Mojotex

Lots of good spot-on advice already.

As for developing shooting skills, if you can find an outdoor shooting club to join or can locate a a safe and legal spot to shoot 100 yards or so, target shooting with a 22 LR bolt action at 25-50 yards is about as good a practicing as you can do in preparation for shooting a centerfire "deer rifle". Even if Maryuland is shotgun only, takes the same skills as mastering centerfire.

You can learn a lot about managing trigger, hitting "small" and consistently shooting small groups. Right now 22 LR ammo is cheap and readily available. You can buy a good single shot or bolt 22 LR for under $200 or so. Once you feel good about shooting the 22 LR, move up to whatever you decide to use for deer hunting. And practice with that as much as you can afford.

The typical "deer rifle" cartridges range from 243 Win. upwards to 300 Win. Mag., with a few of the bigger bore stuff such as 45.70 Gov. Thse are lethal out to hundreds of yards. If you are restricted to shotgunning only, a rifled barrel and sabot ammo can kill deer cleanly out to 200 yards or so as long as you can manage the arc.

As far a "hunting lodge" and typical costs ... can't help you there. Not sure what amount of public access land Maryland has or how hard it is hunted, or how open land owners are to giving permission. Down this way public access for deer hunting is weak and heavily hunted, and getting permission is almost impossible these days. However, most land owners in Alabama remain open to leasing hunting rights. I am in a group of 15 guys that lease 3150 acres and operate as a "hunting club". Something like that might be the route to go.

navymancdf

Thanks everyone for the advice it is great i am taking it all in

Topgun 3006

Can't beat that offer from RR. Take him up on that great offer and you'll also learn a lot from a season veteran!

redgreen

X2 on the Ridge Runner offer.

bubbinator

Welcome to the fold. I am retired AF from Al and started much like you. I'd contact your local state Game & Fish Agency and seek their advice on what public lands & laws apply. A Hunting Club is a good idea-local Bait shops, Outdoors retailer employees, gun shops are good sources. I agree the "Outfitters" are too expensive and learned on my own thru personal contacts. A Gun Club is another source of personal contacts-you'll need a place to shoot your guns. Feel free to PM me, I'm an old NCO who helped lots of my young troops go hunting in AL.

Father Forkhorn

Excellent advice here. Start asking around. Maryland's DNR website looks to have public land listed. That would be the first place to check. Ask around. You'd be surprised how many people will give you ideas, or get you hooked up.

If there's any way you can build up relationships with people who own land or have access, that's always good.

Edit: Write some chamber of commerces asking about this.

Another thing I've learned is that something like squirrel hunting is often easier to get permission to do rather than something like deer. Squirrels can get you on a piece of land, and not only can you hunt, but good squirrel ground is also good deer ground. You get a chance to size up the potential, and once people know you better, you can ask about deer.