Originally Posted by
chazspot
Western MD deer hunting is better known as "scrub buck nation". The guides around those parts get secretive about large, spike bucks they've seen.
Central and southern MD has the biggest bucks in the state, bar none. Why? Well, the habitat is great for them and the access to them is not. Therefore, many bloodlines of monster bucks stay on lightly hunted lands and eat very well. It is only when these bucks stray during the rut is when they are killed by a hunter or a car for the most part.
To add another obstacle; these bucks don't have to go very far to mate during the rut. Why? Well, thanks to many hunters shooting only bucks (no matter how big) there is an overpopulation of does. With this many does running around, the big bucks don't have to work very hard to mate. And they are not complaining!
I live in Montgomery county, and the reason in my opinion there are so many big bucks as well as deer in general is these two main reasons (not the only factors, but the two biggest ones in my opinion.)
1. Very few people hunt in moco, and those who do have a very restricted area in which they can. The majority of moco is now built up and not only unsafe to hunt, but pretty much impossible. Also, areas that have managed hunts, those hunters are pretty much told to take only does, because otherwise the population will just keep going up.
2. The quality of habitat has in many cases actually been enhanced for deer in moco, even though much of the original forest cover is gone. Azaleas and high grade corn now replace many areas of forest, which in turn actually allows the deer to become healthier. Downside to this, it causes many deer to bunch up, and spread disease.
You rarely see deer hit by cars in western maryland. I see it all the time still in moco. I still get 20+ deer herds in the winter in my backyard. I find every year 10 12 14 even the occasional 18 point deer that died from old age during the spring or winter. You don't find that in western maryland, because the few deer that survive to be that age live in very rugged areas, and know how to stay hidden. They are out there, and I have seen them. However, you won't find them on the scale you see in the more populated agricultural areas. It also depends on the genetics. Two subspecies of deer were used to repopulate maryland, one was the much bigger northern subspecies, the other was a more southern and average size. Deer who get real big racks probably have more of the northern subspecies genetics than the southern ones. Deer in moco have a much smaller range, for as you mentioned the easy availability of does, as well as the fact that the quality of habitat is better. You don't see the crazy mast cycles for the most part in moco that you do in other areas of the state, it is either average or extremely good. The fact too that there are an abundance of gardens and lawns doesn't hurt either.