MICHIGAN’S 16-DAY FIREARM deer season opens Friday. Successful firearm and archery hunters may submit photos to The Daily News by emailing news@ironmountaindailynews.com. Along with information on the hunt, please include where the hunter is from and the county of harvest. (Michigan Department of Natural Resources)

IRON MOUNTAIN — High temperatures in the low 50s are expected in the region for Friday’s opener of the Michigan firearm deer season with similar weather through the weekend.

There is a chance of rain after midnight Saturday, but otherwise the forecast is dry until Monday night. A mix of rain and snow is possible later next week.

After a mild winter, fawn production was good this spring, which may lead to deer sightings skewed to the younger side. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources also reports a good season for food sources such as apples and acorns.

Hunters are reminded that online harvest reporting is required for everyone who successfully takes a deer. You can report your deer through the DNR Hunt Fish app or at Michigan.gov/DNRHarvestReport.

In Dickinson County, as of Wednesday, the DNR’s reporting dashboard showed 321 antlered deer and 146 antlerless deer taken so far during the early archery season. That total of 467 deer compares with 396 taken during the 2023 early archery period, which included 243 bucks.

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 Upper Peninsula. 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.

The sample submission site in Dickinson County is the Norway DNR Field Office at 520 W. U.S. 2 in Norway. The location will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday during the 16-day firearm season.

More information is available at https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/hunting/deer/deer-stations-disease-sample or by calling 906-563-9247.

A regulation change to be noted is the reinstatement of a 3-point antler restriction when hunting with a single deer license in deer management unit 122, which is mostly in south Dickinson County.

Baiting is permitted in the U.P. but the DNR recommends only baiting when actively hunting and not placing bait or feed repeatedly at the same point on the ground. This is to minimize exposure of deer to diseases that may be present.

Bait volume at any hunting site cannot exceed 2 gallons and dispersal must be over a minimum 10-by-10-feet area.

According to the DNR, more than 457,200 hunting licenses were sold through Oct. 31 in Michigan, aligning with recent years. A total of 44,973 women bought hunting licenses, up 1.91%.

Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer hunt won’t get underway until Saturday, Nov. 23, extending through Sunday, Dec. 1. This is the latest window within which Wisconsin’s season may occur, as established by state law.