In Region 3, both buck kills and doe kills were down by similar percentages during the 2005 firearms season (9.4 percent for bucks and 8.1 percent for antlerless). There were an estimated 67,389 antlered bucks bagged in the region during last fall's gun hunt compared with 74,365 in 2004. Almost as many antlerless deer were taken as antlered -- 65,546 versus a tally of 71,355 the year before.

In the northern L.P., the buck harvest was only down 5.6 percent last fall compared with the year before, but the antlerless harvest was off by 21 percent. With fewer deer present, I think there's a greater tendency for hunters to not fill antlerless permits in the hope that more deer will be present in the future. An estimated 45,635 antlered bucks were taken during the 2005 gun season in Region 2 compared with 48,320 the year before. The tally for does and fawns last fall was 28,784 versus 36,429 in 2004.

The antlerless kill declined the most (32.6 percent) in the Northwest District as a means of allowing that herd to rebuild. The DNR issued fewer permits for this district. The antlerless kill dropped to 11,345 in the northwest last fall compared with the 16,832 that were tagged during 2004.

Hunters in Region 2 did very well during the 2005 firearms season in spite of the lousy weather conditions the first two days of the season. It was windy both days and rain started on the afternoon of Nov. 15 that continued the next day. Seventy-two-year-old Nate Boss from Charlevoix was able to tough out the bad conditions on the morning of Nov. 16 by hunting from an enclosed ground blind in southwestern Charlevoix County, and his efforts were rewarded with a 130-inch 10-pointer at 7:30 a.m. The blind overlooked a food plot on the edge of a cedar swamp.

Reduced hunting pressure was a factor in how many deer were taken during last fall's firearms hunt as well as the weather. Many years, the ranks of our state's gun deer hunters numbered 750,000. That number has been steadily dwindling during recent years. Only 610,663 hunters took part in the annual tradition in 2005, according to DNR estimates. That's a decline of 42,135, or 6.5 percent, from the 652,798 who went afield during 2004.

The number of deer hunters who participated in the 2005 firearms season went down by 9.6 percent (254,180 from 281,152) in Region 2, 8.8 percent (95,993 from 105,292) in Region 1 and 4.2 percent (299,711 from 313,003) in Region 3. If 650,000 or 700,000 deer hunters had hunted during gun season instead of 611,000, I'm sure the deer kill would have been noticeably higher. However, the days with that many hunters in the field could be gone forever. Fewer hunters simply increase the chances for success for the hunters who remain afield.

So where are your chances the best of filling a tag during the 2006 firearms hunt? It depends on what you are willing to shoot. If you are interested in antlered bucks, hunters who tried their luck in the U.P. during 2005 did the best, and the same should be true this year.

U.P. hunters had an average success rate of 24.2 percent on bucks last fall, according to the DNR. In Region 3 where there are more deer but also far more hunting pressure, the average success rate on bucks during 2005 was 21.3 percent. The rate of success on bucks in Region 2 was 17.3 last year.