By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced last month that crossbows may now be used by anyone to hunt deer and other game.

Prior to the announcement, only the disabled were allowed to use a crossbow for hunting in Michigan. The fewest restrictions on crossbow hunting will be in the southern part of the state, sometimes called Zone Three.

“It was a way for us to retain and recruit new hunters,” said Mary Detloff, a DNR spokeswoman. “As bow hunters get older, it makes it more difficult for them to stay in the sport. Also, sometimes women don’t like to use firearms.”

She said it’s difficult for some women to use bow and arrows because it requires a lot of upper body strength to pull back on the bow.

“For that Zone Three, deer population was a consideration,” she said. “We’re close to two times the desired deer population in the southern part of the state. We want 500,000 in Zone Three, but we have close to 900,000.”

The DNR would like to get the deer population down in the southern part of the state in order to minimize the chance that bovine tuberculosis will spread beyond the limited areas where it’s been found so far, but it’s had trouble doing this because so much land in the southern portion of the state is privately owned.

Detloff stated there is some sketchy evidence that crossbow sales are starting to pick up. “We’ve gotten some anecdotal information from some of the larger sporting goods stores, like Jay’s and Cabela’s, that there’s been a pretty big rush on crossbows,” she explained.

She also said that right now the law is such that hunters who use a crossbow must use hunter orange. This is a problem, because most people who hunt with bow and arrows use camouflage. She said the DNR is going to try to have the law changed. The required use of hunter orange doesn’t apply to the hunting of wild turkeys and waterfowl.

She expects hunters to start using their crossbows with the spring turkey hunting season, although she said people can try using it with any game.

Here are a few of the other rules regarding crossbows:
•Anyone who is 12 or older and has acquired a crossbow stamp can hunt with a crossbow during any firearm season, for big or small game. Officials are concerned that children under 12 may not be able to handle the crossbow safely.

•Anyone 50 and older is allowed to use a crossbow during the Oct. 1-Nov. 14 archery deer season, with an archery license.

•In Zone Three, in southern Michigan, anyone 12 and older can hunt with a crossbow during any hunting season as long as they have the appropriate license.

•Anyone who has a crossbow permit because of a disability may still hunt with a crossbow as before.
The purpose of a crossbow stamp is only to help the DNR to monitor the activity; the stamp itself is free.