{"id":313994,"date":"2025-10-18T17:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/313994\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T17:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:59:10","slug":"drought-dries-up-premier-waterfowl-hunting-destination-in-mid-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/313994\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought dries up premier waterfowl hunting destination in mid-Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drought conditions in Michigan have dried up both the ground and the hunting opportunities in one of the state\u2019s premier waterfowl hunting destinations, officials said. <\/p>\n

Maple River State Game Area<\/a> \u2013 spanning south-central Gratiot, northwest Clinton and northeast Ionia counties \u2013 has extremely low water levels across the managed wetland units near U.S. 127 due to ongoing, worsening drought conditions affecting parts of Michigan, according to a news release from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. <\/p>\n

Low water is affecting waterfowl habitat and hunting opportunities this season, officials said. <\/p>\n

The most recent map<\/a> from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows the game area in the \u201cmoderate drought\u201d classification.<\/p>\n

R<\/b>ELATED: <\/b>Drought over Michigan intensifies, expands even more in last week<\/a><\/p>\n

With little measurable rainfall since early August, water levels in the Maple River remain well below normal, officials said. The game area wetland units rely on river water pumped in by DNR staff before the hunting season to create habitat for migrating waterfowl. This year, the low river levels have made it impossible to pump enough water from the river to fill the impoundments. As a result, many units will have little or no standing water throughout much of the season unless the area receives significant rain, officials said. <\/p>\n

Effected areas include:<\/b> <\/p>\n