By Travis Bartnick, GLIFWC Wildlife Biologist
Look for more whitetail wiiyaas at feasts, family gatherings, and ceremonies this ziigwan. Over the 2024 off-reservation tribal hunt, Ojibwe hunters registered 831 deer from the 1836, 1837, and 1842 Ceded Territories. The harvest total marks a significant uptick—about 35% higher compared to the 616 deer registered in 2023—in white-tailed deer treaty hunting success in the territory spanning portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
As in past years, most of the deer tallied over the off-reservation hunting season were registered during the month of November, accounting for 62% of all deer. Antlerless deer accounted for 44% of the kill and bucks accounted for 56% of the deer registered over the 2024 season. Ojibwe hunters took deer from 43 counties within the 1836, 1837, and 1842 Ceded Territories (Figure 1). This included 23 counties in Wisconsin, 14 counties in Michigan, and six counties in Minnesota. Hunting success in six counties in Wisconsin accounted for over half (58%) of the total off-reservation deer harvest. Those counties included Bayfield Co. (18%), Burnett Co. (15%), Douglas Co. (9%), Forest Co. (6%), Sawyer Co., (6%) and Vilas Co. accounting for 4% of the total harvest.
Online registrations accounted for 424 (51%) of the total, while 259 (31%) deer were registered using the phone option. The remaining 148 (18%) deer were registered in-person at tribal registration stations. All GLIFWC member bands provide walk-in registration services where treaty harvesters access harvest permits, printed materials, and may get their deer sampled for chronic wasting disease testing. Note: off-reservation harvest totals exclude deer registered at Keweenaw Bay Indian Community as tribal officials finalize their figures.
2024 makwa harvest
Tribal hunters registered a total of 53 black bears from the portions of the 1836, 1837, and 1842 Ceded Territories in Michigan and Wisconsin during the 2024 season. A total of 47 bears were registered in Wisconsin from 12 different counties, and six makwag were registered in Michigan from four different counties. Nearly one-half of all registered bears (47%) were harvested in Bayfield County, Wis. Of the 53 registered bears, 28 (53%) were male and 25 (47%) were female.
1836 Treaty omashkooz harvest
Bay Mills Indian Community had five omashkooz tags (two bull elk tags and three cow elk tags) available for the 2024 season. Tag holders filled all five of the available tags in the Lower Michigan portion of the 1836 Ceded Territory. One cow elk was harvested in September 2024. Two bull elk and two cow elk were harvested in the December hunt period.