Buck combo tags to have new restrictions

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Michigan?s Natural Resources Commission (NRC) voted down a new three-point restriction for Deer Management Unit (DMU) 487, which includes Presque Isle County. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment?s (DNRE) governing body decided against a recommendation to implement a proposal to allow hunters to only take a buck if it had at least three points on one side, with each being at least 1 inch in length. The NRC went with a slightly different version.

Meeting last Thursday in Lansing, the commission approved regulations, which gives hunters a choice if they only want one buck. ?WHAT THEY put in place is the same regulat

ions we?ve had in the upper peninsula for the last couple of years for bucks,? said Mary Dettloff, Department of Natural Resources public relations officer. ?Hunters with an archery or firearm license can take a single-antlered buck, of any size.

?They don?t have to worry about antler points, but if you have a combo license, you have to abide by three or more points on one side. The other tag has to be four or more points on the other side. So, if you are going to take one buck, you can take one of any size. If you are going to use your combo tag, then you?ve got to go by the restrictions on the points.?

THE ORIGINAL recommendations were debated for the past few months. Last month, the DNRE hosted two public meetings in Alcona and Alpena counties to explain the proposed restrictions. Dettloff said there were a number of people in attendance at the NRC meeting, including quite a contingent from Alpena, who testified for the restrictions. ?They feel people don?t come there to hunt the way they used to before the bovine tuberculosis outbreak in the 1990s,? said Dettloff. ?They feel this is a way we can help, or eradicate the disease, so that maybe people can hunt in that area again.? The vote of the NRC was 4-1. The new regulations will be in effect for the 2010 archery and firearm seasons.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.