Tens of thousands of deer hunters come to Maryland’s forests and fields each fall in search of game. Maryland’s generous roe deer season and catch restrictions provide deer hunters with ample opportunity to catch a number of deer in each of the three roe deer seasons. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported that a total of 81,729 were harvested in the 2020-21 hunting season. The complete deer season lasts a total of five months from the beginning of September to the end of January and includes archery, muzzle loading and firearms seasons.
Frederick County is Maryland’s destination for deer hunters. Once again, Frederick County outperformed all other counties with 7,342 deer harvested by hunters during the 2020-21 hunting season. Carroll County followed with 6,202 deer, and Baltimore County was third with 5,356. Counties Garrett and Washington rounded off the top 5 with 4,904 and 4,712 deer, respectively.
Frederick County’s Deer Hunting Areas
Frederick County consists of two deer hunting areas that determine which firearms can be legally used to hunt deer. The zones were established at the request of Frederick County officials and in collaboration with the Maryland Farm Bureau.
The Shotgun Zone (Zone 2) prohibits the use of bottleneck cartridges, breech loading rifles for deer hunting and restricts hunters to the use of shotguns, straight-walled cartridge rifles, handguns, muzzleloaders, or archery during the deer firing season.
Hunters in Zone 1 are allowed to use bottleneck cartridge rifles and any weapons that are legal in Zone 2 during the designated firearm seasons. Be sure to carefully check maps and border descriptions when hunting near the town of Frederick.
Private vs. public hunting area
With a total area of 667 square miles, Frederick County is the largest geographically in Maryland County and comprises over 16,000 acres of public hunting grounds. It is interesting to note that on private land in Frederick County, hunters killed 95 percent of deer. Only 348 deer were harvested from public land in Frederick County last season, and that number has steadily declined over the past five years.
As a deer hunter who hunts only public land, I have seen firsthand the decline in the numbers of deer on Frederick County’s public land. On average, public land is subject to more hunting pressure than private land. Heavy hunting pressure combined with liberal pocket restrictions has a significant impact on the deer population in Frederick County’s public hunting areas.
I would like to see the wild-catch limit on public lots in Frederick County be reduced. Game managers note that Frederick County has too many deer. If you look at the county as a whole, that’s true. However, if you look at the declining trend in deer populations in public hunting areas, the numbers speak for themselves.
In general, hunters prefer to hunt on private land as there are many advantages to having private land. The ability to hunt an area where the deer will be undisturbed by other hunters is certainly a plus. A private landowner has the legal authority to keep everyone else out and give his family and friends exclusive hunting rights. Access to private hunting grounds is a valuable privilege that should never be taken for granted.
Too many deer?
Hunters play an important role in keeping Maryland’s deer population at bay. Unfortunately, land accessible for hunting is either restricted or limited in places where the deer population is highest. As the settlement developments extend around urban areas into the traditional wilderness, the deer population is only increasing. Deer adapt easily in suburban areas, adding to the problems with deer and vehicle strikes.
According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, an estimated 11,184 deer were killed by motor vehicles in Maryland alone in 2018. Animal-vehicle collisions increase in October and November as the deer mating season occurs in autumn. As reported by AAA Mid-Atlantic in October 2020, Frederick County ranked among the top 10 counties in the nation with the highest frequency of animal strikes in November between 2006 and 2018.
Maryland citizens rely on the Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists to manage the deer population. The problem of too many deer in some areas while maintaining a healthy population on public land is a matter of regulation and enforcement.
