Washington County Doves/Quail?

HazyDayz · Jul 21, 2014

I'm relatively new to this area and am interested in doing some dove or quail hunting. I'm not particularly familiar with regulations or places to hunt in or around Washington County and was hoping to get some advice on places to hunt in the area, as well as what licenses, stamps, etc. I would need. Is a hunter safety course of some sort required? Where would I get that?

Any and all info is helpful. Just assume I'm a total noon and you'll be pretty close.

Archeryrob · Jul 22, 2014

Doves are around and you need to knock for permissions. Some farms are really worked over and useless after the first week. Quail are not even around here. I had buddies that used to raise them to hunt and that is the only time in 20 years I have seen quail.

HazyDayz · Jul 22, 2014

I have a neighbor that raises quail, but he just kills them for food an doesn't release them. So I guess I should just drive around and look for a likely spot then Track down the landowner for permission to hunt.

blacklab25 · Jul 22, 2014

Try some of the mennonite farms. Alot of them will give permission for a trade off of some work. I used to hunt for doves around Hagerstown. If you can find a cut corn field at the end of August you should be covered up with doves.

TTMD · Jul 22, 2014

HazyDayz said:
I'm relatively new to this area and am interested in doing some dove or quail hunting. I'm not particularly familiar with regulations or places to hunt in or around Washington County and was hoping to get some advice on places to hunt in the area, as well as what licenses, stamps, etc. I would need. Is a hunter safety course of some sort required? Where would I get that?

Any and all info is helpful. Just assume I'm a total noon and you'll be pretty close.

Yes, you need a a Hunter Safety cert to get a hunting license. The hunter safety card doesn't have to be from MD, it can be from any state. You need a hunting license to hunt, and I believe a migratory bird stamp for dove and quail. Start here for the needed info: http://dnr.maryland.gov/service/ including where to go for hunter safety classes, and how to sign up.

The DNR website will also give you season dates, as well as public areas open for hunting.

buzzsaw · Jul 30, 2014

Indian Springs WMA will have some birds (chukars I think) that you can try to kick up immediately after field trial season.

You, and a million other bird hunters with dogs, will need to be there quickly.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/publiclands/western/indiansprings.asp

HazyDayz · Jul 30, 2014

Thanks. I was looking into public lands. There's a WMA down in Montgomery county that has dove fields that I want to go check out as well.

mark71211 · Jul 30, 2014

TTMD said:
Yes, you need a a Hunter Safety cert to get a hunting license. The hunter safety card doesn't have to be from MD, it can be from any state. You need a hunting license to hunt, and I believe a migratory bird stamp for dove and quail. Start here for the needed info: http://dnr.maryland.gov/service/ including where to go for hunter safety classes, and how to sign up.

The DNR website will also give you season dates, as well as public areas open for hunting.

Just do the Texas online safety course. It's a lot faster and no field day needed.

HazyDayz · Jul 30, 2014

mark71211 said:
Just do the Texas online safety course. It's a lot faster and no field day needed.

That's the plan. Now I just need to get my 12 gauge.

fabsroman · Aug 2, 2014

HazyDayz said:
Thanks. I was looking into public lands. There's a WMA down in Montgomery county that has dove fields that I want to go check out as well.

That would be McKee Beshers and the freaking place gets packed. Best bet is to knock on some doors in Washington County where you see planted corn and ask if you can dove hunt there. I did a ton of hunting in Washington County from 1994 to 2005. Killed plenty of doves, ducks, and geese over cut cornfields.

As has already been mentioned, forget about true quail hunting in Maryland. They do canned hunts of pen raised quail in places in Maryland, but that is almost like shooting clay pigeons. Same goes for pheasants, chukars, etc. Not much good upland bird hunting in this state.

Get to know some farm owners in the community and then work your way into asking them to hunt on their property.

HazyDayz · Aug 2, 2014

fabsroman said:
That would be McKee Beshers and the freaking place gets packed. Best bet is to knock on some doors in Washington County where you see planted corn and ask if you can dove hunt there. I did a ton of hunting in Washington County from 1994 to 2005. Killed plenty of doves, ducks, and geese over cut cornfields.

As has already been mentioned, forget about true quail hunting in Maryland. They do canned hunts of pen raised quail in places in Maryland, but that is almost like shooting clay pigeons. Same goes for pheasants, chukars, etc. Not much good upland bird hunting in this state.

Get to know some farm owners in the community and then work your way into asking them to hunt on their property.

That's the place. I guess I'll need to do some legwork. Thanks.

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