Why It Matters: As firearm deer seasons approach across the Great Lakes region, hunters in Michigan and Minnesota will benefit from increased flexibility in their choice of legal hunting equipment. Recent changes in both states eliminate longstanding geographic firearm restrictions, demonstrating how modernizing hunting regulations can expand opportunities for sportsmen and women.
Highlights:
- In May 2026, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission (NRC) approved the elimination of the state’s Limited Firearms Deer Zone, allowing hunters to use previously restricted rifles throughout the Lower Peninsula.
- Similarly, during the 2025 legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers repealed the state’s longstanding shotgun-only deer hunting zone, allowing rifles to be used statewide beginning with the 2026 deer season, subject to county-level restrictions.
- Both changes provide hunters with additional equipment choices while maintaining existing hunter safety requirements.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) will continue to support policies that reduce barriers to participation while maintaining responsible, science-based wildlife management practices.
For decades, Michigan and Minnesota maintained geographic restrictions that limited deer hunters in portions of each state to primarily use shotguns or muzzleloaders during the regular firearms season, preventing the use of many conventional centerfire rifles. These restrictions were recently removed, allowing sportsmen and women to choose from a wider range of hunting implements to take white-tailed deer and help manage the states’ deer populations while filling their freezers with high-quality protein.
Although the changes were accomplished through different processes, with Michigan promulgating rules through the NRC and Minnesota enacting policy through its state legislature, both represent significant steps toward modernizing deer hunting regulations. However, Minnesota’s changes retain the ability of individual counties to impose their own restrictions. It is also important to note that muzzleloaders remain a legal method of take in both states, with dedicated muzzleloader hunting opportunities continuing in Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
As state policymakers and state wildlife management agencies evaluate existing hunting laws and regulations, the removal of these shotgun-only zones demonstrates a simple way to increase the sporting opportunities offered to hunters. CSF will continue to work alongside state legislators and fish and wildlife agencies to support policies that reduce barriers to participation while maintaining responsible, science-based wildlife management practices.