Interesting year in Michigan coming up. Obviously with the baiting ban in effect, it will force people to change their tactics. There is also the special anterless firearm season in Lower Michigan September 18 -22. I usually do not start taking down does until late season muzzleloader, but I am running low on meat.

Question: Do you think with the baiting ban and the special anterless season, the kill count for the entire state will be up or down? Why?

IMHO: I think the kill will be about the same. The lack of baiting will get the deer up and moving more as the cannot just wait until darkand then go eat their fill on a bait pile. They will have to forage a couple times during daylight hours. Those counties with higher numbers of deer should see more. I would be surprised if the early anterless deer season has much of an effect on the herd numbers as most hunters are not aware this is going on, but should be enough to stabilize the kill numbers.

The downside: With the lack of baiting and deer moving more, I think there will be more car deer accidents. I also think you will see more reports of trespassingas people cannot lure deer onto small properties with large bait piles.