As the various seasons end and begin, deer hunters should be aware of the following state and federal laws that concern hunting on national forests:

Legal Blinds on Public Lands: Portable ground blinds should be removed at the end of each day. Ground blinds of dead natural materials must be taken apart at the end of the season. Constructed ground blinds from firearms season must be removed by December 1 and, under state law, must include the name of the person placing the blind either attached to or painted on the blind.

Any ground blinds or stands left on the Hiawatha National Forest after December 2 may be destroyed by the Forest Service.

All-terrain Vehicles (ATVs): ATVs are allowed on National Forest roads that have a vertical road marker, unless the road is posted or designated closed. In some counties in the Upper Peninsula, certain other roads are open to ATV use, in addition to the vertically marked roads. These roads are posted open for ATV use.

Cross-country (off-road) travel is prohibited on National Forest land. Most paved roads, including shoulders and right-of-ways, are closed to ATV use. Roads and trails barricaded (by a berm of earth, gate, post, trench, or other devices), pipelines and power line right-of-ways, shoreline areas, wetlands, streams, and other permanent water bodies are closed to ATV use. Designated Wilderness Areas are also closed to ATV use.

Baiting: Baiting is limited to two gallons per day at any one hunting location.

Camping on the Hiawatha: There is a 16-day maximum stay limit. If hunters wish to continue camping, they must move more than one mile away; hunters can stay at the second location up to 16 days.

No hunting is allowed in National Forest campgrounds. While camping on the National Forest, campers are allowed to gather downed wood for campfires but that wood cannot be removed from the National Forest lands.