The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has released the proposed changes to hunting regulations.  I wanted to share the ones that affect deer hunters and deer hunting.   Now, we all have to remember that these are proposed regulations and still have to be put into law, but it is still a good thing to know about since there is always a good change they will make it to law.

For deer hunters the regulation changes are as follows:

1. To allow a cocked, but unloaded crossbow to be placed in, on or against any vehicle. The change would still prohibit a loaded crossbow from being in, on or against any vehicle. A loaded crossbow is one with a bolt or arrow in the shooting position.

2. Require persons that are bowhunting deer in the bear hunting zone to meet the hunter orange requirements while the bear season is open.

Those are the regulations that mainly involve deer hunters.

Then, the following regulations are the ones that pertain to deer hunting bag limits and seasons.

1. Create a STATEWIDE bag limit for antlered deer (bucks) and reduce the overall buck bag limit to three per year, one per weapon season (i.e. bow season, muzzleloader season and firearm season). One Bonus buck would be allowed to be taken in Region B only during the season of the hunter’s choice. Hunters must purchase a Bonus Antlered Deer Stamp and harvest two does during any weapon season in Region B before taking a Bonus buck.

2. Extend the archery season for white-tailed and sika deer to open on the first Friday after Labor Day, each year.

I wanted to make a note that this would mean bow season would open on September 7th this year.

3. Expand the current unlimited antlerless bag limit for bow season in the Suburban Archery Zone to all of Deer Management Region B.

4. To permit the transportation of a deer carcass or part taken in the CWD Management Area (CWDMA) to an approved taxidermist.

5. To allow a person to remove deer front and hind leg quarters from the CWDMA.

I have read these new proposed regulation changes and read what the goals and/or comments that go along with them. I would encourage everyone to check the whole DNR statement out here :

 HUNTING AND TRAPPING REGULATION PROPOSALS For 2012-13 and 2013-14

Once the regulations are finalized later this spring/summer I will post which of the proposed regulations made it into law and which ones did not.

I would love to hear what all of you think about the proposed regulation changes. Like or Dislike?  Share your thoughts and/or opinions by leaving a comment!

I came across a special statement on the Maryland DNR’s website today that announced that Sunday turkey hunting is being opened up for the 2012 season in Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Dorchester and St. Mary’s counties ON PRIVATE LAND ONLY! 

The dates are as follows: April 15 (Junior hunters only), April 22, April 29, May 6, May 13 and May 20, 2012.
You can read the whole announcement here:  DNR Sunday Turkey Hunting Announcement

Maryland’s Spring Turkey season is quickly coming up, with the Junior Hunt this Saturday, April 14^th, 2012.   The regular season opens next Wednesday April 18th, for all of us older hunters.  The first thing I would like to say is please, if you have a youngster under 16 whom wants to turkey hunt, take advantage of the youth hunting day and take them out and let them experience the excitement and overall amazing experience turkey hunting has to offer.  The other side of this is with me personally living in central Maryland my whole life; we don’t really have turkeys here.  I saw one, a Jake about 10 years ago when DNR released them into Loch Raven attempting to get the population to re-grow as there really were none left.   I have heard a few gobblers while trout fishing along the upper Gun Powder River early in the morning, other than that, I never had the opportunity to see them in any numbers or even think about hunting them.  Now if you expand your hunting areas to the west of Baltimore or down on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, you not only have seen turkeys, you have probably hunted and/or been lucky enough to harvest one.

In more recent years, turkey opportunities have grown. As I said, western Maryland and the Eastern Shore have tons of opportunities to harvest a turkey, and in more recent years the surrounding counties around Baltimore have started to show turkey numbers on the increase.  There is public land west and east of the Baltimore area that can be hunted with firearms, and in and around the metro area of Baltimore there is public land that can be hunted with a bow such as the reservoirs.  With more opportunities available, turkey hunting has surely become more popular than 10 years ago.  So I would love to hear from those whom are headed out turkey hunting this spring that may have more experience than me.  I would also love to hear from those whom hunt turkeys in other states, as I would love to hear about the differences in hunting different kinds of turkeys!

Below are some links to the seasons and bag limits for the Spring Turkey Seasons in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Maryland 2012 Turkey Regulations

Virginia 2012 Turkey Regulations

Pennsylvania  2012 Turkey Regulations

Delaware 2012 Turkey Regulations

We would love to hear from you about your hunting trips! Stories, photos or videos are always welcome as we try to share real experiences from the woods with all our readers.

Good luck to everyone headed out this spring gobbler season!