Seventeen of the U.P.’s deer management units are closed to antlerless harvest on a universal antlerless license this fall. The six that stay open carry hard caps of one, two or five deer. And the DNR’s own memo to the Natural Resources Commission says the idea “was passed by the Lower Peninsula Deer Advisory Team but not the Upper Peninsula Deer Advisory Team,” and that “the Department is not recommending a change.” The commission adopted it anyway on May 13.
The rule everyone reported is not the U.P.’s rule
Most coverage of the May vote led with Michigan’s new one-buck limit. That limit applies to the Lower Peninsula only, starting March 1, 2027. The DNR release says it in one sentence: “Upper Peninsula deer regulations will remain unchanged in 2027.” The memo is more specific: “In the Upper Peninsula, no changes would apply to the single deer license.” The three-point restriction on the combo license’s regular tag, in place since 2009, stays.
Two other “statewide” changes are also Lower Peninsula only. The Sept. 12 and 13 early antlerless firearm season does not exist in Zone 1; in the U.P. that weekend is the Liberty Hunt for youth and hunters with disabilities. And the December firearm season that replaces muzzleloader downstate does not reach here. The U.P.’s Dec. 4 to 6 season stays black powder only.
What did change in the U.P.
The antlerless access permit drawing is gone, and so are DMUs 351 and 352, the two units it served. In 2025, DMU 352 had 500 permits by drawing; 305 were picked up and just under 250 antlerless deer were reported. Those four units, 027, 036, 152 and 252, are now closed to the universal antlerless license entirely.
Universal antlerless licenses work in six units this year, with a limit per hunter: one in DMU 022, the Crystal Falls unit; two each in 121 (Bay de Noc), 122 (Norway), 155 (Gladstone) and 255 (LaBranche); five in 055, the Menominee unit. Closed to the universal license: 007, 017, 021, 027, 031, 036, 042, 048, 066, 117, 127, 131, 149, 152, 249, 252 and 349.
One thing the closure language does not do. It says closed “with a universal antlerless license.” A doe is still legal in those units during archery season on a regular deer license or either combo tag, subject to antler point rules. That has been the case in the closed units for years and the 2026 order does not touch it.
Why the department did not want it
The memo’s reasoning is the winter. “The winter of 2025-2026 is one of the more severe winters experienced in recent years, culminating in a blizzard event in March that likely impacted deer in many areas. Reduced deer numbers are expected in 2026 due to this severe winter.” The DNR’s July column put a number on it: 111 days with at least a foot of snow on the ground, the fourth most severe U.P. winter since 2003.
What the department asked for, if the commission changed anything, was “the flexibility needed for adaptive management by authorizing the Department to establish universal antlerless deer license use limits.” That is what passed. The memo’s preliminary table had capped 027, 036, 152 and 252 at one deer each; the final digest closed them.
Your 2026 U.P. calendar
Liberty Hunt Sept. 12 to 13. Independence Hunt Oct. 15 to 18. Archery Oct. 1 to Nov. 14. Firearm Nov. 15 to 30. Late archery Dec. 1 to Jan. 1. Muzzleloader Dec. 4 to 6. Baiting is legal in Zone 1 from Sept. 15 to Jan. 1, two gallons in a 10-by-10 spread; Liberty Hunt participants may bait five days before that hunt. New this year, per the DNR digest: resident seniors with a senior license may use a crossbow in the U.P. late archery season.
Can I shoot a doe where I hunt?
Find your DMU on the digest map. If it is 022, 055, 121, 122, 155 or 255, yes, on a universal antlerless license, up to the cap. If it is any of the other 17, not on that license, but yes with a bow during archery on your regular deer or combo tag.
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How this story was reported
Editorial methodAnalysis
Last verifiedSep. 13, 2026
Corrections statusNo material correction note is recorded on this article.
AI assistanceResearched and drafted with AI tools. Reviewed and approved by editor Keegan O’Brien.
Verification note: The headline claim holds. The DNR own informational memo for the universal antlerless limit says the recommendation was passed by the Lower Peninsula Deer Advisory Team but not the Upper Peninsula Deer Advisory Team, and that the Department is not recommending a change. The signed order of May 13, 2026 confirms the six open U.P. units and their caps, unit 022 at one, 121, 122, 155 and 255 at two, and 055 at five. The 111 days with at least 12 inches of snow and the fourth-most-severe-winter framing come from the DNR own Showcasing the DNR column. Two soft spots. Sixteen of the seventeen closed units match the order limits table; DMU 149 did not appear in the table text retrieved, so that one unit rests on our own reporting and should be re-checked against the order. And the second image in the article is a doe with fawns at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, which is in the Lower Peninsula, in a story about the U.P. The caption is accurate but the choice is wrong for the story and should be swapped.
Primary sources
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Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 6 of 2026, informational memo, NRC agenda item 10 — Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Published Apr. 1, 2026. Accessed Sep. 13, 2026.
Language matches the block quotes in the article word for word. This is the document that carries the headline claim.
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Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 6 of 2026, signed order — Michigan Natural Resources Commission
Published May. 13, 2026. Accessed Sep. 13, 2026.
Effective date and the per-unit limits table confirmed here. DMU 149 was not found in the table text retrieved, so the seventeenth closed unit is not confirmed from this document.
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Natural Resources Commission approves deer regulation changes for 2026 and 2027 — Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Published May. 15, 2026. Accessed Sep. 13, 2026.
This is the source for the article correction that the one-buck rule everyone is talking about does not reach the U.P.
Additional reporting
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Another severe winter hampers U.P. deer herd (Showcasing the DNR) — Michigan Department of Natural Resources, syndicated column
Published Jul. 10, 2026. Accessed Sep. 13, 2026.
DNR authored column accessed through the Iron Mountain Daily News reprint; no michigan.gov copy was found. Replace with a state-hosted copy if one appears.
Photo and media credits
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2012 Photo Contest – Wildlife Category (7944844724).jpg (featured image) — Seney Natural History Association, via Wikimedia Commons
Featured image record. Accessed Sep. 13, 2026. CC BY-SA 2.0.
File page confirmed via the Commons API: author Seney Natural History Association, licence CC BY-SA 2.0, 3346 by 2231. The Commons author field names the association; the photographer credit Fred Gaunt comes from the file description and our own caption, not from the author field.
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