New to the east coast

[bemidjihunter]

I am moving to from Minnesota to Newark, DE to work on my masters degree, which will be regarding the recent positive CWD test in Maryland. I was curious about any good public hunting land in either the eastern Maryland area or the south eastern PA area. I would like to know what caliber hunting I can expect before dropping the money on a non-resident tag for either state. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[DeppedyDogg]

If you like duck or goose hunting, you're in for a treat.
Deer? Eastern Shore of MD has some nice racks walking those corn/soybean fields. Join a hunt club and make it easier on yourself tho. Public hunting areas are hammered and sparse of deer population compared to private land.

[Uncle Nicky]

Agreed, can't beat the duck & goose hunting on Eastern shore Maryland.

Public land hunting in SE PA is pretty poor, declining deer numbers & crowds of hunters. You might be better off trying public land in NJ?

[bemidjihunter]

Thanks for the advice guys. I am not much of a waterfowler, but if the bow hunting is as poor as you've described I may have to pick it up!

[Bow-4-It]

There is public hunting ground about 30 minutes south of you at Blackbird State Forest outside of Smyrna off of rte. 13 and Millington Wildlife area a little west of there. Not big numbers of deer but deer are there. I lived there for 13 years and did manage to get my biggest buck ever...a real nice symetrical 8 pointer....on Millington back in 2000.

[RonM]

Good advice however Blackbird Forest (about 1 mi from me) is in Delaware and Millington Wildlife is in Md about 6 mi away, requiring licensing in 2 states...good waterfowl hunting in Delaware also.....

[keekeegirl]

Good luck on the Masters! I'm currently working on mine in NH. So far, tests for CWD here have been negative - would love to hear more about your research!