liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

im not sure if this is in right sec, if it doesnt really belong here, feel free to remove. thanks alot mods

hey all, im a little bummed out. i was going to hunt elk neck state park. i had good # of game camera pics and all, knew where my stand would be, saw a few deer sightings and sign and was ready to go for sat. long story short, i just had the time today (with college and all) to go and get my license, go to the park and sign up. luckily, i thought i should call first just to make sure spots are open and, well, its all taken. not 1 spot left. so now i have to go somehwere else to hunt, atleast for the opener. i was wandering if anyone has had success with prettyboy or liberty watersheds in baltimore county. if so, which one was better? did you see any deer? i wil have 1 day before saturday to scout, so i wont be able to scout that much, but i want atleast a alright chance to shoot just a doe or so. i dont even want a buck, i just need some meat and can worry about antlers later. i hate hunting areas with cold feet, so i was hoping for some advise for either property. is anyone aware of how many acres each one is? any advise on where to hunt? by this i dont mean an exact location (that would be cool lol) just a genera area to look at, or even to stay away from. i hate to sound like im asking for a "freeby" with information regarding the land, but i truly did scout ALOT this year and its not that im being lazy, but i didnt have any time to sign up in between SEPT 5 (when sign up began) and today. i even called my 2nd WMA and hunted last year and same thing, all booked. so now im back to sqaure one, atleast for the opening day. just would like to be in a area that deer frequent somewhat. thanks alot, sorry for the long post.

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

I always here alot of good things about Pretty Boy!!

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

have you ever hunted there bud?

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

Pretty boy is kinda complicated. Never had luck there. But Liberty is pretty good. I hunt on the land off of Route140. First week is nuts with young guys. I have had success there. Another part of liberty that is good is off of Route 32. Don't bother hunting off of deer park road, groves and groves of hunters first day.

Now that liberty reservoir is way down, its easy to walk into areas pretty deep in.

I know that BGE is doing work on some of the good clearcuts and havn't seen sign since they have been in there. But go in about 1/2 a mile or more and decent hunting.

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

Heard pretty boy is really crowded with Pa hunters cuz Pa doesn't open untill later... Some say you'll see way more people than deer.. never hunted it but have friends that do.. Liberty on the other hand I have heard some good reports from there... Still I believe it gets hunted hard... I really never heard of any public area that hasn'tgotten hunted hard. sorry I took your spot at Elk Neck lol : )

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

I trout fish down threw there and see plenty of deer now thats not hunting season though. My brother -in-law has great success there every year !

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

I planned on hunting Prettyboy this year but decided to just stay in PA. We did see good deer numbers during our 3 scouting trips. But we also found alot of treestands so alot of people must hunt it as mentioned before. If you want some more info, let me know.


Zach

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

well i mean i would take anything i can get right now lol. i just would hate to go in there completely blind ya know. now i guess i have to just make a decision between which watershed to hunt. its a tough decision, especially when i havent seen either one. man i wish i knew i couldt hunt elk neck opening day, i would have been able to scout alot more. but i guess thats life, maybe i should have taken off a day of college to go and sign up, but i really didnt think it filled up that quick lol.

nefaroious: lol you had that spot before me anyway bud. like i said, i will be hunting there during the week, but i really need to find somewhere to hunt sat. lol my mood has changed alot about sat. before i was confident with my spot and all, now, im just hoping to get lucky.

thanks alot for all the info guys, keep it coming if ya have anymore, im in desperate need lol

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

There is elk neck state forest in Northeast... there are no permits or sign ups there... never hunted it during archery but will probably try it a few times this year. Ithink it gets hunted hard also but I got a small buck there late in rifle season last year...

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

really? there is no need to sign up or nything? huh, what is it down by the shooting range?

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

I hunted both when I first moved to Maryland although I mainly concentrated on Liberty because of proximity to the house. There are a lot of deer in certain areas. There are a lot of hunters in certain areas that tend to keep deer moving but when the pressure becomes real heavy they'll move to private land until the guns start going off. The key is to find an out of the way place where maybe just a point of watershed land comes near the road and people tend to over look it. I killed some deer there and had a lot of fun. I've seen some really nice bucks come out of the watershed near farm land. About 5 years ago I was reminiscing at the end of the season and got a bug to go back to Liberty. The last day of the season I walked into one of my old haunts almost 1/2 mile in. I climbed the tree and watched 19 deer parade by. Not bad after 4 months of pressure to have that many come by the last day. Pretty Boy gets a lot of folks from PA down to hunt because it's close to them. After the first month you'll have Liberty to yourself in most areas. I found a great access to a spot NO one hunted when I befriended a guy that lived in one of the large housing developments backing up to the park. He was all the way back in the development and there was no park access. He let me park in his driveway and walk across his back yard. The nearest access point to where I hunted was probably 3/4 mile away. He was tired of deer eating his shrubbs and wanted them all dead.

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

yea the forest is where the range is.. by northest high school

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

nefariois- have you ever hunted deer there? i so, any success? thanks alot bud. now i need to chose between the forest and liberty. thats what i have narrowed it down to.

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

I sure don't mean to sound like this, but no one here can tell you where the deer are. I can draw an X for you on a map, but doesn't mean you will be successful. Get out and give it a try. Head up Route 140, and start walking down the lake. Its almost dry now. If you see some heavy trails, stop and take a look. You might see some rubs. Hunt it for evening. I know for a fact, there are deer in prettyboy, liberty, and just about every wooded place in Carroll or Baltimore county.

I myself hate hunting the same spot over and over. I just don't know how some can go to the same stand, year after year. I would be so bored. So I try different trees different spots all the time. Sometimes great, sometimes nothing.

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

thanks alot big. thats a good explanation. i will go and try it, but i just thought i could get a general area. like ya said, an X wont help, but a general area with deer sightings would ya know, just somewhere to start. i think its like 9 thousand acres at liberty isnt it? thats alot to cover and find the deer on one day of scouting. but yea, i will try what ya said. ill try to scout thursday and then hunt saturday and maybe do what ya said, find soemwhere thurs. to set up, even if its not that good, hunt there sat. and then maybe get down at like 10 and walk around for a little while. try to find a good evening spot and then go from there. good advise big, thanks

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

hey, this might sound wierd, but i cant find directions to liberty watershed. i found a map of it on the DNR site, but no directions actually of how to get there? i live in baltimore county right around where 695 ends and turns in 702. thanks

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

Well, take 695 to 795 towards Westminster.Turn off onto Route 140.And as soon as you head over Baltimore county into Carroll, your there.

The DNR office in Owings Mills has maps and such to see the boundaries. Thier number is on the DNR website. They might fax you one. I have some somewhere.

RE: liberty or pretty boy watershed in MD?
 

well thanks big country. i didnt se this post til now because im going tomarrow to liberty. i got the map with all the roads from online. it is a 356-9272 # i beleice, i will call it tomarrow and make sure i know exactly where im going. i know where 795 is, i work right there on reistertown road. i beleive the office is at gwynbrook WMA, which i hunted last year

thanks