With big changes getting rolled out for Saturday’s kickoff to the nine-day gun deer hunt, the Department of Natural Resources is urging hunters to do their homework.
This is the first gun deer season with county-based regulations and four regional habitat zones across the state. Central and southern farmland zones will allow more deer kills, while antlerless deer are off-limits to most hunters in northern and central forest zones.
DNR Deer Policy Expert Kevin Wallenfang said that every hunter will nevertheless get a free antlerless tag, regardless of where they hunt.
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“Now, obviously in the northern part of the state, in the northern forest region or the central forest region that’s just a piece of paper to them that is, quite frankly, worthless,” he said. “But if they do hunt in the farmland zone, they do have a free antlerless tag.”
The DNR said that with the changes, they’ll be focusing on education more than citations unless violations appear willful.
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