Should I hunt MD?

**penguinwise** · June 21st, 2010, 04:24 PM

Hey All, for the past 4 years I have been a Pennsylvania hunter,, mostly the deer seasons.. Well needless to say in the area surrounding York County I have never had the opportunity to harvest anything nice. Does anyone think it would be in my best interest to get a MD license this coming year? I prefer to mostly be out during Archery or Muzzleloader seasons. I would be mostly looking to hunt the Baltimore or Carroll county areas on public land, or in permitted state parks. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks!

**Dredly** · June 21st, 2010, 04:40 PM

If you can't find a deer during Archery season on public land you may want to examine your hunting and scouting methods... rifle season is a different story

**penguinwise** · June 21st, 2010, 04:55 PM

I wish I had a better option for scouting, but York county does not really offer all the wide open public land. The little public areas I do find generally do not get the deer moving until gun season,,, which I don't feel safe being in those small areas with other hunters.

I am just looking for advice on if MD will be worth my money compared to PA if i want to see some deer in the woods during the seasons that I prefer to hunt. It will actually be closer for me to drive to Baltimore or carroll county then to drive to other counties in PA that may offer more deer/hunting options.

**fingers80002** · June 21st, 2010, 05:22 PM

Yes, it is worth it, with 10-15 deer per season.......

That's 10-15, m/l, 10-15 regular, some co.'s are unlimited doe for archery.

Just need to remember, they are shotgun co.'s, and Prettyboy, is archery only, belongs to B-more.

**Dredly** · June 21st, 2010, 05:25 PM

Originally Posted by penguinwise

I wish I had a better option for scouting, but York county does not really offer all the wide open public land. The little public areas I do find generally do not get the deer moving until gun season,,, which I don't feel safe being in those small areas with other hunters.

I am just looking for advice on if MD will be worth my money compared to PA if i want to see some deer in the woods during the seasons that I prefer to hunt. It will actually be closer for me to drive to Baltimore or carroll county then to drive to other counties in PA that may offer more deer/hunting options.

I would say go for it, but you still need to do your homework

**thefirstndsecond** · June 21st, 2010, 05:29 PM

Eastern shore of MD is well worth it. If you get on private land you have to take me. MD has archery shotgun muzzle great deer. Different hunting with hedge rows and rolling hills.

**jhbenson4** · June 22nd, 2010, 10:43 PM

I just moved up here from MD and have bow hunted Liberty for years and harvested many deer from there. I've been busted moving/drawing by a few sets of horns (although I did stick one spike at 30yrds in '96), the bucks there are very very hunter smart, and I climb to 25' in my Summit (I have 550 cord measured to 25' tied to the bottom platform). Does on the other hand, well they are only smart because you'll have 4-6 of them wander in your area and there are so many eyeballs, never been busted on a single or just a pair of them. They are more worried about what's to eat on the ground in front of them. We won't even get into the younger 75lb (ish) button bucks and does, they pretty much stand there and say "shoot me please".

The best entry to the spot I go is right around Nicodemus or Deer Park Roads, accessed via 795. Don't know how far of a drive that is for you. I've only ever really bowhunted Liberty (for public land), so beyond that I'm not much help.

If you want and I don't mind at all, I will be more than willing to show you my 3 favorite scouted spots. If you don't have a hand held GPS I recommend getting one, some "dorks" go through removing glow tacks now and then, so until you get used to the area you might have a hard time finding your spot or get turned around coming out (even a compass would benefit) In the past I've only run into other hunters "near" my spots a handful of times.

Smoke Pole and Rifle, well I hunt in Thurmont those seasons. Public area close to B-More for ML and Modern (shotgun or ML only) can be very competetive. Best area near B-more is the Ft Meade area. I think they charge you like $40 for the year, its Federal property so doesn't affect your state bag limit, you have to qualify each year with your hunting weapon (3/5 shots, 50 yards in a paper plate). Each area is labled like AA or 1A, etc.., you can scout any and all areas but when you show up its first come first serve. I think each area is roughly 20ish acres give or take, during ML or Rifle (with a shotgun or ML) you just won't see another guy in your area. Haven't hunted that personally, just passing on info from some of the other guys that have and they've taken nice deer out of there.

I used to belong to a club on the Eastern Shore just outside of Snow Hill on Rt 12. Lots of nice bucks out of there though, not for me because my luck sucks (and I generally shoot the first deer I see). HOWEVER, there's some really nice public land on the shore, former Chesapeak Timber Company stuff, not heavily pressured, you might see on or 2 sets of orange while moving through the woods but not from your stand (so I've been told by the guys that hunt there, I have not personally been to those areas). So if a 3 hourish drive is okay with you and you can access a camper or some way of staying on the shore a few days during the seasons, might be worth it.

Its all here for your reference

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/huntersguide/index.asp

**XD40coyote** · June 23rd, 2010, 12:46 AM

It's worth it if you really like deer hunting and can find good places to hunt. The problem is it is hard to get permission on private land, which is where there is farmland and woods mixed, perfect deer habitat. If my parents owned alot more land, I'm sure a bunch of you guys would get permission. But I am selfish LOL- MY deer. It's only 10 acres and seldom does anyone see a decent buck around here anyway. The deer aren't being overpopulated pests ( yet), but they keep wrecking fencing so they need some controlling.

Other than joining in with other hunters on a lease or being lucky enough to get an invite to a nice piece of property, you need to spend time "cultivating" trust with a landowner, by doing things like shooting groundhogs for farmers, or trapping raccoons out of their barns. Alot of landowners in N Balto county already have enough hunters, or they decided to close their land off to anyone but close friends and relatives, due to all the slobs. I know one farmer who at this point only allows 2 guys to deer hunt. 1 traps all the groundhogs, the other helps with calving and some other chores. He has had other people on there to hunt and they do stupid things, so he has to kick them off. I could probably get permission to deer hunt there since I have trapped foxes off there for 3-4 years and the owner knows I am responsible, but the groundhog guy and I would have to work out who hunts where and what LOL. The 2nd guy lives across the road and hunts back at his place, so he rarely actually hunts the farmer's place.