​Other Deer Hunting Regulations

Electronic calls are prohibited for the purpose of deer hunting.

Dogs may not be used to hunt deer in Maryland except to find dead, wounded, or injured deer. The dog handler must maintain physical control of the tracking dog at all times and only the hunter and dog handler may carry a firearm or bow while tracking the deer. Prior to tracking the deer, the hunter must notify by telephone the Natural Resources Police. The hunter may dispatch the deer only during legal shooting hours and by means legal for the current hunting season.

Deer may not be hunted while they are swimming or taking refuge in water.

Fallow deer (where they are found) may be taken in place of white-tailed deer during each of the seasons.

Sika deer bag limits are independent of the white-tailed deer bag limits. Sika deer may be hunted only in Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties.

Baiting deer is legal except on state-owned or state-controlled properties.​

An antlered white-tailed deer is a deer with two or more points to one antler, or a deer with one antler three or more inches long, measuring from the top of the skull as the deer is in life.

An antlered sika deer is a sika deer with at least one antler visible above the hairline.

Illustration of antlers defining antlered deer in Maryland 

A point is any antler projection one inch or more in length and includes the brow tine. The tip of the main beam is also considered a point, regardless of length (see illustration).

There is a statewide antler point restriction (APR) on some, but not all, of the antlered deer a hunter may harvest during the license year. No more than two antlered deer taken during a license year may have two points or less per antler present. Any number of antlered deer with three points or more on at least one antler may be taken, not to exceed the season bag limit. These deer may be taken in any order within the existing bag limit (see illustration).

Deer harvested with a bow during the antlerless-only second split of the early Muzzleloader Season in Region B must count towards the bow bag limit.

Deer harvested with a bow during the first-split either-sex early Muzzleloader or late Muzzleloader Season must count towards the Muzzleloader Season bag limit.

Hunters must have a Muzzleloader Stamp to hunt deer with a bow during the first-split either-sex early Muzzleloader or late Muzzleloader Season.

Deer harvested with a bow during the 2-week Firearms or 2-day late Firearms Season must count towards the firearms bag limit.

A person that intentionally wounds or kills a white-tailed or sika deer to is required to make a reasonable attempt to retrieve and make use of the deer. This applies to hunters and persons shooting under the authority of a Deer Management Permit (crop damage permit). The new regulation does not change the requirement for a person to have written permission before trespassing on lands owned by another person or organization. Some publically owned properties also require permission before a person may trespass on them.