DNR photo Hunters check in a harvested deer in St. Ignace in the shadow of the Mackinac Bridge.

MARQUETTE — With the archery deer hunting season already underway and the firearm deer season opener just around the corner, here are some Upper Peninsula hunting forecast notes from Michigan Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division staffers.

Most of the Upper Peninsula saw an extremely mild 2023-2024 winter, which was a welcome change from the previous two winters. Low snowfall and lack of extreme cold likely resulted in fewer deer affected by winter starvation and predation.

The result was deer coming out of the winter in better condition and with better fawn production, with many sets of twins being observed this spring. While conditions are going to vary locally, soft and hard mast production, such as apples and beech nuts, looks good this year.

Despite no additional cases of chronic wasting disease being detected in Dickinson County since 2018, the DNR is still collecting baseline surveillance data for CWD in many counties across the U.P.

The DNR encourages hunters to consider submitting a sample for CWD testing from deer harvested in Baraga, Chippewa, Dickinson, Houghton, Keweenaw, Luce, Mackinac, Ontonagon and Schoolcraft counties.

A few regulation changes for the U.P. should be noted before heading into the woods this fall.

After being removed in 2018, a three-point antler-point restriction when hunting with a single deer license was reinstated for deer management unit 122.

Antlerless hunting during late archery season with the single deer or deer combo license is prohibited after Dec. 10 in mid-snowfall zone deer management units 017, 021, 027, 036, 117, 149, 152, 249, 252, 349 and 249.

Antlerless access permits for DMU 351 were reduced from 1,000 to 0, making antlerless hunting with an antlerless license not available in those DMUs. Antlerless harvest is still an option with a single deer license or deer combo license during the archery season through Dec. 10.

Antlerless access permits for DMU 352 were reduced from 1,000 to 500.

For more on deer hunting regulations visit Michigan.gov/Deer.