An eight-point buck is seen. Michigan's firearm deer season opens Saturday and extends through Nov. 30. (Iron Mountain Daily News photo by Betsy Bloom)

ESCANABA — With a healthy herd in the south-central Upper Peninsula at present, deer hunters would not be unreasonable to bring optimism to the start of this year’s firearm season, though of course there are always several factors to consider.

The weather the first several days following opener will likely be what determines how well the hunt overall goes, as one biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources predicted.

Delta and Menominee have been the dominant counties in the Upper Peninsula for whitetail deer harvests. But early archery season, which runs from Oct. 1 to Nov. 14, has been less productive than last year’s, despite indications there are probably high numbers of deer out in the woods.

“We think that our deer population is up a bit in the southern U.P. following two mild winters and two excellent growing seasons,” said DNR Biologist Joe Sage. “Crop damage tag requests were up over the summer, and both our personal observations and word from folks in the community suggested that there were more deer on the landscape, and that we had a large fawn crop this past summer.”

It could be that slightly warmer weather in the beginning part of archery season hurt bowhunters’ chances, as deer are more active when it’s colder. But the deer that have been brought to the DNR are well-fed, Sage reported, which suggests a healthy herd.

“Harvested deer that are coming in to the office here seem to have average antler development but higher body weights — I’m seeing lots of body fat! — again likely due to milder winters and good growing seasons the past two years,” the biologist said.

“Looking forward to firearm season, the potential is there for it to be a better season than last year, especially with opener falling on a Saturday,” Sage added.

License sales are up a bit this year, he said, so Michigan may see more hunters in the woods.

Ultimately, weather is expected to be the big determining factor of the year’s deer hunt. The first three to four days of regular firearm season are when the bulk of the harvest occurs, “so if the weather is bad during those days, it really drives the season totals down,” Sage said.

Hunters are reminded they are legally required to report their kills. Reporting may be done online at Michigan.gov/DNRHarvestReport or via the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app.

After regular firearm season, which runs from Nov. 15-30, the next deer hunting seasons are late archery from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, muzzleloading from Dec. 5-14, and extended late antlerless firearm Jan. 2-11.