Michigan Elk Hunters Face Fewer Tags and New Season Dates in 2026

Michigan’s restricted elk hunt will look a bit completely different in 2026, with hunters going through fewer obtainable tags, later season dates, and extra time to register harvested animals.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources opened elk purposes Could 1 after the state’s Natural Resources Commission authorized new laws for the 2026 and 2027 seasons throughout an April assembly.

One of many greatest modifications is an entire overhaul of the primary hunt interval. As a substitute of being damaged into three separate four-day classes starting in late August, the early hunt will now run as one steady 12-day season from Sept. 23 by means of Oct. 4.

The second hunt interval has additionally been adjusted. That season will now happen Dec. 1-15, extending it to fifteen days whereas shifting it farther away from the Christmas and New Yr holidays.

State officers say the schedule modifications are designed to make the hunt extra handy whereas enhancing searching circumstances.

“For the primary hunt interval particularly, having a contiguous session that begins later within the season ought to make it simpler for hunters to plan their hunt,” stated Brent Rudolph, the DNR’s deer, elk, and moose administration specialist. “The transfer additionally offers extra favorable circumstances and avoids the nice and cozy temperatures we’ve skilled in the course of the earlier hunt in recent times.”

Hunters who efficiently harvest an elk may also get extra time for necessary registration. The DNR has prolonged the registration window from 24 hours to 72 hours after harvest.

On the similar time, Michigan is reducing again on the entire variety of elk licenses issued statewide. The DNR decreased obtainable licenses from 260 to 200 in an effort to stabilize the elk herd within the northern Decrease Peninsula.

Aerial surveys performed earlier this 12 months estimated Michigan’s elk inhabitants at roughly 733 animals, although officers famous the estimate may vary from about 486 to 980 elk. The DNR’s administration objective is to keep up a inhabitants between 500 and 900 animals.

The primary hunt interval will nonetheless challenge 100 licenses, although the breakdown modified to 40 “any-elk” tags and 60 antlerless-only licenses.

The second hunt interval was decreased considerably, dropping from 160 licenses final 12 months to 100 in 2026. These embody 30 any-elk tags and 70 antlerless-only licenses.

Michigan’s elk hunt stays open solely to state residents. Purposes price $5 and can be found by means of June 1 on-line, by means of license brokers, or on the DNR Hunt Fish app. Drawing outcomes shall be launched on June 22.

Regardless of the small odds, curiosity within the hunt stays extraordinarily excessive. State officers count on greater than 47,000 hunters to use for simply 200 tags this 12 months.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning outside journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly outside column for the Slidell Impartial Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Out of doors Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith e-mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com