New hunter - looking for advice

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  • phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    I did not grow up hunting. My love for hunting (and conservation) didn't start until a couple of years ago. My experience is exclusively in Central TX. My buddy has 1000 acres, and I've done whitetail and hog hunts with him. I live in MD and am looking at planning my first whitetail hunt this Fall (rifle). While there are lots of resources, I have not yet found a definitive next steps. I have researched hunt clubs, but not many with any openings. I have researched hunting public lands, but not sure I want to go on my first hunt solo on public land.

    Are there any MD hunters willing to help me take the next steps and take me under their wing? I have passed the Hunter Ed course and had my DNR field day in May. I don't expect direct invitations to join anyone's future hunts and hope that I can get to know and befriend some knowledgeable hunters in the area.

    Thanks in advance for any advice, insight, or recommendations.
     

    mark71211

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 10, 2012
    2,234
    Edgewater
    Look into joining a hunting organization like QDMA ( Quality deer management association) which I’m a member of or something like that. They have monthly meetings and have lots of hunters show up. Get to know them and sooner or later they will ask you to go hunting with them. Just don’t be that guy that joins and thinks they will find you land or club to hunt on cause that’s not what they are about and that’s the fastest way to not get their help.
     

    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    Look into joining a hunting organization like QDMA ( Quality deer management association) which I’m a member of or something like that. They have monthly meetings and have lots of hunters show up. Get to know them and sooner or later they will ask you to go hunting with them. Just don’t be that guy that joins and thinks they will find you land or club to hunt on cause that’s not what they are about and that’s the fastest way to not get their help.

    Thank you, I will check QDMA out.
     

    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    Look into joining a hunting organization like QDMA ( Quality deer management association) which I’m a member of or something like that. They have monthly meetings and have lots of hunters show up. Get to know them and sooner or later they will ask you to go hunting with them. Just don’t be that guy that joins and thinks they will find you land or club to hunt on cause that’s not what they are about and that’s the fastest way to not get their help.

    I found a couple branches, but couldnt find any information about the monthly meetings. Anyone know where to find that? I live in Frederick area, looking for closest to me.
     

    mark71211

    Ultimate Member
    Sep 10, 2012
    2,234
    Edgewater
    I’m in the Annapolis chapter and we normally meet the first of the month. I will see if I can find some information for you on the Frederick chapter.
     

    danb

    dont be a dumbass
    Feb 24, 2013
    22,704
    google is your friend, I am not.
    Where do you plan to hunt? Eastern Shore? Western MD?

    If you plan to hunt rifle, the main thing to know is you will need to take days off and likely drive a ways. Central Maryland is shotgun only, except when its bow only like in Patapsco. The best places in Central MD are archery with a very limited amount of shotgun. Near Frederick, drive west. Unfortunately, public lands during firearms season will not be a great experience. IMO.
     

    Pale Ryder

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 12, 2009
    6,234
    Millersville
    Op, think a little info is needed before some of us could commit. Where are you generally looking to hunt? Eastern shore, central mountains, SoMd, Western Md? Rifle counties are available in most. What is your general age <25, >30? Some of us old farts can't/won't hang with the youngens.
    I started on my own years ago around the age of 24. 60 now, hunted exclusively public land. Bought some land, hunted their for a few seasons. Sold the land, to expensive to keep for playing, (R E taxes) and couldn't get into farming it either, so now back to public land. Public land is not bad especially if you can manage weekday hunts.
     

    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    Where do you plan to hunt? Eastern Shore? Western MD?

    If you plan to hunt rifle, the main thing to know is you will need to take days off and likely drive a ways. Central Maryland is shotgun only, except when its bow only like in Patapsco. The best places in Central MD are archery with a very limited amount of shotgun. Near Frederick, drive west. Unfortunately, public lands during firearms season will not be a great experience. IMO.

    Originally, my planning had me looking at public lands in MD, and I was drawn to Green Ridge State Forest in western MD, mainly due to the size (46K acres).
     

    DoormanTNT

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 17, 2012
    1,844
    Glen Burnie
    Most of public lands in Frederick county are rifle. I know Frederick watershed is. And just bout everything west of Monancy river.
     

    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    Op, think a little info is needed before some of us could commit. Where are you generally looking to hunt? Eastern shore, central mountains, SoMd, Western Md? Rifle counties are available in most. What is your general age <25, >30? Some of us old farts can't/won't hang with the youngens.
    I started on my own years ago around the age of 24. 60 now, hunted exclusively public land. Bought some land, hunted their for a few seasons. Sold the land, to expensive to keep for playing, (R E taxes) and couldn't get into farming it either, so now back to public land. Public land is not bad especially if you can manage weekday hunts.

    I am 31, but have never found myself unable to get along with and relate to people, regardless of age.
     

    danb

    dont be a dumbass
    Feb 24, 2013
    22,704
    google is your friend, I am not.
    Originally, my planning had me looking at public lands in MD, and I was drawn to Green Ridge State Forest in western MD, mainly due to the size (46K acres).

    I think I camped there a long time ago. Never hunted there. The only way to know where to hunt is to scout it a bunch of times during the summer. Maybe ask the local DNR people. I would not necessarily ask where the deer are, i'd ask where other people hunt and avoid those areas. #1 trick to deer hunting MD public lands is to go places other people avoid. You cannot bait, so find food sources for the deer. My suggestion also would be to pick up a cheap crossbow and use archery season to scout as well. Archery starts right after labor day.
     

    GutPile

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 4, 2016
    3,218
    Bow season in MD is the best time to be out in public land. From my experience it gets crowded and dicey by the time gun season hits. I've had shots whiz by on public land and its not a fun experience. The best part of the rut is over and they are pressured and don't start showing up again until late December. This is the perfect time to get a compound and get ready for September.
     

    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    I think I camped there a long time ago. Never hunted there. The only way to know where to hunt is to scout it a bunch of times during the summer. Maybe ask the local DNR people. I would not necessarily ask where the deer are, i'd ask where other people hunt and avoid those areas. #1 trick to deer hunting MD public lands is to go places other people avoid. You cannot bait, so find food sources for the deer. My suggestion also would be to pick up a cheap crossbow and use archery season to scout as well. Archery starts right after labor day.

    Great advice, thank you. I think I will try and make the trip a couple times this summer to camp. I am only about an hour away, and love the area (golf at Rocky Gap with friends each year). 46K is a massive tract...I'll see if some MD land managers would be willing to answer a few ???'s.
     

    tosainu1

    Active Member
    May 10, 2005
    825
    Bowie Md
    Offer help

    I have some acreage and have had people hunt my property in exchange for some work. Look at marylandwhitetail.com forums also. Definitely the best time to hunt is right around muzzle loader season, right before and after. By rifle, they are scarcer. So invest in a bow, an x-bow, a solid muzzle loader with a nice scope and start asking around if you can help with clearing shooting lanes, maintaining properties and I’m sure you will find somebody willing to take you out.
     

    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    I have some acreage and have had people hunt my property in exchange for some work. Look at marylandwhitetail.com forums also. Definitely the best time to hunt is right around muzzle loader season, right before and after. By rifle, they are scarcer. So invest in a bow, an x-bow, a solid muzzle loader with a nice scope and start asking around if you can help with clearing shooting lanes, maintaining properties and I’m sure you will find somebody willing to take you out.

    Thanks, I may try and reach out to some local land owners near me and request permission to hunt on their land in exchange for some work. I hear I should get ready for lots of rejection...
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Bow season in MD is the best time to be out in public land. From my experience it gets crowded and dicey by the time gun season hits. I've had shots whiz by on public land and its not a fun experience. The best part of the rut is over and they are pressured and don't start showing up again until late December. This is the perfect time to get a compound and get ready for September.

    This is the best advice so far that I have seen. Many city people want to hunt and don't have places and I am sure most know little about safety. I hunt a private farm with two smaller farms next to it not hunted and the deer just about disappear during gun season. I will not take vacation for gun season, but I do take off the two weeks prior and bow hunt.

    If you aren't good with a bow practice now or buy a crossbow and practice before September.

    Thanks, I may try and reach out to some local land owners near me and request permission to hunt on their land in exchange for some work. I hear I should get ready for lots of rejection...

    Deer hunting is hard to get permission for, but offering to help around the farm is something most men are too lazy to do. Talk to the farmers and ask, if they say no and turn away, leave. If they stay looking at you continue to talk to them. Show them that you are not selfish and generally care about them. Ask them if they know anyone around that might need help on their farm or might be willing to give permission. Trust me, farmers are extremely good at reading people out for just their own designs. Being genuinely personable and concerned is as important as offering to help. They meet 20 people selfish people before the one personable one.

    Also, every farmer with in 10 miles knows every other farmer and has thier phone number or knows someone that has their phone number. If you very good or very bad, the word gets out and all over.
     

    BigSteve57

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 14, 2011
    3,245
    OP as a hunter I feel your pain in trying to find a place to hunt. My experience is that you have to usually have to "know" someone, be a family member of a landowner or lease land via a club. MY BIL was a dairy farmer in PA his entire life and had people asking him all the time if they could hunt either for free or in exchange for some favor. He used to allow this however his insurance agent strongly advised against it so he stopped. Even though PA and MD both have laws that mitigate landowner liability in such cases my BIL decided it just wasn't worth it as all it would take is one lawsuit to go sideways to wipe him out. He used to mention some farmer nearby that had a snowmobiler that got killed after running into a barbed wire fence. Immunity laws vary depending on the circumstances and whether the land is posted - at least it did in PA. So if you find yourself repeatedly turned away it might not be because the farmer hates hunting or hunters. The farmer may honestly want you to hunt his land but for reasons I mentioned feels too legally exposed to do so.

    Here's some info. on MD that I keep handy and is current AFAIK:
    Deer Hunting - A Valuable Management Tool for Private Landowners
    http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/hunt_trap/Deer_Mgmt_Landowners.aspx

    Landowner Liability and Recreational Access: Extension Bulletin 357
    https://extension.umd.edu/.../EB357_LandownerLiabilityRecAccess.pdf

     

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    phinfanfrommd

    Member
    Jul 26, 2012
    36
    Frederick, MD
    OP as a hunter I feel your pain in trying to find a place to hunt. My experience is that you have to usually have to "know" someone, be a family member of a landowner or lease land via a club. MY BIL was a dairy farmer in PA his entire life and had people asking him all the time if they could hunt either for free or in exchange for some favor. He used to allow this however his insurance agent strongly advised against it so he stopped. Even though PA and MD both have laws that mitigate landowner liability in such cases my BIL decided it just wasn't worth it as all it would take is one lawsuit to go sideways to wipe him out. He used to mention some farmer nearby that had a snowmobiler that got killed after running into a barbed wire fence. Immunity laws vary depending on the circumstances and whether the land is posted - at least it did in PA. So if you find yourself repeatedly turned away it might not be because the farmer hates hunting or hunters. The farmer may honestly want you to hunt his land but for reasons I mentioned feels too legally exposed to do so.

    Here's some info. on MD that I keep handy and is current AFAIK:
    Deer Hunting - A Valuable Management Tool for Private Landowners
    http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/hunt_trap/Deer_Mgmt_Landowners.aspx

    Landowner Liability and Recreational Access: Extension Bulletin 357
    https://extension.umd.edu/.../EB357_LandownerLiabilityRecAccess.pdf


    I thought about this and can't say that if I owned a large farm, I wouldn't be nervous accepting any liability from a hunting accident. I figured there might be a way to waive any liability rights covered by law in exchange for permission to hunt? Accidents do happen, and that's what insurance is for, so it might not even be wise to enter into any such agreement.
     

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