New DNR app to make your hunting season a bit easier
Fall is fast approaching Michigan and with it comes open hunting season for many animals in the state.
Starting Sept. 10 with the Liberty Hunt weekend, Michigan residents will be heading into wooded areas across the state on various weekends throughout the rest of the year to hunt deer. This year, however, those hunters will be keeping track of their kills through an online phone app.
For the first year, deer hunters in Michigan will have to report their hunting harvest to the DNR through the DNR website or app instead of in-person. Online reporting was available to hunters last year through the DNR website, but starting in 2022 the harvest reporting became mandatory for hunters either through the website or the newly introduced app.
Through this new app, hunters and fishermen can buy hunting and fishing licenses and trail permits at a moment's notice, report deer or fish harvests, look up regulations and download guides and digests, find their license history, view hunting area maps and get notifications from the DNR.
The app also allows the DNR to collect usable data on deer populations. With this data, they will be able to more easily track deer populations and diseases. Hunters who use the app will be able to communicate to the DNR how many deer they have seen and in which areas, which will help when tracking population data.
"Another thing we'll be looking at this app is hunting experience, hunters will be able to tell us how many days in the field they were, what their experience was like in the field," said Rachel Lightner, DNR wildlife outreach coordinator. "So it gives us a sense of what kind of experience hunters are having as well and how to improve that."
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As September begins, so do many different hunting seasons in Michigan. Several animals are open to hunt starting on Sept. 1, including common gallinule, Virginia rail, sora rail, Wilson's snipe, goose and other waterfowl.
Sept. 15 begins small game season, making it legal to hunt for cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare, fox and gray squirrels (black phase included), ruffed grouse and woodcock.
Fur harvesting hunting for many species is available until April 2023, except bobcat kill tags are only available until Oct. 31.
Opossum, porcupine, weasel, red squirrel, skunk, ground squirrel, woodchuck, Russian boar, feral pigeons, starling and house sparrows can be hunted year-round with a valid hunting license.
Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: DNR introduces new app for hunters and fishers
