Michigan hunters harvested an estimated 489,922 deer in 2008, a 1 percent increase from 2007, the Department of Natural Resources announced at last week's Natural Resources Commission meeting in Lansing.

Hunters killed 248,350 antlered bucks and 241,573 antlerless deer, a 7 percent decrease in the buck harvest, but a 12 percent increase in the number of antlerless animals taken the previous year.

The estimates are based on the DNR's annual mail survey, which was sent to 49,947 individuals who bought at least one deer license.

The survey showed that 47 percent of those who bought a license harvested at least one deer, a 1 percent decrease from 2007. The decrease was most noted in the Upper Peninsula, where success rates dropped 5 percent. Hunters in the northern Lower Peninsula were slightly more successful (by 1 percent), while hunters in southern Michigan were modestly less successful (by 1 percent).

A total of 733,998 individuals bought at least one deer license, a 1 percent increase from 2007. Overall, the DNR sold 7 percent more licenses than the previous year.

Deer hunters spent 9.7 million days afield in 2008, about the same as in 2007.

To read the complete report, check the DNR Web site at www.michigan.gov/dnrhunting, and click on Wildlife Surveys and Reports.