Everything below re-computes for the county you pick — legal hours, weather, road incidents and the
rules that apply there. Your choice is saved on this device.
These times are computed, not copied from the DNR table. We take today's actual sunrise and sunset
at your county's coordinates and apply the DNR's species-specific offset — which is why woodcock, waterfowl
and deer show three different closing times below. The DNR's printed Zone A table plus the zone-offset map
is the legal authority, and a computed minute can differ from a printed one. If you are hunting the edge of
legal light, use the table in your digest.
DNR deer hours table →
Rules Affecting This Location
The 2026 rules where you're hunting
This is a summary, not the digest. It covers the handful of rules that actually change from county to county, and every one of them links to the DNR page it came from.
📋 Verified against DNR sources on Aug 23, 2026 · Rules change; re-check before opening day
2026 was a real rule-change year in the UP. The Natural Resources Commission eliminated the
Upper Peninsula antlerless access drawing and rescinded DMUs 351 and 352, capped universal antlerless
license use by DMU, opened the UP late archery season to seniors using a crossbow, and moved the Early
Antlerless Firearm season onto the Liberty Hunt weekend. If you are going from memory or from a 2024
digest, you are working from rules that no longer exist.
Read the NRC decision →
Season So Far
Harvest and wildlife numbers
Michigan's mandatory harvest reporting gives a near-real-time picture of the deer season, and the DNR's grouse and woodcock cooperator survey gives something even better for small game: county-level flushes per hour, reported by hunters, updated as the season runs.
We link to the DNR's own numbers rather than republishing them. Reported harvest totals are
preliminary — they are what hunters have entered so far, not the DNR's final harvest estimate, and they
lag the actual kill by up to 72 hours because that's the reporting window. We are not scraping eLicense
pages to build our own tallies. If the DNR makes a supported feed available, we'll ask first and wire it
in properly.
After the Shot
You down a deer. Now what?
The part almost nobody puts on a dashboard, in the order you actually need it — and the clock on step two is 72 hours or the moment you hand the deer to anyone else, whichever comes first.
Emergency and enforcement. For a life-threatening emergency in the field, call
911 — but know that
cell coverage across much of the UP interior is genuinely absent, so tell someone your plan and your truck
location before you walk in. To report poaching or a violation in progress, call the DNR's Report All Poaching
line at
800-292-7800, staffed 24 hours.
RAP details →
Deer Camp
Getting to camp, and staying near the coverts
November 15 is the busiest travel day of the UP's year. If camp is not already yours, the realistic options are a motel in the nearest real town or a rental within 40 minutes of your ground.
Disclosure: VRBO links below are affiliate links — 906 Travel Dashboard may earn a
commission on bookings at no extra cost to you.
Iron Mountain / Iron River
For: Southern DMUs · Antlerless country
The only corner of the UP where universal antlerless licenses are usable, and the closest UP hunting to the Wisconsin line. Central Time — set your watch before you set your alarm.
Marquette / Gwinn
For: Central UP · Gwinn BMU · GEMS
The best-supplied base in the UP and the middle of the grouse country — the Bill Rollo Memorial GEMS sits south of Gwinn. Real grocery stores, real processors, real cell service.
Newberry / Sault Ste. Marie
For: Eastern UP · Newberry BMU
Newberry is the hunting town in the eastern UP and books solid for firearm season; the Sault has actual hotel capacity an hour east. Big swamp country — carry a compass that isn't a phone.
Frequently Asked
UP Hunting FAQ
What are legal hunting hours in the Upper Peninsula?
For deer, bear, fall turkey, furbearers and most small game: one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Woodcock is different — sunrise to sunset. Regular waterfowl is different again — one-half hour before sunrise to sunset, with no evening half hour. Early teal is sunrise to sunset. And if you're hunting Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson or Menominee counties you're on Central Time, which is the single most common way an out-of-town hunter ends up shooting outside legal light. The card at the top of this page computes all of it for whichever county you pick.
Can I still bait deer in the UP?
Yes — the Upper Peninsula is the only part of Michigan where you can. Baiting runs Sept. 15 through Jan. 1, capped at 2 gallons per hunting site, spread over at least a 10-by-10-foot area and scattered directly on the ground. Baiting and feeding are banned across the entire Lower Peninsula, public and private land alike, with a narrow exception for qualifying hunters with disabilities during the Liberty and Independence hunts. The DNR also recommends not re-baiting the same point on the ground, to limit disease transmission.
What happened to the UP antlerless drawing and DMUs 351 and 352?
Both are gone as of 2026. The Natural Resources Commission eliminated the Upper Peninsula antlerless access drawing and rescinded DMUs 351 and 352. Universal antlerless licenses can now only be used in the southernmost UP units — DMUs 022, 055, 121, 122, 155 and 255 — and each carries a use limit: one in DMU 022, two in DMUs 121, 122, 155 and 255, and five in DMU 055. Everywhere else in the UP is closed to antlerless harvest on a universal license. Those DMU boundaries split counties, so check the DNR's interactive map for the ground you actually hunt.
Do I have to report my deer, and how long do I have?
Yes, reporting is mandatory for every successful deer hunter. You have 72 hours from harvest, or until you transfer possession — hand it to a processor, a taxidermist or a buddy — whichever comes first. Report through
the eLicense harvest report page or the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app, and keep the confirmation number: that number is your proof, and a conservation officer can verify it in the field. Failing to report is a civil infraction carrying a fine of up to $150. You also cannot submit a head for CWD or TB testing until the harvest is reported.
Should I get my UP deer tested for CWD?
For 2026 the DNR's focused CWD surveillance is in Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm and Newaygo counties — none of them in the UP — and focused bovine TB surveillance is in twelve northern Lower Peninsula counties. That said, CWD has been confirmed in free-ranging deer in Dickinson County, and for any county outside the focused surveillance areas the DNR provides free lymph node submission kits so you can have your deer tested anyway. Deer showing CWD-like symptoms are accepted statewide, year-round. Results come back at
the DNR disease lab portal.
Can I use a crossbow during UP late archery?
This changed for 2026. Crossbows have always been legal in the UP during early archery (Oct. 1 – Nov. 14) and during firearm season. During late archery (Dec. 1 – Jan. 1) they were previously limited to hunters holding a disability bow permit — and as of Sept. 12, 2026 resident senior hunters with a valid senior deer, senior deer combo or senior universal antlerless license may also use one.
Where can I hunt if I don't have private land?
The UP is the best public-land hunting in the state and it isn't close. Between state forest, the Hiawatha and Ottawa national forests, and Commercial Forest Act land — private timber land enrolled in a tax program that requires public foot access for hunting and fishing — the walk-in acreage is enormous. Start with the DNR's state forest road maps for legal vehicle access, the national forest motor vehicle use maps for federal ground, and the GEMS network if you're after grouse.
Do you predict the rut?
No, and we're not going to. Moon illumination is shown on this page because hunters want to see it, not because it's a movement predictor — the research on lunar phase and deer movement doesn't support the claim. What does move deer is the calendar, cold fronts and pressure, and you can read all three off the conditions panel above without anyone selling you a score.