Michigan Hunting License Reminds Users Not To Use It To Kill People

Michigan hunting licenses have really changed a lot over the years, but there is one early license that reminded hunters not to kill people.

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Michigan Hunting Licenses

In order to restrict the killing of deer in Michigan, hunting licenses were created in 1895.

Michigan's first hunting licenses only cost hunters 50 cents. If you were a non-resident a license would cost $25 in order to deer hunt.

In the beginning, Michigan hunting licenses were for big game only. It wasn't until the 20th century that the protection of small game became a priority for conservationists.

Nowadays you can get a hunt/fish combo license that includes your small game base licenses and 2 deer tags plus your annual all-species fishing for $76 if you are a Michigan resident and non-residents are $266.

Michigan hunting tags sure have evolved over the years from those paper tags and early antlerless tags to the stickers we have today that we notch. In the early days licenses were a bit different.

One Vintage Michigan Hunting License Reminded Users Not to Kill People

I used to save my dads and my hunting licenses but somehow over the years all that stuff just got lost in all the moves. A lot of hunters saved all their hunting tags over the years and have some pretty cool displays but there was one hunting tag that had a reminder not to kill other hunters which is probably why eventually hunters had to wear orange while in the woods.

The back of this 1943 Michigan hunting license that was on Reddit shows some stats that included how many deer were killed but also how many hunters were killed or wounded. They had separate stats for small game numbers that also included hunters killed or wounded. The real kicker is the line at the bottom that says, "This is a Game Hunting License! Don't Use it to Shoot Another Hunter." That is quite the warning for hunters and shows that the sport has come a long way with safety. Click the link above there are some great comments there.