The Michigan Department of Natural Resources expects the number of archers and the amount of deer killed with bows and arrows this season to rise or remain steady.

Officials largely attribute an increase in the number of archers to the use of crossbows. Since 2009, the state has widely allowed hunting with a crossbow, which flings arrows but has a stock and trigger like a firearm.

Until this and other regulatory changes, the hunting population had been slowly declining, said Brent Rudolph, deer and elk program leader for the DNR.

The last two hunting seasons, there were about 300,000 archers in Michigan. Three seasons ago, there were about 285,000, Rudolph said.

Statewide archery season begins Oct. 1.

About 117,000 deer were harvested during each of the 2009 and 2010 archery seasons. “Don’t expect any big changes in deer numbers,” Rudolph said.

In 2010 in the south-central Lower Peninsula region, which includes Jackson County, hunters killed 27,663 deer during archery season. This was slightly down from 2009, when hunters killed 28,223 deer during the season, according to the DNR’s 2010 deer harvest survey report.

In the Jackson area, there has not been much change in the deer population, Rudolph said. “We continue to have abundant deer, and that goes along with abundant hunting opportunities,” he said of the area.

Typically people take to the woods in early October, but the prime hunting period really comes in late October and early November, Rudolph said. Deer get in the rut and begin moving about more, he said.

Weather might impact the harvest numbers, Rudolph said. If it is nice, the number of deer killed might increase slightly.

The success of archery season, however, is less dependent on weather than the firearm season because the season is longer and the first couple days of it do not decide the harvest numbers, Rudolph said.

During regular firearm season, which begins Nov. 15 and ends Nov. 30, the first few days are big, he said.

Archery season ends Nov. 14. It reopens Dec. 1 and ends Jan. 1.