Hunting Aims for a Comeback in Locked-Down Michigan

Petoskey, Mich.

Arm braced against a fallen tree to steady my father’s rifle, I watched the buck step into my sights and, heart hammering, squeezed the trigger. It was the first shot I’d ever taken at a deer. But I wasn’t the only nervous novice in the Michigan woods this month. After more than 20 years of decline, the state has seen a 67% increase in new hunters so far this year, despite—or perhaps because of—the Covid-19 lockdown.

The…