Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Maryland muzzleloader season

Starts up Sat. I'm gonna go out and sit under a tree, but for the first time in a while, I don't expect much. Deer season has been the pits in Md. Huge acorn crop - good weather ('till now, anyways), and the deer are in a summer pattern. Out at 8:00pm, and in at 6:00 am. Gonna take the .50 Sporterized Hawken with a 4x Nikon, shooting 240 XTP over 100gr. T7. Don't miss much with that one. 2 so far this year - usually have 10 - 12.

Bender,

What county are you hunting? The huge acorn crop has been a real problem, my group shot "zero" during the early ML season.

I will be out Saturday evening, hope todays snow is still on the ground.

Doc

Calvert. Usually, deer season is a slaughter. Also - decided to take the .54. That rifle NEVER misses. If I get a shot, I don't want to mess up.

There are some really bone heavy bucks in southern Maryland. I am hunting Montgomery.

Doc

Lotsa good ones in Charles. I've gotten a few good ones here, but I'm after meat. Scouted this morning after the snow. Got a line on what looks like a sizable animal, by the sign. Fresh scrape 75 yards from one of my stands, and he walked by the stand to get there. Hope he's not doing that at 10:00 at night! Good luck out there tomorrow!

I had such a miserable season out in Western Washington county (Woodmont, Sideling Hill area) that I'm not even going to bother going back there for late ML season. The DNR really screwed the pooch for the last bunch of years with their asinine liberal bag limits there. (Previously lumped in with suburban Maryland, not with Garret and Alleghany counties like it is now. What's good for Baltimore county is not good for the mountains- in a lot of respects I suppose.)

gnoahhh,

Washington County checks more deer than any county of the state. I do agree that western Washington County (west for I-81) should have the same bag limits as Garrett & Allegheny County, not 1 deer a day as central Maryland

Doc

Historically speaking you're right Doc. I'll be interested in seeing the results from this year's season. I suspect the numbers will reflect deer killed in the southern and eastern areas of the county. Talking with dozens of hunters over the last few weeks "out west", I hear mostly tales of few or no deer seen.

Didn't see a dang deer today. Was on stand from 0600 - 0930, and 1330 - 1716. If it wasn't for the squirrels, it would have been mighty lonely. Thought for sure it would be a great day. Md. deer harvest was down 14% for bucks, and 7% for antlerless, after shotgun season. I would imagine the total take this year will be down a lot more than that!