I think it is ultimately going to get to that point with limiting buck harvest. I really wouldn’t blame DNR either. People aren’t going to stop shooting these young half horned bucks. Hunters are shooting them just because they have horns. It’s absurd.

We here in Maryland need some kind of incentive to shoot does. The bag limit is obviously not an incentive.

Let’s face it; there are deer in high numbers all over Maryland. I can’t remember a season where I am letting at least one or 2 deer walk depending on how much I get out. I rattled in a small six-pointer this past weekend and let him walk. I already have a deer in the freezer so it was easy to do. But I would not have shot him anyway because right now the pre-rut is in and now is the time to shoot only SHOOTERS. I will shoot a buck if I can tell he is not ever going to grow into something trophy caliber AND I can use the meat outside of the rut.

I will say DNR can do something a little extra and make it a little easier to drop off deer to a butcher who will feed the homeless. That process isn’t very convenient for me and I would guess not very convenient for most Marylanders. Maybe that would change things.

To get back to the subject of the rut in MD, I think the pre-rut is in full swing and with the cold temps coming in I can see the chasing phase being really intense this weekend.