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I am very fortunate to have been born into a family of avid outdoorsmen. Although I have few memories of my grandfather (his nickname was “Pop Daddy”), as he died when I was 6 years old, my father told me that he had a reputation for being a knowledgeable, self-taught naturalist and avid hunter and fisherman. Folks used to say, "If Pop Daddy isn’t catching them, there is no reason to go." I have wonderful[...]

Are you whiling away the hours until deer season comes back around? Here are some ideas to put that time to good use until opening day rolls around again. Why not try hunting something different? Spring turkey season can be a blast, literally and figuratively. If you’ve never been, get ready for an action-packed morning in the woods where you can enjoy the sounds of the forest as it awakens, interrupted by some gobblers who[...]

Autumn affords Marylanders the opportunity to appreciate the ever-changing weather and approaching harvest throughout the state. While farmers are harvesting crops in the fields, sportsmen and sportswomen on the Chesapeake Bay are capitalizing on one of Maryland’s most bountiful seasons. Fall fishing on the Chesapeake Bay provides great opportunity for anglers before the winter months. With warm and favorable conditions, early to mid-September will yield a wide variety of species in the mid-Chesapeake Bay Region[...]

I began my career with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a forest ranger in 1987; a year later I accepted a position with the Wildlife Division. Never a big advocate of hunting, I had learned about wildlife population management in college and understood the sports’ recreational and management values. Still, I had much to learn. Working in a division primarily funded through federal dollars and hunting license sales, I wanted to see what[...]

After a successful 2018 launch, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources – Wildlife and Heritage Service is expanding its stocked pheasant hunting opportunity for the 2019 season. Last year’s event, held in Western Maryland, included a stocking of approximately 600 pheasants (half hens and half roosters) at five different wildlife management areas (WMA) across the region - Mount Nebo, Cunningham Swamp, Warrior Mountain, Belle Grove, and Indian Springs. This year, the program is expanding for[...]

In our state of Maryland, September and October brings more than spectacular foliage. As stockings pick up and anglers concentrate on other species, fall bring with it a pleasant shift in trout fishing opportunities for both fly and spin fishermen. Throw in the fact that many Free State outdoorsmen and women are taking to the woods for the annual deer, waterfowl and small game seasons and one can imagine that many of our better trout[...]

There’s a thrill when you see it—so many geese sweeping down on a marsh, their calls can be deafening, and their wings eclipse the sky. The expanses of river, marsh, and fields that make up the bulk of Kent County are right along the Atlantic flyway, a migratory funnel that siphons 29 species of waterfowl, including geese, ducks, and swans, by the thousands. These birds fly up to 1,600 miles from their Arctic breeding grounds[...]

Maryland’s Eastern Shore is well known for its beaches, goose hunting and white marlin , but it’s also a hotspot for white-tailed deer and a haven for the elusive Sika deer . With deer season in full swing, here are the Eastern Shore’s top public lands for deer hunting. The Chesapeake Forest With more than 30 different tracts of land scattered over the lower Eastern Shore, the Chesapeake Forest offers an abundance of deer hunting[...]