Bow Hunting With a Pistol on Your Hip: Michigan CPL Rules and Drinking at Deer Camp

Archery deer season opened October 1 and runs through November 14, and a lot of hunters from Plymouth, Canton, and Northville spend those weekends at a stand in Washtenaw or Livingston County, or at a family camp farther north. Some of them carry a pistol on their hip in the woods, for coyotes, for a bear, or just because they carry everywhere else. In Michigan whether that's legal during archery season comes down to one document in your wallet, and once the evening fire and the cooler come out at camp, it comes down to a few more numbers. The pistol on your hip can be completely legal at noon and a criminal charge by nine.

Can you carry a pistol while bow hunting in Michigan?

Only if an exception applies, and the main one is a concealed pistol license. The DNR's 2026 deer regulations say that during the archery deer seasons you can't possess or carry afield a pistol, revolver, or other firearm while bow hunting for deer. The same regulations list two exceptions: a hunter properly licensed to hunt deer with a firearm in an area open to a firearm deer season at that time, and a pistol carried under the authority of a CPL, or under a specific exception from the CPL requirement.

The CPL exception comes with a catch the DNR spells out. A concealed pistol license doesn't authorize you to use the pistol to take game, except as otherwise provided by law. A CPL holder can carry for self defense in the stand, but finishing a wounded deer with that pistol during archery season isn't something the license covers.

What if you don't have a CPL?

Then the pistol generally stays home during archery season. The DNR rules that let a hunter without a CPL carry a handgun in the field, in plain view and at 18 or older, apply during seasons when a firearm is allowed. Archery season isn't one of them, outside the overlapping firearm hunts, so the general rule against carrying a firearm afield while bow hunting controls. Open carry that might be legal on a city sidewalk isn't the same thing as carrying while bow hunting.

There's also a quiet period worth knowing about. From November 10 through 14, right before the regular firearm season opens November 15, the DNR bars carrying afield or transporting rifles, including rimfire, and shotguns loaded with buckshot, slugs, or similar shells, with exceptions for properly transporting a firearm to deer camp or a range and target shooting on your own property.

How do you get the pistol to camp legally?

Without a CPL, very carefully. Carrying a pistol in a vehicle without a CPL is a felony under MCL 750.227(2), punishable by up to five years or a $2,500 fine, and the exception in MCL 750.231a requires the pistol to be properly licensed, unloaded, in a closed case designed for firearms, and in the trunk. In a vehicle without a trunk, it has to be somewhere no occupant can readily reach. The Michigan State Police have put it plainly: there's no way to open carry a pistol in a vehicle.

Rifles and shotguns follow the hunting rules: unloaded in both the barrel and the magazine, and either cased or in the trunk. We covered the long gun side, including the loaded shotgun problem between fields, in our piece on keeping a loaded gun in your truck. A felony carrying charge from a drive to camp is one of the most avoidable serious charges in Michigan, and it can end your right to own firearms if it turns into a conviction.

Is it illegal to carry a gun after drinking at deer camp?

Yes, for anyone. MCL 750.237 makes it a crime to carry, possess, control, use, or discharge a firearm while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or more, or while visibly impaired. Carrying or possessing is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days and a $100 fine, and using or discharging the gun raises the fine to $500. If someone is seriously injured, it's a five year felony, and if someone dies, it's up to 15 years.

An officer with probable cause can require a breath, blood, or urine test. You can refuse, but the officer must tell you that a court order can then be obtained, and you're entitled to your own test. The hunting code adds a separate rule for anyone carrying a firearm under a hunting license: MCL 324.43558(3) bars carrying while under the influence, with 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both. The DNR's regulations repeat it in plain terms: you can't hunt deer while under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances.

What are the rules for CPL holders who've been drinking?

Stricter than the general law. Accepting a Michigan CPL counts as consent to a chemical test, and MCL 28.425k sets three tiers for carrying a concealed pistol after drinking. At 0.02 to under 0.08 it's a civil infraction with a $100 fine and a one year CPL suspension. At 0.08 to under 0.10 it's a misdemeanor with up to 93 days and a three year suspension. Under the influence, or at 0.10 or more, it's a misdemeanor and the court orders the CPL revoked. Refusing the test is a civil infraction with a six month suspension, and the State Police note the pistol can be seized.

There's a narrow allowance for transport: a CPL holder who's been drinking can still transport a pistol in a locked trunk, or, without a trunk, unloaded in a locked container separate from the ammunition. That's the rule to follow at camp. Once the cooler opens, the pistol goes unloaded into a locked trunk, or, in a pickup, a locked container away from the ammunition, and it stays there.

What can a conviction cost a hunter?

More than the fine. A CPL suspension or revocation is a direct consequence of the 425k tiers, and our piece on how charges affect your CPL covers how that process works. A conviction for violating the hunting code can also lead a court to revoke hunting licenses for the rest of the year and the following year, which takes the next season with it.

The felony charges carry the heaviest cost. A felony conviction for carrying a pistol in a vehicle triggers Michigan's ban on possessing firearms for years after the sentence is completed, and federal law separately bars firearm possession after a felony. For a hunter, that's the end of hunting with a gun for years, over a pistol that was in the wrong place in the truck.

What should you do if you're charged?

Don't explain to the officer where the pistol was, when you last had a drink, or what you planned to do with the gun, beyond identifying yourself and, if you hold a CPL and are carrying, immediately telling the officer, which MCL 28.425f requires and which carries a $500 fine and a six month suspension if you don't. Write down the timeline as soon as you can: where the firearm was, when it was loaded or unloaded, and what you drank and when.

Then call a lawyer before the first court date. Our firearm and gun charges practice handles CPL, carrying, and hunting related firearm cases across western Wayne County and the counties where our clients hunt. Call Boria Law at (734) 453-7806, and Attorney Aaron J. Boria will review the charge, the CPL consequences, and the hunting license exposure together. The pistol on your hip can be completely legal at noon, and the rules above are what keep it legal at nine.

Quick answers

Can you carry a pistol while hunting in Michigan with a CPL?

Yes. A pistol carried under a concealed pistol license is an exception to the DNR's rule against carrying firearms while bow hunting, but the CPL doesn't authorize using the pistol to take game except as otherwise provided by law.

Can you have a gun in your car while drinking in Michigan if you have a CPL?

Only for transport. A CPL holder who has been drinking can transport a pistol in a locked trunk, or, in a vehicle without a trunk, unloaded in a locked container separate from the ammunition. Carrying it on your person after drinking is a violation.

When is the quiet period before Michigan's firearm deer season?

November 10 through 14. During those days, carrying afield or transporting rifles and slug or buckshot loaded shotguns is restricted, with exceptions for properly transporting firearms to deer camp or a range.

Related reading

• Can You Keep a Loaded Gun in Your Truck for Small Game Season?
• How Criminal Charges Affect Your Michigan CPL
• Concealed Carry in Crowds: Michigan CPL Rules