If you hunt just hearing the date November 15th, might get your juices flowing. Of course November 15th for generations has been opening day of firearm deer hunting season here in Michigan. But a state lawmaker believes it's time for the date of opening day change. The reason why is the subject of this Fact Finder.
As a hunter, the significance of the 15th day of November is not lost on State Representative Kevin Cotter (R-99th District). He says he understands about history and tradition of the trip to deer camp, the camaraderie, and the hunt. That being said, as a lawmaker he also knows that every dime counts, and boosting the economy has to be a top priority. It's those two concepts that have him taking a closer look at the possibility of moving the season opener. Representative Cotter explains "The 15th is just tradition, but we have to balance that tradition against the very difficult impact that we are all facing together."
Tradition and balance is the fine line that State Representative Cotter says hunters are walking right now. The way Representative Cotter sees it, the state has the opportunity to change Michigan's firearm deer season and make money at the same time. How? Well it's all laid out in his recently introduced house bill 4259 .
Representative Cotter sums it up simply, "The bill reads that it would change the opening day to the Saturday closest so either the second or the third Saturday of November whichever is closest to the 15th. So we are not moving opening day a week, the worst case scenario were moving opening day three days."
Since at least 1925, opening day here in Michigan has been November 15th, regardless of what day of the week that is. Representative Cotter says shifting the opener so that it always falls on a Saturday won't have a big impact on the rut timing, but will on the number of hunters able to participate. As evidence he points out that "there was recently a study put together by a professor at Michigan State University that showed that each year that the 15th happens to fall on a Saturday we see almost as a rule a 10% increase in the number of hunters that participate in that given year."
And Representative Cotter believes more hunters mean more money on several different levels. On the state level, he points out that "if those additional 80,000 hunters were to buy just one deer tag, one hunting license at $15 per person that's $2 million in additional financial impact on the state." That assumes each of those hunters purchases only a $15 in state tag. Out of state licenses or antlerless permits would obviously add to the $2 million dollar estimate.
And that's just the direct impact to Lansing. Opening days on the weekends in the past have meant more hunters coming north, staying at hotels, buying gas and eating out. Hunting is big business regardless of the day of the week the opener falls on, but weekend openers do seem to draw bigger crowds that may stay longer. While respectful of the tradition of the 15th, Representative Cotter says as a state we need to look at ways to boost the economy and this one, he believes is a win win for everyone involved. In fact, according to Representative Cotter "this is not a significant change this is just common sense in my opinion. If we can find ways that will increase millions of dollars of potential revenue to the state, that's just common sense"
Not everyone supports the notion of moving opening day. I contacted the DNR about the possibility of changing the opening day. Here is there response:
"We respect the interest that the legislator has in this issue, and we intend to meet with the bill sponsor this week to give him all our analytical data on why Nov. 15 is opening day. Some of the data we will share includes our archive of hunter surveys. We ask hunters this question every year on the surveys we mail out to a broad cross-section of deer hunters. Every year, hunters say overwhelmingly that they prefer Nov. 15 as opening day. We think they prefer it because it is such a huge part of our deer hunting heritage here."
So what do you think? Would you like to see Michigan's opening day change to a Saturday every year? Should it stay the way it is? Let me know leave a comment and take part in the poll below.
