Deer Season Around Marquette Township Now Has a Hard Stop on Jan. 1

If you walk the dog at Forestville or run the South Trails before work, when does deer season end? In past seasons the answer drifted into January. This year it lands on one date. Firearm deer season opens Sunday, Nov. 15, and under rules Michigan adopted this spring, every deer season in the state ends after Jan. 1, 2027.

That gives you a shorter, clearer hunting calendar to plan around. It also gives you a smaller herd after a very hard winter and an earlier handoff to the snow-bike season. Here's how the dates line up for someone who uses the trails west of town and doesn't hunt.

The calendar Michigan rewrote in May

On May 15, 2026, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced that the Natural Resources Commission had approved deer regulation changes for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Two of them matter most to trail users. The muzzleloader season went from 10 days to three, starting the first Friday in December. The commission also eliminated the Extended Late Antlerless and January Archery seasons, which the DNR described as "concluding all deer hunting seasons after Jan. 1."

Here's how the remaining Upper Peninsula dates fall, from the DNR's 2026 Deer Hunting Regulations Summary:

A muzzleloader season that used to cover most of December now covers one weekend. After Dec. 6, the people in the woods are archery hunters, and they're done after Jan. 1.

The herd those hunters will find

The firearm opener this year follows one of the hardest winters local biologists have tracked. MLive reported in July that the winter of 2025–26 ranked as the fourth-most severe in the U.P. since 2003. Biologists call a winter severe when snow averages at least a foot deep across the peninsula for 90 or more days. By that measure, six of the past nine U.P. winters have been severe. The worst on record since 2003 was 2013–14, with 128 days of snow at least a foot deep.

Brian Roell, a DNR wildlife biologist based in Marquette, described what he found in the field in that same MLive story:

"It's going to hit the fawns first. They're younger; they're weaker."

Roell told WLUC TV6 the same month that "there are going to be fewer deer on the landscape." In that report, Caleb Eckloff, a DNR wildlife technician in Marquette, explained that in winter, deer move into areas that give them "just a little overhead cover."

The DNR's later 2026 deer hunting preview is more measured. It expects fawn recruitment and deer condition in the U.P. may be below average, but it describes the population effects as mostly localized rather than dramatic across the region. It credits a generally favorable summer and good acorn availability for that. So expect fewer deer in some areas, but expect hunters to be out as usual.

Why you can't tell from the trailhead who uses the land

The land under a trail around Marquette isn't one kind of land. The Noquemanon Trail Network describes itself as "Non-Profit Trail Management on Private and Public Land." The City of Marquette's 2026 Master Plan Supplemental Report notes that many NTN trails sit on "year-to-year private property agreements." The report calls this a source of "a lack of long-term security for the NTN." The same report says most of the undeveloped utility land along the Dead River, at the city's northern edge, belongs to the Marquette Board of Light and Power.

Commercial Forest land follows its own access rule. According to the DNR's regulations summary, these privately owned forests are open to the public on foot for fishing, hunting and trapping. Other activities need the landowner's permission. Owners don't have to mark Commercial Forest land, and a fence or gate doesn't close it to hunters. That means a hunter can be on a parcel legally while a hiker on the same parcel may not have the same right to be there.

The DNR's MiHunt map shows approximate boundaries of public hunting land and private land open to public hunting, including Commercial Forest parcels. The DNR points people to it for checking individual parcels. The NTN's own pages for the South Trails and Forestville list hiking, trail running and biking. Both pages require dogs on a leash and say all trail use is at your own risk.

The rules that set the distances and the hours

Most of the state's season rules apply to hunters, not to you. They still tell you when and where hunting can happen around you:

• Hours. During firearm season, a hunter may shoot from 30 minutes before local sunrise until 30 minutes after local sunset. On a mid-November weekday, that window covers the dawn run and the after-work dog walk.
• Buildings. Firearm hunters may not hunt in, shoot through, or shoot at wildlife within 150 yards, or 450 feet, of an occupied building without written permission from the owner or occupant.
• Orange. From Nov. 15 to 30, deer hunters, including bowhunters, must by law wear hunter orange on their outermost layer, visible from all directions. The law doesn't cover hikers. Still, the DNR's 2025 firearm season release advised non-hunters to wear bright colors, especially hunter orange, near woods or fields where hunting may happen.
• Interference. Michigan law makes it illegal to obstruct or interfere with the lawful taking of animals. The DNR's Nov. 4, 2026 safety tips list loud noises or barriers meant to keep a hunter or game away as examples of hunter harassment, a misdemeanor.

Marquette County Sheriff Greg Zyburt gave the same advice in a 2024 WLUC report about hikers during hunting season. He recommended bright clothing for both people and pets and said, "If you're out walking, you want to be seen."

This is general information, not legal advice. If a rule affects your own land or your own plans, check the linked DNR text and confirm with the DNR or a qualified professional.

Where to ask in person

The DNR's Marquette Customer Service Center is at 1990 US-41 South, Marquette, and is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The phone number is 906-228-6561. To report suspected hunting outside legal hours, the DNR's Report All Poaching hotline is 800-292-7800, by call or text.

What happens on the South Trails four weeks after Jan. 1

Because the January seasons are gone, the trails west of town now have four clear weeks between the last legal deer hunt and the NTN's next big winter event. The Eh Winter Enduro is set for Saturday, Jan. 30, 2027, on the South Trails. It starts and finishes at the NTN South Trails Pavilion and runs on groomed and snowshoe-packed trails. Proceeds support winter grooming across the network. On Jan. 30, the snowshoe-packed singletrack will see more bikes than at any point in the fall.

Questions about rural land, Commercial Forest neighbors, or acreage near the trail network often come up while we're showing property west of town. If you're thinking about owning land out here and want to talk through what shares the woods with you each November, Erin Wasik and Jen McCarthy are glad to walk through it with you, at your pace. Start Your Search.