Deer hunting: Choose your own adventure
When non-hunters hear that it's deer season and we are going deer hunting, I'm sure they assume one deer hunt is just like any other. Yet we hunters know that deer hunting, even during one specific season like the current Maryland firearms hunt, can be vastly different from one hunt to the next in action, circumstances, method and even deer species.
If you are lucky enough to have your own land to manage and hunt, odds are good that your time in the stand is the least part of your hunt. This current season is simply the culmination of a lot of work planting food plots, caring for trees, monitoring cameras and getting ready. You've spent the entire year before this trying to make your place better for deer and hoping to grow bigger bucks. For this type of deer hunt the actual hunt is the easy part, a time to sit and reflect on your efforts, hope they pay off and enjoy your time afield.
If you are one of the many hunters who gets afield by joining a club, your hunt is probably more focused. You may only have one stand in the club that's yours to hunt, have been feeding the deer all fall to draw them in to that spot and spend your hunting time with a laserlike focus on your immediate area. This type of deer hunt, just like any other, can be both productive and enjoyable.
If you're a public land deer hunter, this is where big differences happen. On public land you're not hunting food you've grown or put out, rather natural foods and movement. Much of your strategy has to revolve around what other hunters are doing, too, not necessarily what the deer are doing.
This sort of deer hunting takes a lot of work and normally results in fewer deer sightings, but figuring out this game can make you a vastly better deer hunter. It can also be as successful and as enjoyable as any other type of deer hunting.
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But those are just the typical deer days that happen depending on what sort of ground you hunt. Deer hunts can still veer off into all sorts of different adventures based on other factors.
The type of terrain you're hunting can change, going from wide open fields and deep oak woods for whitetails to thick pine woods and dense phragmites marshes for sika deer. You can spend your hunt perched high in a tree stand, slinking slowly through the woods or busting through thickets trying to jump deer. You can hunt alone and enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods or go with a gang of friends and have a social affair.
There are simply so many ways and types of deer hunting that to just tell someone you're "going deer hunting" seems to lack all the important info.
The best thing is that all of these different options are available here on Delmarva, so you change it up from day to day. And all can be productive, enjoyable and exciting.
The Maryland firearms deer season runs through Dec. 9, get out there and enjoy it.
Outdoor Calendar
Through Dec. 9: Maryland firearms deer season
Through Dec. 9: Maryland light/snow goose conservation order season, special permit and rules
Dec. 8-Jan. 27: Delaware regular duck season
Dec. 9-16: Delaware special antlerless deer season
Dec. 11-Jan. 31: Maryland brant season
Dec. 11-Feb. 3: Maryland regular light/snow goose season
Dec. 12-Jan. 27: Maryland regular duck season
Dec. 15-Feb. 3: Maryland and Delaware AP Canada goose seasons
Dec. 16-30: Maryland late muzzleloader deer season
Dec. 16-Jan. 28: Virginia regular duck season
Through Dec. 20: Chesapeake striped bass season, main bay and all tributaries, two fish daily, 20 inches minimum, only one over 28 inches.
Dec. 22-Jan. 28: Virginia AP Canada goose season
Jan. 5-7: Maryland late firearms deer season, Sunday in limited areas only
Through Jan. 31: Virginia tundra swan season