Hunt Fish app. Through November 30, the DNR has said website purchases are paused so hunters are not waiting on a mailed tag; app, customer-service-center, and retail tags are the path in that window. The website purchase path resumes December 1. That pause was described in a November 4, 2026 DNR release.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations; Michigan DNR, November 4, 2026 firearm-season tips. Checked November 7, 2026.

A single deer license is one kill tag. A combo is two. You choose at purchase whether you want a chance at one antlered deer or two. The statewide antlered limit is two, except one in DMU 117. Unused tags still have to be legal for the season you are in. An antlerless-only season means an antlerless deer, even if the tag could have been either-sex in another season.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

Universal antlerless licenses now have use limits: one in DMU 022; two in DMUs 121, 122, 155, and 255; three in a published list of Lower Peninsula counties that includes Otsego; four in Clare, Gladwin, and Oceana; five in a long Lower Peninsula list that includes Allegan and Barry, plus DMU 055; and 10 in another published county list. Several Upper Peninsula DMUs are closed to that license entirely, including 117. The regulations include a map. If a county is not in the sentence you remember, look at the map. This paragraph is a summary of that section, not a reprint of the map.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

Hunters born on or after January 1, 1960 must show a hunter education certificate, or a previous hunting license other than a base apprentice license, to buy a regular base license. A certificate from another state counts. Courses run through the year. The online course is at Michigan.gov/HunterEducation.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations; Michigan DNR, recreational safety and hunter education. Checked November 7, 2026.

An apprentice base license is available to residents and nonresidents who do not have the certificate, for up to two license years. An apprentice cannot hunt alone. The mentor is at least 21, holds a regular base license, and holds a current license for the same game. A mentor can accompany no more than two apprentices. Youth 10–16 who already have a certificate still need an adult 18 or older with them, unless they are hunting on land where a parent or guardian regularly lives.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

The mentored youth license is for hunters 9 and younger. The inclusive mentored license is for hunters with developmental disabilities who qualify. Both include a single deer license with no antler-point restriction, and both require a qualified mentor. Mentored hunters are exempt from the education requirement while they are in the program.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

• Bows, crossbows, and firearms are the lawful categories. Snares, traps, spears, slingshots, fully automatic firearms, airbows, tracer or explosive bullets, and drugs or poisons are not.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• In a firearm deer season, legal firearms include a shotgun, a rifle larger than .22 rimfire, a muzzleloader using black powder or a commercial substitute, and a handgun larger than .22 rimfire. A semi-automatic shotgun or rifle cannot hold more than six shells in the barrel and magazine combined. A person generally must be 18 to hunt with a handgun, and it has to be carried in plain view.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• Crossbow bolts must be at least 14 inches long with a broadhead at least 7/8 inch wide. Lower Peninsula archery, both segments: crossbows are legal. Upper Peninsula early archery and the regular firearm season: crossbows are legal. Upper Peninsula late archery and the Upper Peninsula muzzleloader season: crossbows are not legal unless you have a disability permit or you are a resident senior with a senior deer, senior combo, or senior universal antlerless license. The senior exception is effective September 12, 2026.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• This guide does not state a minimum draw weight for a vertical bow. The regulations section on bows is the place to confirm whether one exists. A disability bow permit is a separate document for hunters who cannot use a conventional bow.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

Dates match the 2026 deer regulations summary and the hunting-season calendar. Liberty Hunt and the Independence Hunt are on the firearm filter because they are firearm seasons, and their “who” line is limited. A crossbow filter still shows the late archery segment because the dates exist, and the note explains the Upper Peninsula ban. Checked November 7, 2026.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations; Michigan DNR, hunting season calendar. Checked November 7, 2026.

Deer harvest reporting is mandatory. Report within 72 hours, or before you transfer the deer to a person, a processor, or a taxidermist. After that, anyone in possession of the deer should be able to show the confirmation number. Report online or in the Hunt Fish app. Weekday help is 517-284-9453.Source: Michigan DNR, harvest reporting; Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

Paper tags are filled out and attached before field dressing or moving. App tags are validated in the app before moving, and the DNR says cellular service is not required to do that. Put the right tag on the deer. Officers report finding turkey and fishing licenses used by mistake.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.

• Private land requires permission from the landowner or leaseholder. A wounded deer does not create a right to follow it onto private land.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• More than 4.5 million acres of DNR-managed public land are open to hunting. Mi-HUNT shows approximate boundaries. State forests and state game areas do not require a Recreation Passport. State parks and recreation areas often do, if you enter by motor vehicle. About 92 percent of state park and recreation-area land is open to hunting, and parks are closed unless opened. Call the park.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• National forest land can be hunted under state law plus federal rules. National wildlife refuges are closed unless the refuge says otherwise. Commercial Forest land is private land open on foot for hunting, with licenses valid for private land, and with strict rules against cutting lanes or leaving a blind made of anything but natural materials.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• Firearm deer hunting requires hunter orange as the outer layer, visible from all sides. Archery seasons do not, for archery equipment. The quiet period is November 10–14: no carrying afield or transporting a rifle, or a shotgun with buckshot, slugs, ball, or cut shells, except the transport and private-target exceptions.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• The firearm safety zone is 150 yards from an occupied dwelling or farm building. Written permission is required to hunt inside it.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• You cannot cut shooting lanes on public land, block a gate or trail, or nail a stand to a tree. Platforms may be placed beginning September 1 and must be removed by March 1. A name and address, driver-license number, or Sportcard number has to be readable from the ground.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• Some townships restrict firearms. The regulations name the counties, including Barry, where those township rules are posted. A state game area inside one of those townships does not cancel the township rule.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.
• Baiting rules are in their own section of the regulations and were not copied county by county onto this page. Read them for the unit you hunt. Liberty Hunt has baiting restrictions the regulations flag specifically.Source: Michigan DNR, 2026 deer hunting regulations. Checked November 7, 2026.