{"id":18799,"date":"2017-11-20T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=18799"},"modified":"2017-12-11T10:36:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T15:36:45","slug":"firearms-season-opens-in-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2017\/11\/20\/firearms-season-opens-in-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"Firearms Season Opens in Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: center\">\n<dl id=\"\">\n<dt><\/dt>\n<dd><em>State&#8217;s Most Popular Hunting Season Starts Nov. 25<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/c2.staticflickr.com\/6\/5086\/30066366121_8f61b75360.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of buck by Matthew Doged\" width=\"350\" height=\"232\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Matthew Doged<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a> announced today that the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/white-tailed-deer-seasons-bag-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> two-week firearm deer season<\/a> opens Nov. 25 and runs through Dec. 9. Hunters may use firearms to harvest sika and white-tailed deer during this hunting season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe two-week firearms season is our most popular hunting opportunity in the state,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wildlife and Heritage Service<\/a>\u00a0Director Paul Peditto said. \u201cNot only is the harvest during this period a critical part of the department\u2019s deer management program, it also allows hunters to spend time outdoors with family and friends after the Thanksgiving holiday.\u201d<!--more--><span id=\"more-18799\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/white-tailed-deer-seasons-bag-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bag limits<\/a>\u00a0for the season are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Statewide: One antlered white-tailed deer. Three sika deer, no more than one antlered.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/white-tailed-deer-seasons-bag-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Region A<\/a>: One antlerless white-tailed deer. Antlerless deer season is open Dec. 8-9 on private land and Dec. 9 on public land. Hunters may only take two antlerless deer total for the license year.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2017\/11\/14\/natural-resources-police-cite-five-for-illegal-hunting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Region B<\/a>: Ten antlerless white-tailed deer. One bonus antlered white-tailed may be taken per year during a weapon season of the hunter\u2019s choice. A hunter must first take two antlerless white-tailed deer and purchase a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/licenses-stamps-permits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bonus Antlered Deer Stamp<\/a>\u00a0before taking a second antlered deer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>New this year, certain\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/white-tailed-deer-seasons-bag-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">air guns<\/a>\u00a0are legal for hunting sika and white-tailed deer during the firearms season. They are defined as any gun that propels a projectile by means of non-ignited compressed air or other gas, with projectiles including arrows, balls, bolts and bullets. An air gun must shoot a 0.40 caliber or larger bullet or ball that generates at least 400 foot-pounds of muzzle energy, or shoot an arrow or bolt at least 18 inches in length with a minimum speed of 300 feet per second. Arrows or bolts must be tipped with a metal broadhead with a minimum cutting width of 7\/8 inches. Please note that when\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/deer-turkey-checking-tagging\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">checking in deer<\/a>\u00a0harvested with an air gun, hunters should choose \u201cother\u201d when asked what weapon they used to harvest their game.<\/p>\n<p>Also new this year, the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2017\/08\/16\/maryland-provides-first-time-hunters-opportunity-to-experience-sport\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apprentice Hunting License Program<\/a>\u00a0allows first-time hunters a lower-cost opportunity to explore the sport and tradition with an experienced and licensed guide and mentor.<\/p>\n<p>Hunters are reminded an\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/white-tailed-deer-seasons-bag-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">antler point restriction<\/a>\u00a0remains in effect for white-tailed deer. One may harvest up to two antlered deer per license year, which have two or fewer points on each antler present. Any additional antlered deer taken within the legal seasons and bag limits must have at least three points on one antler. Licensed junior hunters are exempt from the restriction.<\/p>\n<p>Hunters should carefully inspect all tree-stands and always wear a full-body safety harness while climbing in or out and while in the stand. The department strongly recommends using a sliding knot, commonly known as a prussic knot, attached to a line that is secured above the stand that allows the hunter to be safely tethered to the tree as soon as they leave the ground.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2.jpg\" width=\"596\" height=\"418\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State&#8217;s Most Popular Hunting Season Starts Nov. 25 The\u00a0Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced today that the two-week firearm deer season opens Nov. 25 and runs through Dec. 9. Hunters may use firearms to harvest sika and white-tailed deer during this hunting season. \u201cThe two-week firearms season is our most popular hunting opportunity in the<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2017\/11\/20\/firearms-season-opens-in-maryland\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3172,13],"tags":[4030,3566,3059,2945,3926],"class_list":["post-18799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-hunting","category-wildlife","tag-air-guns","tag-apprentice-hunting-license","tag-deer","tag-paul-peditto","tag-sika-deer"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18799"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18879,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18799\/revisions\/18879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}