Deer rifle season for 8 weeks

[Archeryrob]

I was told the Maryland Farm Bureau started pushing for this and had not seen it here yet. I have heard a lot of people very angry about this. I personally don't like this proposal and think 2 weeks to 8 week is just rediculous.

Two weeks in early November
Two weeks end of November first week of December
4 weeks in January.

The 4 weeks in January calls moot anything the DNR has wanted with Antler restrictions. We all know antlers are starting to loosen then and bucks will get shot as antler-less.

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2017RS/bills/sb/sb0953F.pdf

I suggested on the Maryland Hunting Coalition, if they want to reduce deer more. Reduce the Archery safety zone state wide to 50 yards. That would open a lot of lands to hunting with bow only.

 

[Speed3]

I'm in the middle on this one...on the one hand, the purpose of hunting deer (to me atleast) is to reduce the size of the herd and meat. But just like anyone else, I don't mind shooting a big antlered deer.

The downside to late January hunting is that you can be taking mature bucks and not knowing as some have dropped their antlers at this point.

Never thought about reducing the archery requirements to 50 yards, that would certainly help

 

[davsco]

the season here in Loudoun County, VA (and several other counties) goes all the way into March (jan-march is doe only), including firearms. my view on it is that people are going to get a deer or two or three whether the season is 2 weeks or 3 months. didn't think about antlers falling off though.

 

[iH8DemLibz]

When Y'all plow into a one hundred and eighty pound buck on a dark and cold February night, you'll wish he was whacked on a January morning.

PS: On board with 50 yards. 150 is BS when talking about things with strings.

 

[MikeTF]

Never thought about reducing the archery requirements to 50 yards, that would certainly help

THIS! (I'm assuming you mean being able to hunt within 50 yards of an occupied building instead of whatever it is now for gun season).

 

[John from MD]

We need to cull more deer. I am not a rack hunter (my wife wouldn't let me mount them anyway) and only shoot for food. I have hit a few over the years and they have cost me plenty. I know of two past friends who it cost them their lives. Since the number of hunters is going down, the least we can do is let those who hunt do it more often.

I would go along with reducing the safety zone to fifty yards. (that would allow bow hunting on my property.

 

[iH8DemLibz]

I'm also calling for crossbow hunting at night. From an elevated position. Using artificial light.

Bambi is an edible cockroach and we are infested with them.

Kill them. Grind them. Grill them. Eat them.

 

[bigdv]

When Y'all plow into a one hundred and eighty pound buck on a dark and cold February night, you'll wish he was whacked on a January morning.

PS: On board with 50 yards. 150 is BS when talking about things with strings.

Agreed!

 

[HordesOfKailas]

What about letting us use rifles for hunting period? In my part of MD, it's shotgun and bow only. Supposedly for safety purposes but I call ********. At the max end of the spectrum, 12ga 3.5" slug travels ~1900FPS, weighs 1.375 oz, and produces nearly 5000ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. Remind me why your standard rifle suitable for deer is wayyyy more dangerous than that.

 

[Sgt. Psycho]

Extending the season and reducing the archery limitations both make sense. However, there probably won't be a significant increase in the # of deer taken, as many average hunters are not dedicated enough to hunt through the hard cold (not that we have had that this year). This extremely mild winter will add to the deer population problem.

 

[gwchem]

What about letting us use rifles for hunting period? In my part of MD, it's shotgun and bow only. Supposedly for safety purposes but I call ********. At the max end of the spectrum, 12ga 3.5" slug travels ~1900FPS, weighs 1.375 oz, and produces nearly 5000ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. Remind me why your standard rifle suitable for deer is wayyyy more dangerous than that.

Because a mile down the road, that slug is moving pretty slow. Rifle ballistics are much better. The argument for shotgun only has to do with topography and density.

 

[HordesOfKailas]

Because a mile down the road, that slug is moving pretty slow. Rifle ballistics are much better. The argument for shotgun only has to do with topography and density.

True, not all rifle calibers have great long distance ballistics. Take something like 300BLK for instance. And hunting from a tree stand would make the trajectory argument invalid anyway.

 

[Sgt. Psycho]

What about letting us use rifles for hunting period? In my part of MD, it's shotgun and bow only. Supposedly for safety purposes but I call ********. At the max end of the spectrum, 12ga 3.5" slug travels ~1900FPS, weighs 1.375 oz, and produces nearly 5000ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. Remind me why your standard rifle suitable for deer is wayyyy more dangerous than that.

Limited travel range of the shotgun slug vs. the rifle bullet.

I agree with you - where I hunt, use of a rifle would pretty much guarantee me a deer almost every time I am out, instead of seeing plenty of deer that are out of range of my shotgun. The problem is that you will always have irresponsible / unskilled people blasting away with rifles at deer they can barely see, and not taking into account their backstop. There are some good rifle areas in the shotgun-only counties, but the larger population and larger numbers of dwellings/structures means Bubba Bumpfire has a much better chance of causing damage with irresponsible shooting. Even with the shotgun restriction, there are plenty of DNR Police reports taken for houses or other structures being hit by slugs.

 

[iH8DemLibz]

What about letting us use rifles for hunting period? In my part of MD, it's shotgun and bow only. Supposedly for safety purposes but I call ********. At the max end of the spectrum, 12ga 3.5" slug travels ~1900FPS, weighs 1.375 oz, and produces nearly 5000ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. Remind me why your standard rifle suitable for deer is wayyyy more dangerous than that.

A good middle ground would be straight walled rifle and pistol cartridges for use in the counties which are shotgun only. A .460 S&W rifle would tear Bambi wide open.

Would give us plenty top notch choices for calibers. And modern firearms too. Less weight. Better handling.

And you are 100% correct with your data. I've been screaming about it for years.

If it enters Little Suzie's window she is dead, dead, dead. Whether it's from a 1900fps slug or 1500fps bullet.

 

[fabsroman]

When Y'all plow into a one hundred and eighty pound buck on a dark and cold February night, you'll wish he was whacked on a January morning.

PS: On board with 50 yards. 150 is BS when talking about things with strings.

I would gladly plow into one of them bastards with my truck if it meant I never would have had Lyme Disease. I worry way more about Lyme Disease than I do about hitting one with my vehicle.

As far as the antlers, etc. are concerned, I think the deer population problem far outweighs the need for antler restrictions. If they really want to get rid of them, having 2 weeks in October and 2 weeks in November. Let's kill them when the weather is somewhat decent and hunters do not have to choose between going to the stand in 20 degree weather versus sitting at home with the wife and kids in front of a fire.

As far as extending the archery season is concerned, I sit here and wonder how many deer are actually killed by archers, and how extending the season would get more archers into the woods. Isn't archery season already pretty dang long? I know I've killed way more in a day with a shotgun than I have in a year with a bow, and it takes a heck of a lot more effort with a bow than with a gun.

If the goal is to reduce the population, then more hunting time is necessary and more availability to land to hunt on.

 

[fabsroman]

What about letting us use rifles for hunting period? In my part of MD, it's shotgun and bow only. Supposedly for safety purposes but I call ********. At the max end of the spectrum, 12ga 3.5" slug travels ~1900FPS, weighs 1.375 oz, and produces nearly 5000ft-lbs of energy at the muzzle. Remind me why your standard rifle suitable for deer is wayyyy more dangerous than that.

Because it travels a lot farther than a shotgun sabot/slug when some idiot shoots at a deer that is sky lining itself on the top of a ridge line or when some idiot does not pay attention to the backstop of the deer and fires one over its back at 100 yards. The rifle's flatter trajectory and ability to kill somebody a 1,000+ yards away is what makes it more deadly than a shotgun. How far can a shotgun actually put a slug/sabot, accuracy not being a factor?

 

[outrider58]

My feeling, access. No point in killing every deer on your farm as long as all the surrounding farms won't allow hunting. Deer learn fast in a pressured environment.

 

[fabsroman]

True, not all rifle calibers have great long distance ballistics. Take something like 300BLK for instance. And hunting from a tree stand would make the trajectory argument invalid anyway.

Hunting from a tree stand does not make the argument invalid. I have hunted from tree stands in bottoms where I could easily have shot at a deer on ridge. Now, tree stands do help make it easier to take a shot with an appropriate backstop, but that isn't 100%.

As far as the cartridge is concerned, does it really matter if you are using a .300 BLK or a 12 gauge 3" sabot? The effective range of the two is almost the same. A muzzleloader can reach out to 150, 200, just like the .300 BLK. So, if we can already use a shotgun or muzzleloader that comes really close to .300BLK performance, what is the basis for carving out certain rifle cartridges for certain areas?

For me, the difference is between .300 Win Mag, T/C Muzzleloader, 12 gauge Benelli with a fully rifled barrel, a Horton crossbow, and a PSE bow at 65 pounds. I'd take the .300 Win Mag over all the rest.

Plus, in the more populated areas, you really aren't going to be shooting out to 300+ yards where a rifle has such a huge advantage.

 

[fabsroman]

A good middle ground would be straight walled rifle and pistol cartridges for use in the counties which are shotgun only. A .460 S&W rifle would tear Bambi wide open.

Would give us plenty top notch choices for calibers. And modern firearms too. Less weight. Better handling.

And you are 100% correct with your data. I've been screaming about it for years.

If it enters Little Suzie's window she is dead, dead, dead. Whether it's from a 1900fps slug or 1500fps bullet.

You have to start looking at ballistic coefficient to see how far that bullet/slug/sabot will travel. Can it reach little Suzie's window 250 yards away? 500 yards away? 1,000 yards away?

 

[fabsroman]

My feeling, access. No point in killing every deer on your farm as long as all the surrounding farms won't allow hunting. Deer learn fast in a pressured environment.

Most definitely. That is one of the problems with Montgomery County. The deer know where the parks are and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of them in the parks. They follow the parkland from Wheaton Regional and follow the streams to my parents' place. Before my parents put up a fence in the back yard, there was more deer crap than grass. It was disgusting.

The number of deer in Seneca Park is INSANE!!!