The Michigan Natural Resources Commission (NRC) will decide at its May 7 meeting whether to create two large deer management units (DMUs) that would give hunters greater flexibility to harvest antlerless deer.

The proposal calls for the creation of multi-county DMUs on private land in the southern Lower Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula. DMU 486 would include Mecosta, Muskegon, Isabella, Midland and Bay counties, as well as all counties in Zone 3, except for Kent, St. Clair, Macomb, Wayne and Monroe. DMU 487 would include the six counties where bovine tuberculosis in the deer herd is an ongoing issue: Alcona, Alpena, Iosco, Montmorency, Oscoda and Presque Isle.

The proposal would afford hunters the opportunity to take an antlerless deer on private lands with a license that is valid in multiple counties. Existing DMUs within the larger units that are largely structured along county lines would still be maintained so that antlerless quotas for public land can be established.