DNR Responses to questions are in green.

POST DATE: 3/2/2022

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.Max Ruehrmund

I am fully in favor of the expansion of hunting seasons.With the exception that Sundays would not be a day of hunting. Folks need a day to walk or ride thru the woods and enjoy.

Please add hunting days or months due to the terrible deer damage we farmers suffer each season.  Crop damage permits should be for year round when hunting season is not in.

I am a farmer in Wicomico County.  IN the past two years, the overpopulation of deer have destroyed approximately 100 of my fruit trees in the orchard.  Additionally, deer have completely eaten the forest understory in areas on my property i have not fenced in.  Not only does the hunting season need to be extended, but incentives should be given for hunters to soot does, not just the stags they prefer to kill.  Please keep in mind that there are not only conventional farmers in Maryland, but also farmers practicing regenerative and sustainable methods, relying primarily on perennial plants.  This means that we do not just have one  season .  Deer are destroying my crops year-round.Thank you

I agree to the expansion of the hunting season for Deer Cooperator Permit holders. This would greatly help improve more control of the deer from crop damage.

We need this tool to be able to manage the deer population in areas where they are hard to get to. Expanding the season would enable hunters more time to be successful. Deer are easy to educate,they get to know the routine of the hunter. More time would aid the hunter to have more opportunities to harvest deer. Thank you for listening to our comments.

I think more deer should be taken because of the damage to crops. Example I have 4 very nice apple trees and the deer the last 3 years have almost eaten all the apples. The other example is in the last 4 years I have wrecked 2 cars a total lose because of deer running of the wooded road banks. That cost the insurance company $ 30,000. So my feelings is harvest more deer and make everything safe for farmers and car owners. I don't think you can harvest to many I see 20 - 30- 40 at a time.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines. Jo-Ann Chason

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines. Thank you Samantha F. Carroll County, MD

I urge you to expand the season for DCP to make it January 15-April 15 we farm 8500 ac in Baltimore and carroll county Every year we experience significant financial loss to deer crop damage and this extension will be a great help to lessen the financial loss for all farmers

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

Game management includes many aspects.  In addition to addressing season lengths, and harvest limits, we should also focus on, and move forest management up on the list of priorities.  Unless the understory can be made more robust through thoughtful tree removal methods, woodcock and grouse numbers will not rebound.  The conservation approach needs to be balanced. You can keep lowering harvest numbers and shortening seasons, but unless there is a habitat that will properly support the birds, numbers will continue to go down.

We are strongly against expanding the deer hunting/permits season.Instead increase the dates within the current season for more firearm/rifle shooting. Also, increase the 'bag' limit. The deer population is more effectively reduced by this method than by other means i.e. bow & arrow etc.submitted by farmers

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.Allen O'Hara

I politely say that it is important to expand the Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by at least one month.  Actually more is important.  We routine see herds of greater than a dozen deer eating the wheat and worse yet nipping off young soybean sprouts as they emerge. I do not want scores of hunters on our property during the regular seasons (for safety reasons). Farming is challenging enough without excess deer damage to our crops.

Support the early resident goose season for September and proposed bag limits. Recommend upping the bag limit on migratory AP Canadian geese, 1 per day isn't supported by any sort of statistical data showing a decrease in the populations. When the neighboring states are permitting more than 1 per day, what is Maryland really saying about itself? The populations on the Eastern Shore are ENORMOUS. All a 1 per day bag limit does is inhibit the guides from attracting more paying hunters and that money is being taken to states w/ more permissive, more realistic bag limits.

Crossbows- I feel that all crossbows should NOT be loaded and/or 'cocked' during transport. This opinion is based on the higher number of illegal deer harvests in the western region with these weapons. With the ease of allowing them to be 'cocked' it is easy to load a bolt and quietly harvest illegal game. They should be treated as a firearm and not be loaded while in transport. Also to add, the safety side of this is equally important in case of an accidental discharge or equipment malfunction causing serious harm to anyone near.

I ask you to support the expanded agriculture deer cooperator shooting season. We allow hunters to hunt our property for their enjoyment but when it comes to protecting our crops for our profit, DNR gives us a program to help but ten ties our hands. This expansion will be some help. Again, please support this move. Thank you.

I am in subport of the changes for Farmers only if they are allowing hunting on there property .I no farmers that control thousands of acers of land and only have a few people hunting it . If you do not have enough people hunting it and taking deer you should have a deer problem and should not get permits

I oppose extending the DCP from Feb. 15 to March 31.  We own two farms in Charles County, MD

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.  I own Trial Run Farm in Harford County and am overloaded with deer.  This extension would allow more time for hunters to thin the deer population and reduce economic losses to my hay crop, pastures, and woodlands.

The bag limit should increase to 2 geese in the Atlantic flyway.  Change Carroll co . To a resident zone for geese. Geese are flying around in carroll co. More now in February than they did the whole season.  Liberty reservoir and pine run reservoir hold a lot of geese all year long.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines. Thank you,

Deer damage is extreme.  Deer hunting should be allowed ALL year long.  The cursed coyotes destroy what the deer do not.

First of all I wanna say that there NEEDS to be a swan season. The swan population is getting out of control here. I have a pond that I hunt for ducks and geese, and the swans come in there and boss them around and eat all the vegetation out of the pond so now my goose and duck numbers have decreased. I also hunt next to a refuge and the swans are now starting to take that over as well. At least give us a lottery to start thinning them out because year after year the population keeps growing. Second, Sunday hunting also NEEDS to be allowed. Most of us work all week just to only have 1 day to hunt during the week which is ridiculous compared to all the off-season work and prep I put into waterfowling. If you want take a day away from us during the week I mean any day literally would be better then taking Sunday away from us. I don't even see the reason for not hunting Sunday's we're literally one of the few that doesn't allow it and that should change. And finally open your eyes. I mean look at all the birds that are here in February. These are migrating birds, not resident. We need to be able to hunt into February. Yet y'all let them on the western shore shoot 6 geese per person and they're shooting MIGRATING GEESE! They're not even resident birds. I hope y'all actually take these comments into consideration cause I'm sure I'm not the only one saying these things. Just please don't overlook us hardworking people just trying to enjoy duck hunting on the eastern shore. We're weekend hunters we don't have that luxury to hunt whenever we want, we hunt when we can.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

Want to expand the time for using crop damage permits

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

The population of Canada geese wintering in northern Kent County MD is vastly diminished from prior years.  To sustain the dwindling population, hunting of migratory geese should be banned, the season for resident geese should be shortened to 30 days max and the bag limit set at 1 per day.
1) Expand the bear season to encompass a weekend.  Allows more opportunity for tag holders.2)Limit Non resident Big Game and Turkey Licenses.  Lottery, point system,, lower tag amounts, anything.  If not, limit opening day/weekend for residents, similar to North Dakota and Waterfowl.  The problem I encounter, is a lot of out of state hunters are overcrowding hunting areas.  They are also taking locations away from residents via the reservation system.3)Expand hunting opportunities.  There are a lot of State owned lands that are Prime hunting spots, that are not being utilized for hunting or other recreation.  This is a dis-service.4)Increase White Tail Buck tags back to 3 per weapon, with a 4th Bonus.5) Allow Straight Walled Cartridges for Managed hunts (state managed).6)Create a Walk In Access program for Private landowners to utilize hunters on their property.  I would happily pay an additional fee that would go to a fund like this.  Similar to Western States.7)Limit Turkey Tags for out of state hunters.8)
I am for the leaving of tree stands, however this will create problems, over territory and leaving stands long term.  Maybe sell metal tags for the year to place on the tree stands.
6 days of waterfowl hunting on Ponds Creek is not helping the geese/duck population in the area. We used to have an agreement with the private private owners, now state land that hunting would be no more than 3 days per week, to give the birds time to rest. The season is also too early and needs to be moved later in the year. If the current yhunting regulations continue, waterfowl hunting will be ruined for our young hunters. As to deer stands on state land, I do not agree at all. We already have hunters trespassing on our property and sitting in our stands. They come onto our property looking for deer that have been shot. Our deer hunting on our private property that last 2 years has been awful due to increase in hunters around our property lines.

POST DATE: 2/24/2022

Game management includes many aspects.  In addition to addressing season lengths, and harvest limits, we should also focus on, and move forest management up on the list of priorities.  Unless the understory can be made more robust through thoughtful tree removal methods, woodcock and grouse numbers will not rebound.  The conservation approach needs to be balanced. You can keep lowering harvest numbers and shortening seasons, but unless there is a habitat that will properly support the birds, numbers will continue to go down.

We are strongly against expanding the deer hunting/permits season.Instead increase the dates within the current season for more firearm/rifle shooting. Also, increase the 'bag' limit. The deer population is more effectively reduced by this method than by other means i.e. bow & arrow etc.submitted by farmers

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.​

I politely say that it is important to expand the Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by at least one month.  Actually more is important.  We routine see herds of greater than a dozen deer eating the wheat and worse yet nipping off young soybean sprouts as they emerge. I do not want scores of hunters on our property during the regular seasons (for safety reasons). Farming is challenging enough without excess deer damage to our crops.

Support the early resident goose season for September and proposed bag limits. Recommend upping the bag limit on migratory AP Canadian geese, 1 per day isn't supported by any sort of statistical data showing a decrease in the populations. When the neighboring states are permitting more than 1 per day, what is Maryland really saying about itself? The populations on the Eastern Shore are ENORMOUS. All a 1 per day bag limit does is inhibit the guides from attracting more paying hunters and that money is being taken to states w/ more permissive, more realistic bag limits.

Crossbows- I feel that all crossbows should NOT be loaded and/or 'cocked' during transport. This opinion is based on the higher number of illegal deer harvests in the western region with these weapons. With the ease of allowing them to be 'cocked' it is easy to load a bolt and quietly harvest illegal game. They should be treated as a firearm and not be loaded while in transport. Also to add, the safety side of this is equally important in case of an accidental discharge or equipment malfunction causing serious harm to anyone near.

I ask you to support the expanded agriculture deer cooperator shooting season. We allow hunters to hunt our property for their enjoyment but when it comes to protecting our crops for our profit, DNR gives us a program to help but ten ties our hands. This expansion will be some help. Again, please support this move. Thank you.

I am in subport of the changes for Farmers only if they are allowing hunting on there property .I no farmers that control thousands of acers of land and only have a few people hunting it . If you do not have enough people hunting it and taking deer you should have a deer problem and should not get permits

I oppose extending the DCP from Feb. 15 to March 31.  We own two farms in Charles County, MD

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.  I own a farm in Harford County and am overloaded with deer.  This extension would allow more time for hunters to thin the deer population and reduce economic losses to my hay crop, pastures, and woodlands.

The bag limit should increase to 2 geese in the Atlantic flyway.  Change Carroll co . To a resident zone for geese. Geese are flying around in carroll co. More now in February than they did the whole season.  Liberty reservoir and pine run reservoir hold a lot of geese all year long.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines. Thank you

Deer damage is extreme.  Deer hunting should be allowed ALL year long.  The cursed coyotes destroy what the deer do not.

POST DATE: 2/22/2022

Early season Canada Goose Our early season Canada goose season is the only season on the east coast from Maine to Virginia in which goes out on the 15th of September with all the other states running until the 25th of September with the exception of Rhode Island which closes on the 30th of September..all based off 2021 seasons..There are very few if any crop fields that are harvested by September 15th which limits the opportunity to harvest any of these local birds and little impact is had on reducing the number of these birds which have become a big nuisance in a lot of places, and I have a hard time believing that we have any migratory birds here on the eastern shore of Maryland before the end of October at the earliest...Then there is the western shore with what is called the late resident season allowing them to harvest a five bird limit for a short time in November and then from mid December to mid March.. Really there's no migratory birds mixed in with those local birds?? Yeah. I would love to see it considered to have or resident Canada goose season run through the end of September. Late season Canada goose season Again from Maine to North Carolina every state has a different season and bag limit and we're all shooting the same birds in which supposed to be in trouble..but certainly doesn't look so. Would like to see a few more days and possibly a second bird added to the season. And lastly how about a swan season?? Virginia, Delaware and North Carolina all have an open season on these birds..these large birds are causing some damage to the grasses in a few of the wildlife management areas. The state also has the opportunity to make revenue from application and permit fees in which monies could be put back into wildlife resources. Thanks for the opportunity to voice my and others opinions,I hope all are put into consideration.

The proposed changes are all fair with the exception of allowing tree stands to be left on public hunting. This is a terrible idea. I can see hunters putting stands up all over and then crawl into their stand when others are in the area. The way it is right now is totally fair to all of us that do not hunt in stands or take the stands in and out. This would not be a good proposal and can lead to issues in the woods between hunters.

I agree at this time with the 30 day 1 goose limit at this time until data on nesting pairs can be done. I would hope that when available that we are given more days to hunt as opposed to a higher bag limit and shorter season. I feel having more opportunity to hunt with family and friends with a longer season outweighs a shorter season with a more liberal bag limit.

Please consider a tundra swan season for our state.

No to stands on public land. Its public land, someone should not be allowed to leave their personal property there. If the numbers are up, increase the goose limit to 2.Crossbows should be de-cocked when carried in vehicles.

I am for the proposed December season for Black Bear.This would allow an additional opportunity for those affected by weather poor weather in October, or potential scheduling conflicts during either season to plan accordingly.It would also allow a deer hunter with an unfilled bear permit post October,to enjoy the prospect of a December combination hunt.In addition, this opportunity would most likely lead to a higher male harvest, leaving more females for recruitment purposes.Thanks for your consideration.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines.Max Ruehrmund

I am fully in favor of the expansion of hunting seasons.With the exception that Sundays would not be a day of hunting. Folks need a day to walk or ride thru the woods and enjoy.

Please add hunting days or months due to the terrible deer damage we farmers suffer each season. Crop damage permits should be for year round when hunting season is not in.

I am a farmer in Wicomico County. IN the past two years, the overpopulation of deer have destroyed approximately 100 of my fruit trees in the orchard. Additionally, deer have completely eaten the forest understory in areas on my property i have not fenced in. Not only does the hunting season need to be extended, but incentives should be given for hunters to soot does, not just the stags they prefer to kill. Please keep in mind that there are not only conventional farmers in Maryland, but also farmers practicing regenerative and sustainable methods, relying primarily on perennial plants. This means that we do not just have one season . Deer are destroying my crops year-round.Thank you

I agree to the expansion of the hunting season for Deer Cooperator Permit holders. This would greatly help improve more control of the deer from crop damage.
We need this tool to be able to manage the deer population in areas where they are hard to get to. Expanding the season would enable hunters more time to be successful. Deer are easy to educate,they get to know the routine of the hunter. More time would aid the hunter to have more opportunities to harvest deer. Thank you for listening to our comments.

I think more deer should be taken because of the damage to crops. Example I have 4 very nice apple trees and the deer the last 3 years have almost eaten all the apples. The other example is in the last 4 years I have wrecked 2 cars a total lose because of deer running of the wooded road banks. That cost the insurance company $ 30,000. So my feelings is harvest more deer and make everything safe for farmers and car owners. I don't think you can harvest to many I see 20 - 30- 40 at a time.

I am contacting you in support of expanding the dates for Deer Cooperator Permit (DCP) holders by one month.By extending the dates from February 15 through March 31, to January 15 to April 15, it would allow farmers to be able to harvest deer during the active growing season when damage to the crops is at its highest. To effectively mitigate deer damage, and more importantly profit losses due to deer damage, it is imperative that farmers in the state of Maryland are able to control the deer population through April 15.Farmers across the country continue to experience crop losses due to weather and climate conditions, which unfortunately cannot be managed. However, crop losses due to deer damage can be managed, and allowing an expanded season will allow farmers to cover some of their losses because they'll be able to harvest when deer pressure is the greatest. I urge you to expand the season for DCP to give farmers all the tools needed to control the damage deer cause on their farms and on their bottom lines. Jo-Ann Chason

Game management includes many aspects. In addition to addressing season lengths, and harvest limits, we should also focus on, and move forest management up on the list of priorities. Unless the understory can be made more robust through thoughtful tree removal methods, woodcock and grouse numbers will not rebound. The conservation approach needs to be balanced. You can keep lowering harvest numbers and shortening seasons, but unless there is a habitat that will properly support the birds, numbers will continue to go down.

POST DATE: 2/1​7/2022​

No to leaving tree stands on public lands. It will be a disaster

Leaving tree stands on state land. On the surface it may seem  like a good idea for older hunters, but it will create a lot of problems for DNR and hunters alike. Not a good idea

Tree Stands on public land- I am against allowing this.  There are already plenty of illegal stands on public land that are left year-round and never get checked on.  I feel making this legal will just result in more stands being left (despite the regulation to remove them) all year round.  Additionally, it will result in more folks claiming an area as their own since there is a stand there (despite the regulations saying otherwise). Black Bear- Add the Saturday after the current season.  The overlap with the early muzzleloader season may hinder some folks who deer hunt to the east from making it west to hunt bear.  Region A antlerless season-  I solely hunt public land in Garrett County and never have trouble seeing deer, especially doe.  In recent years I have seen fewer bucks and more doe.  With that in mind I fully support adding a second day to the antlerless firearm season.   I vote for the second Saturday to be the additional day.  This would limit the chances of a storm wiping out both antlerless days on public land.  If the last Friday is added a single storm could still wipe out both days.  Not saying it still couldn't happen having it spilt between Saturdays but chances are less I feel.

AGAINST LEAVING TREESTANDS:  There are numerous options currently available for mobile hunters: ground blinds, climbing stands, hang-on stands, etc. Why clutter public land with ladder stands, etc., which will certainly lead to confrontations (i.e. claiming spots), as well as disruption of deer bedding and travel paths? Leaving stands makes sense for private land only.

There are so few upland hunters in this state that closing grouse season in January would have a miniscule effect on the population.  You're only further discouraging participation in hunting upland game birds.  If you want to help grouse numbers you need to 1) cut more timber 2) Enhance young forest that already exists 3) Give hunters other opportunities for different game birds like pheasant.  My last hunt this year was in January.  I hunted two days and flushed probably 15 birds and had opportunities to kill 3 birds that were not successful.  What that tells me is that where you have the right habitat you will find birds.  So make more habitat and improve what is already holding birds.  The need edges in young cover, so brush hog trails through recent cuts and plant clover in the trails.  The need food, so plant crab apple, greenbrier and other fruiting trees.  The need cover, plant pines that provide close to the ground cover so the birds can make it through the winter.  Finally DNR should encourage coyote hunting. Every coyote that gets checked into a DNR facility add an additional lottery ticket to kill a bear the next year.  That's just an example.  We seems to have a lot more predators now and that can't be good for nesting spring time grouse (and turkey).  Shortening the grouse season will not help the population.  And can we please have some pheasant hunting opportunities.  It's a little ironic that we have a 4 month long pheasant season in this state that I don't recall anyone talking about shortening it and i've only see 1 wild pheasant ever and that was decades ago.  Finally, don't take advise from a bunch of deer hunters regarding grouse seasons.​

POST DATE: 2/15/2022

I am fine with the season dates as is but I wish the short 2 week season in November would come back what happened to that? And I would like to at least see the bag limit increase to at least 2 or 3 but maybe not for the whole season just divid it up somehow its a lot of work since I mainly hunt by myself anymore and it's hard getting up so early to get everything set up for 1 bird

You all have no idea what you are doing. I have seen more geese, black ducks and red heads than i have ever seen this year then the last 8 years. Someone making these regulations need to speak to HUNTERS not People sitting in an OFFICE during huntin season. Hire someone with common sense enough to know the difference.....Disappointed in the DNR and their handling of all of these regulations. Just unbelievable some of these rules that make no sense.

The waterfowl seasons need to be moved. We should have a week or 2 in early February when the birds have been moving the last couple years. With a 1 bird limit on geese, and the season that is broken up into small sections, it seems as though the birds either know the weeks or they just aren't moving those weeks for Baltimore county.

Put the out of state guys on a draw system, and have your officers checking them. Or out of state must be accompanied by a guide. Every public ramp during waterfowl season is flooded with PA, VA, DE tags. Every road durning archery sika seasons is littered with vehicles. Quit caring so much about the extra couple dollars they bring over the wildlife itself. Let them come and enjoy it with a guide or on a lottery. But quit letting them come burn the place down. I know for a fact in state people try not to hunt anywhere on public on saturdays or sundays because of this matter. Ask anyone.

I would like to talk about the migratory bird season. Canada goose and ducks. The past 2 years I have seen more geese in a long time. I'm not sure where you guys get your numbers from Canada, but it was seems to be so far off. I don't see to many ducks as to where I hunt but I do know I have seen a lot of divers these past months. The goose limit for 1 with a 30 day isn't terrible. But I do think we should get the 60 day with 1 goose. Also if we are going to be keeping 1 goose for a while. Then Maryland needs to talk to the rest of the states up above us and tell them to go to 1 as well. New York is killing us having their early season then their normal season then a late season? So they get more time to hunt and more birds to shoot at. And also have a bigger bag limit then us. That's something that's need to talked about. I'd be happy to help or give any more opinion on anything else. Thank you for what you guys do.

I suggest reducing the dove bag limit back to 12 and extend the season to Feb. 1. There are few dove

hunters late in the season. Extend woodcock season to Feb. 1

There should be a Tundra swan season. No matter how limited there should be an opportunity to harvest.

Maryland would benefit from opening up a swan season in the state, especially if it were modeled after the Virginia and Delaware swan tag lotteries. Allow a certain number of swan tags to be administered through a lottery system. Allow goose hunting on Thanksgiving Day. It has been a major hunting tradition in Maryland for goose hunting season to start the week of Thanksgiving. Since the season has been shortened and now starts in December, that tradition is fading away. Many hunters are off for the holiday and their children are out of school as well. It is a great opportunity to get younger hunters out in the field. I believe it would be beneficial to allow Thanksgiving Day goose hunting even if a day is taken away towards the end of the season to make sure the goose season does not exceed 30 days. It is also common opinion among Maryland hunters that the state should allow Sunday hunting for waterfowl. I understand this would require a law change but it is something that should be discussed moving forward. Even if the Sunday waterfowl hunting was restricted to certain public lands, the offshore waterfowl zone, or private land it would allow much more hunting opportunities for the average hunter.

Keep 30 day one bird season

I really think a lot of hunters would be happy to see the early September goose season not happen and put some of those days on the back end, everyone I know that waterfowl hunts says 2 things about this, its to hot and most of the fields are not cut.The daily limit also is a concern for the eastern zone. I would like for someone to show me the difference between a Resident goose and Ap season.

The paragragh titled Sea Ducks I read is a little confusing. Example Can you hunt the Sea duck zone and shoot 4 Sea ducks and then hunt the offshore zone fill your bag limit with other species? It's my opinion if Sea ducks are in danger eliminate shooting them all together or at the minimun do away with the Sea duck zone. The Special Sea Duck Season has been eliminated which means sea ducks (scoters, long-tailed ducks, eiders) are now part of the regular duck bag limit [4 total sea ducks with no more than 3 scoters, 3 long-tailed ducks, 3 eiders (max. 1 hen eider)] regardless of where they are harvested in Maryland. Elimination of the Special Sea Duck Season also means that sea ducks can only be hunted when the regular duck season is open. Hunters should be aware that there are portions of Maryland's tidal waters where only sea ducks may be hunted (ex. mouth of the Chester River, mouth of the Choptank, portions of Eastern Bay).

Why in the world won't you give us till September 24 in the Eastern for the Resident geese like the Western ? Also it should be a goose season the week of Thanksgiving ! One of the most hunted weeks for people to enjoy

There are no proposals for furbearers and there should be. Why can't we hunt them on Sundays in Carroll county? Why is there even a season when other counties do NOT have seasons? This is not right when people ride horses and run hounds after foxes and can do so on Sundays and any other day. This is wrong and doesn't make any sense at all. . The Department does not have the authority to authorize additional Sunday hunting opportunities. We may only open those Sundays that are authorized by the legislature. If you are interested in expanding Sunday hunting opportunities, please reach out to your local legislative representative.

4 mallards no more than 1 hen

I would suggest that in the western part of Maryland the waterfowl population is very different compared to the eastern part of Maryland. While saying that I would say make the bag limit of mallards back to 4 allowing 1 hen

We need a Commorant season in md and a mute swan season

Get ready of early season there are no birds perhaps have a goose season first week of Feb (like years past). If needed you could eliminate one week on the first split. It does not get cold early and birds dont move down. Thoughts on resident geese on Easternshore?? It would also be nice to finally have a nesting survey this year. Is there anyway to have PA/NY reduce their goose limit while increasing MD's to 2 birds? Just make it a level playing field Thank you no need to comment just actually doing something positive is enough

I propose we extend the Atlantic flyway duck and goose season until Feb 11, 2023.The majority of ducks and geese don't arrive on the Chesapeake Bay wintering grounds until late January.

Up the Canada goose and bluebill limit and put a tundra swan season in place for Maryland

Change hart millerisland back to reservation.its ridiculous you have people showing up the night before to get sites and it's hard for nrp to enforce the 2 hr before shooting time rule. I have also spoke to nrp and another problem is when parties are seen by other hunters not abiding to the rules there is no way of telling who that person is cause there is not a name registered to the siteunderstand that it takes up phone time but another phone line just for that area will resolve that issue. Adding in a rule that makes any site first come first serve after 8 am will solve the issue of people reserving sites and not hunting them. If not this then at least makes every Saturday a lottery because that is when the real issues occur



Need to open up cormorant season eating all the fish up way to many of them. Need a tundra swan season everyone around us has one need to up the goose limit to 2 saw more geese this year then in 15 years and bullshit that they can kill 5 across bay rn has resident when we all know it's all migratory birds here rn and red. Head limit needs to be up to 4 population is exploding we went from 2000 of them to over 100k in past 10year and blue bills needs to be up to 2 all season no shortage of them

Please allow Sunday waterfowl hunting. For the working man, like myself, I'm only able to get out maybe a few Saturdays per season. And if the weather doesn't play nice, it may ruin a hunt on some of those few days. It would just allow me to pursue something I really enjoy maybe a couple more times each year.

I would love to see a 2 bird limit for resident hunters only. Non resident remain 1 bird.

Change the first split of AP goose season to November 15th until November 30th. The migratory birds have flown past most of the state by the time we get into that first season in December. Literally, we harvested ZERO geese during the first split because only Resident birds were in the entire area and they show zero interest in decoying because they know exactly where they want to be. During that second split we did much better because the Migratory birds started showing up again after hard frosts pushed more down from up North.

Please open all Sundays in Oct-Jan for deer hunting. Make January gun season for deer Thurs-Sun. I hunt in Talbot County we all want more Sunday deer hunting on private land.

AGAINST: leaving tree stand on public land. This will invariably lead to people 'claiming' public space.AGAINST: un-cocking crossbows in an automobile. The vast majority of crossbows are not easily un-cocked and the opportunity for injury represents a very small possibility.FOR: extended black bear season.

I do not support reducing the grouse season. Decline in bird numbers is a result of habitat loss not hunting pressure. The state should focus more effort on cutting timber. On past timber cuts that are now holding birds, effort should be made to improve that habitat by brush hogging and maintaining trails through cuts to increase edge habitat. The birds thrive in diverse edge habitat. Large swaths of pole sized timber will not support as many birds as cuts that trails, openings and more diversity of cover. Money and effort will increase birds numbers. The simple and lazy path of reducing hunting seasons will not have a significant impact.

I do not support leaving tree stands in the woods for the season. Doing so implies that a hunter has claimed an area for themselves which is unacceptable on public land. I would not be opposed to allowing disabled or elderly hunters hunters to hang and leave a tree stand for the season. In such a cash the stand should have a permit issued by the state with the owners name and should not be used by anyone else. Opening this up to every able bodied hunter is absurd.

Based on previous years, Canada goose season needs to be pushed back and extended into Feb. Major migrations seem to happen after the season closes.

Would like to see Sunday hunting for waterfowl. Most hunters only get Saturdays to hunt waterfowl because of working a normal weekday schedule

I feel that the mallard limit should be taken back to 4 and there should be a swan permit process in maryand. I also feel that the October season should be tacked onto the end of the season ie febuary

Lottery for Swan , look at the lost revenue for the state

Need a swan season. All neighboring states have swan permits. Why not MD?Need to do away with the Deal Island impoundment permits or enforce them. Know for a fact people are going in without permits.

Bring back the goose season the week before thanksgiving and extend the second split to the first sat of February

2 blue bills all season and need a swan season

Make crow hunting Monday-Saturday

Raise the bag limit on Geese in the Atlantic flyway from 1 per person per day to 2 per person per day at Minimum. Geese mate for life , in case you forgot that. All bagging one does is guarantee the other will never mate again.

Please allow hunting on Sundays

Allow dove hunting in the mornings on public lands .. maybe on certain dates?..

Seagull season.

Dove hunting in the morning on public lands

I have two suggestions. Make bow season concurrent with firearm season. Get rid of early

muzzleloader season.

ON THE WESTERN SIDE WITH THE GEESE AND THE SHORT/LIMITED SEASON AND THE 1 BIRD LIMIT MAKES IT TOUGH TO STAY INTERESTED. ALSO THE FEW TRIPS TO EASTERN SHORE DURING THE SEASON FOR GOOSE MAKES IT ALMOST NOT WORTH IT. 1 BIRD AND YOUR DONE IN 15 MINUTES. WE SAW THOUSANDS OF GEESE ALL 3 TIMES WITH OUR HUNT IN 2022 IN TALBOT COUNTY. JUST NEED A DELAYED SEASON AND/OR LONGER SEASON INTO THE WINTER. THE 5 BIRDS ALLOWED LATER IN THE WINTER/2022 NEEDS TO BE SHARED. MAYBE A 2 AND 2 FOR THE ZONES, ETC. NO WAY TO TELL THOSE GEESE FROM MIGRATORY TO RESIDENCE-THEY DON'T HAVE A BIG R ON THEIR BODY.

Make the waterfowl season 2 weeks longer. It's not getting cold enough in December anymore to drive the birds down let the season start last week of December and go 2 weeks into February.And why are we limited to 1 goose again. Why is the Central and Mississippi flyways limited to 5 birds, their birds are in greater numbers and bigger. Last I heard the numbers have been bouncing back for 3 years now. Put the limit to 2 birds. Either yall don't know what you're doing as biologists or the Atlantic flyway of dead.

Keep the two duck zones. That first split has awesome in the western zone!Carroll county needs to be in the rp zone for geeseSwan permits!400 yrds off anyshore line should be huntable water.Keep the one bird 30 day season over closing it or 2 bird 15 day season for geeseIve seen where other states have tried out the lower daily bag limit on ducks but can take up to that bag of any species no restrictions.

#1 I see that the projected number of nesting pairs of A.P.Canada geese for 2022 is 153,000. However, the Federal Framework still demands a restricted framework for the 2022-2023 hunting season. Where does this number have to be for a less restricted season to be authorized?#2.We do have the legal capability to hunt A.P. Canada geese into February. Because of weather and other factors, our population of geese seems to be later arriving each year. Suggest our season be constructed by by having a one part season which ends on the last day allowed in February. #3. As with geese, our ducks are arriving later each year. Recognizing that there is some minimal public support for early duck hunting seasons,reduce the October and November seasons to 1 Saturday each, which is when most hunting takes place. Take the remaining days and use them to lengthen the final third split by opening the season earlier. Impact on deer firearms season should be minimal, only competing on with eac other on 1 or 2 Saturdays. Major pushes of puddle ducks occur during this time, and are gone whe the season currently resumes.

I oppose allowing tree stands left on any public hunting land. I frequently hunt PA and while they say the stand must be removed at the end of season, I habitually see tree stands left in place during Turkey season. I feel the efforts of the wardens in MD could be better served then attempting to track down or carry out stands left by lazy hunters.

1 bird per day? No Sunday hunting? We are damaging hunting in general with these strict regulations. I bet windmills are killing more birds than hunters at that rate!

I see many comments regarding taking away the deal island impoundment permits - I do think this permit system has helped the hunting there. Even with the permit system - there is an extreme lack of respect amongst hunters in this area particularly. Opening it back up to anyone will only make that worse. There is a reason this system was adopted. With losing the sea duck season it only makes sense to me to do away with the confusion that comes from the 2 different zones and have 1 offshore waterfowl zone and allow the hunting of ducks and/or sea ducks across the board for open water > 400yds from shore. Stop catering to the special groups and counties. The state of Maryland is eligible to receive Tundra Swan permits - why are we not being considered for this? Delaware introduced this 3 seasons ago with little to no public outcry. Maryland can do it as well!

You no over the years I've seen some crazy stuff said about waterfowl hunting but wow. Does any one truly care about us haven birds around for the future or so we just want to wipe out everything like they did back then come on hunters. The habit we have lost for are birds to produce is gone and done by us not the birds fault weather makeing bad nesting season s as well but all I see is how much we need to kill. Some one said no October season what about wood ducks that's are best chance in the northeast someone said 3-4 geese on the eastern shore might as well sell are decoys cause there won't be a season for many years to come. And I would like to see something done about are snows before that gets completely messed up a lot of you think we have the population out west not even close by 100 miles. I love waterfowl hunting just as much as anyone.

We need to increase price of waterfowl stamp or license while opening Sundays for migratory birds. This is both a recruitment tool while supporting or funding the increase in enforcement etc... this should not be driven by commercial interest...it is about providing opportunity for everyone in Maryland.

1 bird is a joke!

Think Maryland DNR is doing a good job operating within the framework from the Feds. 30 day 1 bird, especially without data from the last two years makes complete sense. If gosling production doesn't increase, the season should be closed.The lack of research and data regarding Atlantic mallards is a bit disheartening. A 20 year downward trend suggests it should have been addressed earlier. Interested to see the research on the 2 populations of Atlantic mallards.Agree with the adding sea ducks to the regular duck season. Has been too liberal for too long. Would like to see the Department, despite the blow back on having a swan season.

I think a 30 day season is ok but the bag limit on geese should be 2 birds per day geese had a good hatch last year and the reason we are not seeing more birds is all weather related

No to extend night time crop damage for deer. Closure of the grouse and Quail season. Remove the harvest of hen turkeys during the winter season and moving the winter turkey season to the first week of Feb. Wear baiting would be illegal. Reduce the combined turkey harvest to 1 gobbler. Need to make the primitive season a weekend event.

Get rid of the 'resident' zones. Those birds are migratory. The goose population is better then ever you all fail in your research and counts. Complete waste of tax payer dollars. Sea ducks were so thick this year in the Tangier sound you couldnt throw a rock without hitting one and you cut those limits as well. The methedology being used for bird counts and migration data is out dated and yields poor results. Do better.

POST DATE: 2/10/2022

I assume most of the feedback you receive here is negative. That being the case, I wanted to submit this comment just to say that I agree with the proposed season dates and bag limits and that I appreciate the work that MD DNR, the Wildlife Advisory Commission, and the Migratory Game Bird Advisory Committee are doing to represent hunting constituents and to ensure these proposals/decisions are supported by science.  Also, I commend Maryland for retaining the Special Sea Duck Zone even though there is no longer a Special Sea Duck Season. It would have been easy to retire the zone but that would represent a loss of of hunter opportunity in a huge geographic area that would no longer be accessible to waterfowl hunters. Please continue to keep the Special Sea Duck Zone in place in future years.

Please make out of state guys only kill one buck. And a push to have deer drives stopped on public land. It's dangerous  and the out of state guys do it on the weekends and it's not fair to guys that are hunting. They drive right through where your hunting then the deer are gone for days. Messed up you put in for your vacation to enjoy the hunt only yo be interrupted by people driving the mountain out. This happen in Allegany county ever year and someone is going to get her sooner or later being the worse Scenario.

As far as Atlantic goose populations being a 30 day/1 bird limit i feelIt is having less effect then Intended due to the fact that most hunters like myself, will not go goose hunting now with any less then 6 hunters where in the past I may have gone with 1-2 other people. There's many other people that feel the same as I do and are not going to spend all the time and energy setting decoys for just a Couple geese. Also since the numbers haven't been lookedAt to see the breeding population, because we could be moving into a sustainable direction. My suggestion is a 2 bird/30Day season.

I would like to see the state enforce greater antler restrictions. My suggestion is a 2 antlered bucks regardless of weapon. The first being minimum of 3 antlered points on one side and the second being a minimum of 4 antlered points on one side. This has a 2 sided effect. This will allow bucks in Maryland to have a greater chance to reach maturity levels as well as force hunters to harvest does which is needed for a healthy deer population. By only allowing two bucks and no bonus stamp, we will create an environment like much of the Midwest where healthy mature buck numbers will be achievable

Starting to find it absolutely ridiculous that the western zone 40mins from where I live is allowed to kill 5 geese per day. You guys try to protect the geese in eastern zones just so they get slaughtered in the western or better yet in New York where they are allowed 8 per day makes no sense. Last I remember we pay the same amount for our license as they do!!!!!!!!!!! There is PLENTY of geese in southern Maryland we have watched thousands this year and the fact it's 1 per person is bull crap….. Also isn't it time to cut the early season of ducks and maybe give us a week or two into February????? We get restricted like crazy and there is no reason for it. Duck went out and just like for years now they show up the last week if we are lucky.

What's it gonna take all of us to STOP buying our licenses???? Cause I think it's time someone takes a stand and starts that movement. You all know that this is a vary expensive passion on behalf of us hunters, from blind sites to guns ammo decoys boats gas etc but yet no one cares. I'm not suggesting make it easy for us I'm just suggesting maybe let the hunters actually enjoy a good season. The bufflehead population has taken a beaten around here cause they are about the only duck that shows up before the last week.

The resident  goose season is a joke. If you want a 5 bird limit on resident geese run it from September 1st until October 31st. After that resident or AP migratory limits need to be the same. Anybody that thinks any geese killed in January west of I-95 or I-83 aren't AP migratory needs to do one thing. Go to the same farms on April 1st that you had a 5 bird limit in
January for 'resident geese' and see how many 'resident geese' are around. The fact is AP migratory geese have been moving west for years all you're doing is depleting 5x more AP geese by calling them resident

IT WOULD BE NICE TO GIVE OUT BEAR PERMITS PER LOCATION. I HUNT IN FREDERICK COUNTY BY FREDERICK COUNTY WATERSHED AND THERE IS A TON OF BEARS IN THAT AREA.

As far as deer season. I would like to see the state of Maryland manage the deer heard for the deer hunters. The deer herd is down across the state. If you just look at the 2 week gun season. Down 20%. Need to limit the doe kill. I like the buck point restriction and maybe go a little further in reducing the total buck kill. On the other side I would like to see more
Sunday hunting opportunity for the working man. We can only hunt the weekend or take off work for more opportunities As far as waterfowl. It seems the season should go into February. The ducks don't show up until February. Same amount of days to hunt just move the days into February. And allow the Sunday hunt for waterfowl

Raise the limit in the atlantic flyway, to at least 2 geese per day.
I would like to bring concern that the County workers for the state of Maryland that every spring they suffocate the goose nests by dumping the eggs in vegetable oil to kill off the population.

Hello, in order to help with the duck population, perhaps a limit should be set for female ducks or all species and not just mallards.

It seems to me that splitting ducks into West and East zones is arbitrary and serves no purpose whatsoever.

Leave early teal as is and move the entire waterfowl season back. Start Nov 1.Keep 60 day season but carry into Feb. With weather patterns changing so are the migrations.

Sunday hunting for waterfowl would be nice

Hi. Can we please hunt all day during the entire dove season, or at least after the first week? Almost all other states do, and hunting in the cooler mornings is much easier on dogs. Thank you.

As for waterfowl season I would like to see the early duck season taken away and extend the season trough the middle or end of February also I Fishing bay is way over hunted deer and waterfowl I think deer and waterfowl should be on a lottery like deal island impoundment is and I think there should be a sanctuary as well

With the warm weather that Canada and the US are experiencing the winter migration is being delayed too where we are not seeing the waterfoul arriving like you use to see years back. It would be nice to have some of the earlier dates moved up or added on to later in the season.

Please raise the goose limit.

I would like to make two comments on the regulations for next year:1.  Please consider opening Goose Hunting on Thanksgiving Day.  It is such a fond memory in my family and we really miss it.2. Have one day for youth only waterfowl.  My boys have aged out, but little guys and gals need a day for them.  There are too many adults out in that day and puts pressure on the birds. 
Let the next generation have a day.

The final split of duck season should not stop for rifle season and  extend into the middle of February. The goose limit should be raised from 1 goose to 3-4 per person due to the over population of them in the eastern shore region. They produce damage to farmers crops and carry diseases that are catastrophic to the poultry industry which is very large here in Maryland.

Decrease sea duck limit to 3.

Please move AP goose season back as late as possible (through Feb 5th). Utilize the latest study which suggests that our mallards come from the pothole region, not just the north east , and set the mallard limit to 4 per day. Thank you.

Years ago I attended a public meeting on the proposals. I asked a certain DNR rep about a swan season and his excuse was the fear of the 'soccer moms' and the potential flack. Delaware has crossed over and had zero resistance. Yet the the rep boasted about how he had the paperwork in his desk but refused to do it. Since when is it up to this one persons opinion ? Shouldn't the paying license holders carry heavy weight on this ? If enough license holders want it why not ? For decades Marylanders travel out of state to harvest one . Or does DNR not want more revenue? After all it will license sales which in turn help keep the lights on in all the DNR offices

I would like to see the daily limit go to 2 birds a day. With the entire Atlantic flyway under the same restriction. If the bird population is scarce then EVERY fly way should be doing their part to conserve not just the Atlantic flyway. I feel with a 2 bird limit you can still have a decent hunt with a smaller number of people in the blind without hurting the population to the point of needing a moratorium. It will also lower the number of accidentally taking more than allowed. If three people are in the blind and each has 3 shells that's nine shots available. With only needing 3 geese as it stands there is much more room for error than of two birds per person were needed. Maryland has restricted the goose season to the point I personally am not sure I will purchase a license next year mainly because of the bag limit. Too much work for one bird.
#NAME?

Treat scaup like black ducks. Give them their own season and do not allow them to be taken during October and November splits but give us 2/day for the entire last split

Start dove season days 30 before sunrise.

I hunted 27/30 days this year.. shot 27 geese. We were seeing 5-7000 a day in AA  county. Yet we're still on a 1 bird limit!? It should be 2 or 3! The season needs to be expanded and go into February when the big groups of migrators actually show up

Great , setting seasons and limits AGAIN without the data from the spring flight survey on the breeding grounds. Used to be what the biologists considered the holy grail for making decisions,  what happened to that ? Don't want to hear about Covid , let's call it utter hypocrisy  ! By the way , saw a big increase in goose numbers this past hunting season .

Sunday Hunting Authorized State Wide Public and Private Land.

Keep waterfowl hunting on Sunday's closed! Birds are pressured too much as is.  As well as manage public hunting areas better. Return the lottery system and limit days of week for hunting on McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area. The place has such potential to hold migrating waterfowl but has become the Wild West. Too many people hunting it. I'd like to see a lottery for days and only allow waterfowl hunting Monday, Wednesday Friday & Saturday. I believe this would greatly improving the Safety for hunters and bird populations in this area.

The western zone duck season was great last year glad to see it back again.Would like to see carroll county goose line pushed more west over to route 30 as it was in the past.

I think that the 1 bird a day goose limit is ridiculous.  I would rather close the season entirely to let the population rebuild itself or have a shorter season with a 2 bird limit.  It's not worth the time, effort or money to go out and kill one goose

Concerning the crossbow proposal to ban the travel of cocked crossbows, that appears to be an extraneous law. Since the potential of an accidental discharge with an unloaded crossbow only damages the crossbow, and does not harm others, it should simply be left to the owner of the crossbow to assume the risk of potentially destroying their crossbow or not. Many crossbows do not have a de-cocking mechanism and must be shot, similar to a muzzleloader. So either a hunter must carry a special target with them to fire into, or assume the personal risk of traveling with a cocked crossbow. (unloaded, of course) If a person wants to assume that risk, and not harm those outside of their vehicle, then that should be up to them.

No to the crossbow change rule because there are many older models of crossbows still in use and that do not allow for de-cocking.

Please properly mark the public blind sites  most areas in the st Mary's are not marked and do not have gos coordinates.could we lose the first split in October and add those days on the 3rd split. Most waterfowl showed up the last week of season.

I would like to see some sort of a reevaluation of the AP vs. Resident goose zones. In southeast Baltimore County there are great numbers of resident birds and they cannot be touched from September to the end of December. I have lived and hunted this area for 30 years and have only seen 1 migratundraory goose band with numerous bands being from Maryland Pennsylvania and New York. Baltimore  County use to be considered a resident County up until the early 2000's.Also a swan permit would be something to consider just like Delaware

Move the duck season back and make it end the last day of February. Sunday hunting for water fowl. Sunday hunting on public land

Canada Goose Season Bring back 2 birds. One bird just takes the fun out of going hunting. Everybody shoots their one bird and we go home. It was enjoyable being able to spend time in the blind and shoot twice as many birds as we are able to now.

Good morning I wanted to make a comment on the policy of Sunday hunting in Maryland. I would like to see you Sunday hunting allowed across the state of Maryland to allow opportunity for people to have either Saturday or Sunday to hunt. Many folks with and without kids only have the weekend to hunt due to working full time during the week.  Only having one-day per week to try to hunt greatly reduces the opportunity to hunt that week.Additionally, I do not think it's fundamentally right to allow hunting only on private land on Sunday but not on public. The following counties allow deer hunting on private land on some Sundays but no public land deer hunting on those same Sundays: Anne Arundel, Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Harford, Kent, Montgomery, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Washington Region B, Wicomico, and Worcester.  For turkey hunting, the following counties allow Sunday turkey hunting on private land but not on public land: Calvert, Caroline, Carroll, Charles, and Kent. To me, that sounds like, only folks who can afford to have a lease or own land can hunt on Sunday in those counties.  This is not consistent with the 7th pillar of the North American Model of Conservation, The Democracy of Hunting, which is, 'In keeping with democratic principles, government allocates access to wildlife without regard for wealth, prestige, or land ownership'.  Only allowing folks who own private land or can afford to lease private land to hunt on Sundays discriminates against those hunters who cannot afford to own or lease.  The current law comes across as, people who are privileged to own or lease can hunt on Sundays and those who are not, cannot, which again, is not in alignment with the North American Model of Conservation.

I believe the migratory waterfowl seasons should be brought in later. The rising average temperatures in fall have created a shift in the migratory patterns of the birds. The last few years, we haven't seen any birds until the later seasons. I hunt in Dorchester County.

Please keep the entire Atlantic Flyway on 1 bird 30 days or no season at all. The birds are not showing up in the traditional areas (in MD)until later in the January season. We need to protect this flyway and this resource. Other states have been using their limits and zones to their advantage, and this has contributed greatly to the reduction in the total population. The migratory patterns of the AP geese have changed and the regulations must keep up to reflect this.

Up the bag limits and let us hunt sundays. Not everybody can make it out during the week and call out of work. Also keep open the special sea duck zones and allow more seaducks to be taken.
Not nearly as many people hunting as it was 10 years ago. Keep duck hunting great for the future generations. Move the first split to behind the 3rd split the ducks arnt here 1st split.

Absolutely love the idea of extending riffle doe season. With work I don't have the opportunity to get out a lot during the doe season . Also would love to be able to purchase extra tags region a . Would love to be able to buy bear tag over counter for region a resident also

DNR is creating problems for land owners and the general public by extending deer hunting seasons and or loosening the regulations. Decent hunters don't want to decimate the herds either.
Everyone should want the deer managed properly. This is not good wildlife management at all. You should know that almost 5 months of hunting deer is too much already. This is especially true in region B with no bag limit for antlerless deer.  The obsessive weirdos want to kill all wildlife year round even at night with no laws. You are feeding them their drug a little at time. Also you have to know that disputes will definitely occur when people leave their treestands in the woods. Common sense says they are claiming that spot it's a no brainer. All the excuses and reasons are lame. I'm losing faith in Md DNR

Any chance of making waterfowl run later like into February, take days away from the front end of season? Seems like it's to warm early season.

Two states that surround Virginia and Delaware both have Tundra Swan seasons. Why not Maryland? Open a Tundra Swan season (lottery would be fine). Just do it already.

I would suggest a 5day goose season for the week of Thanksgiving, then put rest of days at the end.  Tun out as late as framework will allow.  Maybe bump youth hunt one week if possible.

Uncocked crossbow for travel is not a reasonable adjustment. A cocked crossbow without a bolt is not a danger in an automobile accident. It is the same concept as a muzzleloader without the primer being safe. If crossbows are to be uncocked, hunters will most likely shoot them to uncock the crossbow. This causes more potential for danger than traveling with an unloaded but cocked crossbow.

Can we please extend the duck season until like mid February?

Make all of carroll county part of the western zone for the alantic population season

For the past 4 years, we have not seen migratory geese in significant numbers until the week following the January 31st. This is especially true in Southeastern Dorchester County. Seems this is due to the northern freeze occurring later. Perhaps an extension on the end date could be considered. We live here and would enjoy a few days of goose hunting and hopefully a harvest.

The Dove season needs to change, shorten the October season dates, give the birds a break. Both on public and private lands. Extend the third split till the end of January allowing for more migrant birds to move into the area being colder Temps dont generally move in till after Christmas. The first split of duck season needs to go back to the dates it was before last season, for both the east and west sectors, their are no birds in the area being it's still so warm. The changes that where put in place this past season made for the worst season in years.

The season is not long enough. In my experience the bulk majority of ducks and geese do not show up until the end of the season. I believe the season should extend on until the end of
February, whether it's just pushing all seasons back or just flat out extending the season. Most of us have 1 day a week to hunt and it's frustrating when the birds arrive when the season is coming to a close.

I don't understand the daily bag limit of 1, there's a good number of geese that get to Maryland but it's always when the season is out.

The Atlantic Population (AP) Canada Goose Hunting Season needs to be changed. Either extended or pushed back at least a month for the last split. The birds don't get here until the season is out and those of us who hunt down here don't harvest many birds. And when we do it is only 1 per person so small man hunts aren't even feasible. The bag limit has to be raised as well.
My biggest concern along with many others is the season has to be pushed back. We harvest nothing during second split and very little by last split. The birds show up after the season is over every year for the past few years. Something had to change.
1) DO NOT make separate Black Duck seasons - if ducks are open, then ducks are open.2) Mouth of Chester should not be restricted to sea duck hunting only - again, if ducks are open, then ducks are open.

Is there (could there be) anything being done to control the cormorant population that seems to have exploded the past few years, especially in the Baltimore area.

Is there a reason that Maryland does not work with other local states to manage the population of geese harvested in their states compared to what Maryland is afforded. States like PA and
New York are able to harvest larger numbers of geese while states further in the flyaway are afforded a much smaller bag limit. All resulting in the population making it down because of higher bag limits in states further north in the flyaway.

Offer 2 goose limit on second season.

Remove the October early duck season and add Sunday hunting to November,December and January duck hunting season

Change the limit of mallards back to 3. Saw more mallards this year than I've seen in 10 years. No reason we can only shoot 2. Add a swan season. Surronding states have one so why can't Maryland

1st let me begin by saying thank you for allYou do , I want to bring my 2 sense in and hopefully make a change. I think as an advocated hunter, we need more time with the federal/ migratory season, the season ends far too soon migratory game and just moved in around southern md and the season it aready out. No longer than maybe 45 minutes to an hour away near side of 301The season stays open until March and the limit I believe is 3-5 bird limit per hunter .. Southern Maryland should be granted the same regulations. I do also believe that we need more time for hunting as in allowing at least another hour and half after sunset …. With this I also think that the start of the season or 'opening day' is worthless because the numbers of migratory bird is way way down or if they're even in the reason which they are not. My proposal for this opinion would be to move the first split to February-march now identifying as the '3rd last split' , it will be far more effective for hunters in Maryland. Thank you for allowing us to be heard and included.

#1 Give us back a 60 day goose season with 2 birds a day limit. #2  keep 30 day goose season with 2 birds a day. Make it worth all the effort and cost of hunting. Thank you.

I believe that the migratory game bird season should extended to a further date like late February to early March for the Atlantic population as birds start arriving more and more. The past couple of seasons the birds start to arrive at the end of the season and it's been repetitive. I believe the bag limit of 1 goose should be raised for the Atlantic Population as well. If extending the season is an issue i feel it is best to start the Atlantic population's season to start 2nd split in January and to continue the season on to late February/early March. Thank you

Migratory Canada GeeseAdd 15 days to season keep limit at 1Tundra Swan should have permit huntingThank you

Any thoughts to add a lottery permit for swans.   Would help help outfitters too.

From what I have seen, the tundra swan population is getting pretty out of hand. Driving down the eastern shore, I have seen countless swans ripping up farmer's fields. Also at the deal island impoundments, the swans just rip up the grass and aquatic plants the the migratory waterfowl feed on, which hurts them. Also, swan tags could be a very beneficial source of money for the department of natural resources. Swans need to be managed, and can not keep running amuck all over the Chesapeake. They are detrimental to all the other waterfowl by destroying grass, fields, and habitats. I believe they are almost as bad as the snow geese. Even if each hunter can have only one swan tag per season, anything will help. All the other states around Maryland, most recently Delaware, have realized the harm done by these swans, and have taken appropriate action with the swan tag system. Why shouldn't Maryland do the same?In addition to this, I have seen significantly more migratory canada geese, which may be due to the changed bag limit for the last two years. I believe it is time to change it back to two birds per day, rather than just one. There are consistantly large feeds of Canada geese all the way down the eastern shore, many of which are around chestertown through cambridge. To better manage the population, I think the bag limit should go through a cycle of two years on a 1 bird per day limit followed by a third year of a two bird per day limit. This will keep the population increasing on the two years, and then managed back in the third year, so really, the population will constantly be on the rise due to the years reduced bag limits.

Though grouse populations are declining, that doesn't stop us from spending time in the woods enjoying more than just the harvest aspect of hunting. Fall grouse hunting is nice, but can often be disrupted with all the other hunting seasons open during the fall. The nice thing about January is that most other seasons have wrapped up and we can walk more freely in the woods without disrupting someone else's hunt. I am all for taking action to increase grouse population, but how about we start with campaigning for more timber harvesting. Your idea sounds like an alternative solution to an obvious problem. The lack of timber harvesting is the major reason for grouse decline. I find the general public has an extremely warped view of the logging industry and what it provides. Spend your time and energy educating the public on what diverse forests look like, the important role young forests play in ecosystems, why timber harvesting is needed to take the place of forest fires that nature used to provide, how a basic food chain works (it's not all about the cute furry animals), how many jobs are provided in the timber industry, and most importantly, the public needs to know how important hunters are to maintaining healthy forests(providing data, knowledge accumulated from years in the woods, and $$$ to both local, state, and federal economies). Other than your emails that go out to hunters who already know this information, I don't see any of that type of public education being presented.

If we continue to rely on politicians to save our outdoor sporting lifestyle as we know it, without putting any pressure on them, we all know how that's going to end. Your office should be in Annapolis, not Cambridge. Anyone who doubts what I said here, look and see how many acres have been logged in Savage State Forest the past few years and longer. When you do, keep in mind that is a 50,000+ acre forest. Then you'll know why the grouse population is declining. Taking the month of January away is just going to allow for less and less folks to become interested in the sport of grouse hunting leading to less and less folks even caring. And that's how you kill a once thriving sport.
Swan season. And season on comorants. Separate meganser bag limits.

Open a swan season

Allow Maryland residents to apply for permits to be able to shoot tundra swans; 1 swan per person for the season. Also allow Maryland residents to be able to hunt the Deal Island
Impoundment on days that it is open to hunt without a permit. Only allowing people to hunt the impoundment one day out of the year has tremendously hurt local hunters because it was the one place we could go once or maybe twice a week to kill birds. If people still want to have permits to hunt it, make Wednesday's permit only, but make Saturday's open. As a local that invests a lot of time into hunting Deal Island, I can say that making the impoundment permit only has hurt the surrounding hunting areas and has only caused more problems inside the impoundment. This rule has only hurt the local hunters in the surrounding counties.

I would like for the bag limits to not go down and possibly give waterfowl more hunting days or Sunday hunting like other nearby states. If nothing changes or gets worse like proposed more people will hunt other states which will not provide money for Maryland.
Shooting light 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after sunset for migratory late season. A week long duck season in February.

Why are none of the Patuxent river duck blinds fixed up but every year we have to buy stamps?Please go back to 2 geese bag limit.

PUSH TO LEGALIZE SUNDAY WATERFOWL HUNTING!!!! I am aware DNR does not have the authority to authorize Sunday hunting for waterfowl, but I would like to see a push to do so that is led by the DNR. I am off Saturdays and Sundays. My three children are off school Saturdays and Sundays. For years we have watched hunter numbers (and thus, license sales $$$$$$) decline. Let's give these kids, and those of us that work Monday-Friday, Sundays to hunt; literally doubling our current opportunities. With many big game Sunday hunting opportunities available in portions of the State for many years now, we see that Sunday hunting isn't the big bad wolf that some portray it to be. Just look across the country at the overwhelming majority of states that allow Sunday waterfowl hunting.

Swan season!!   Even if it's a lottery just like the bear.    Something is better than nothing

I believe migratory game bird Sunday hunts should be legalized because the average Hunter works Monday through Friday giving us one day Out of the week to enjoy what we love doing for a living with the already small limited season that we have.

No more permits for the deal island impoundment and swan permits

Swan season.No permits for deal island or fairmount impoundmentsBlack ducks to 3 per man

Get rid of the first split of duck season and add that extra week onto the first week of February. The week we get in October is a waste there's no ducks in mallard and it's still 70 degrees

Swan season and no more permits for the impoundment!!!

More tundra swans that anything. We need tags for them.  Also tags for Canadas would be a good idea. Rather than having no birds at the beginning of the season to being completely covered in birds on the last weekend and only shooting 3 or 4 birds all year. Later seasons would be better too. Just nothing around at the beginning
I believe with the population that we have it is beyond time to implement a lottery system for a regulated swan season for Maryland residents. The deal island and all impoundments should return to a lottery permit system for opening days only and the rest of the season should be first come first serve Wednesday/Saturday or whichever days deemed the most beneficial. Sunday hunting should be looked into as Maryland remains one of less than 12 states which doesn't allow Sunday hunting for waterfowl. As well as better care for public habitats such as more man.
Made impoundments and moist soil areas / crops on public lands

I understand that Maryland DNR is restricted by the Federal regulations on migratory birds. As a goose hunter with my sons and grandson I feel that regulations are killing the goose hunting experience. The combined expense of your license, migratory stamp and federal stamp, the hunt for a one bird limit is becoming very expensive and deterring hunters. Residential goose bag limit 5, I would like to see migratory season back to 2 for at least one half season. Take into consideration two Saturdays 2022 are Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Not all can hunt weekdays.

Good afternoon, I am opposed to the proposed regulation change for tree stands on public lands. I am a Pennsylvania resident that spends a lot of time in the woods of PA and Maryland. I leave stands up in PA but I do like that it's not legal Maryland. It seems great but the problem is people always feel entitled to hunt the area of their stand regardless. Also it seems very hard to enforce, even in Maryland I see stands left up on public and left year round. Regardless of the out come of this proposed regulation change I am thankful for this being open to public comment. Thanks 

Swan season with tags and check in if necessary and no more permits for the DIWMA impoundment!!!

Swan season and no more permits for the impoundment!!!

No tundra swan Season?Also black ducks should be open during 1st split.

Sunday huntingRaise the goose limit back to at least 2/person

We need higher goose limits for the AP zone there has been more geese the past few years than ever! We need it raised back to 2 per person per day! The mallards are here more than ever too we need that raised to 3 mallard drakes per person! I appreciate all you do for the state and the sportsman but we all can figure this out and do better! Thanks so much!

I believe geese should be upped to 2 birds a man per day. Hunting this season we saw a ton of them to where the one bird limit is unnecessary. I also think we should have a tundra swan season being that Delaware and VA have one.

The eastern shore needs the late resident season also. Doesn't make sense when people have to kill thousands because of crop/land damage caused by geese but us hunters (Wicomico county) can't hunt them that season

I would really enjoy having duck season last until mid February. The weather gets cold and more ducks arrive in the area. Also, based on the amount of Canadian Geese I saw this year, I don't know why we can't shoot atleast 3 geese a person. Why is crow season only allowed 3 days a week? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard! Mae crow season all year round please! Thank you for your time!

Tundra swans seemed plentiful when hunting the Chesapeake this year. I think it would be reasonable to begin a tundra swan season as our neighboring states have done.

Please have the start of each splits to be a Saturday.  Also would prefer a lower daily bag limit for ducks to enable more hunting days.

Have a swan season like DE and VAHave duck and goose season later in the year to allow more birds to be down

Allow Sunday hunting! And allow tundra swans to be harvested based on a lottery draw system like bears.
F
ix everything , no birds in the past 5 years . Start duck in Dec and go through February . Give us Sunday hunting . Maryland has mismanaged everything about waterfowl and it needs to get fixed .

If there is discussions on lowering bag limits for ducks maybe instead eliminate harvesting female ducks for that species while not changing the limit would be more effective.

I would love to see this season begin later and end later. I feel like we didn't really see a good push of birds until the end of the season. I also think we should really consider opening a season for swans.

I would personally like to thank you for totally screwing up goose season in particular. Traditions like hunting geese the week before thanksgiving are out the window, You strategically bring goose seasons in on full moons knowing they don't fly during the day and feed at night. You have pushed it back so far into winter that the rivers get frozen up so we can't even get to our water blinds. You increased the hazard of people getting killed in boating mishaps while hunting in 35 deg water.It's extremely tough on our retrievers and in General there are more geese now than ever so all your attempts at restricting our hunting is not going unnoticed. I'm 69 now and what a hardship it is to put decoys out in those weather conditions all for one stinking goose. you should be ashamed of yourselves
1st - I'd say to take the first week of November split away  and add it to the first week of February. The birds show up the last week of January and then the season is over.  Long days of hardly seeing birds until then.  2nd - I'd say to go back to two geese per person.  Virginia has 5 geese and Pennsylvania 2.  What do we accomplish by taking it down to one except for losing hunters money for liscences because they don't want to put forth the money or effort for  2 two weeks splits where you can harvest one goose.  3rd -  ITS CRAZY WE ARE ONE OF THE ONLY STATES THAT CAN'T WATERFOWL SUNDAYS!!!  Please open up Sunday for waterfowl hunting. Please tell me why you haven't already.  The Department does not have the authority to authorize additional Sunday hunting opportunities. We may only open those Sundays that are authorized by the legislature. If you are interested in expanding Sunday hunting opportunities, please reach out to your local legislative representative.

The AP goose season either needs to be extended or needs to be raised to 2 a day. Even a blind man can hear that the Atlantic population has rebounded since 2018. You have no records to show in 2020 and 2021 so why make base your decision off a very rough estimate.
i'm happy with the duck and goose dates.i used to enjoy the warmer November dates but most geese are not here then as they used to be.global warming has kept them north until later in December and January.

No Sunday waterfowl hunting30 consecutive days for geese, the split is useless for folks hunting.

I believe the waterfowl season should be a 45 day season still 1 bird limit and hunters should be allowed the week of thanksgiving to hunt waterfowl

Would like to see a swan tag to fill in Md like other states even if they are issued to only a few people a year

We need a tundra swan season & no snow goose hunting past sunset during conservation season to keep people from head raking water holes

Increase daily mallard limit.  My dog wants more birds to retrieve.

Go back to 4 mallard bag limit

I would like to see the migratory Canada goose season slide into early to mid Ferbruary.  The weather has not been cold enough earlier in the year to push the geese down to us during the early stages of the season.  The geese continue to arrive in February after the season has closed.  The past two years we have seen no significant numbers of geese in Kent County during the established seasons.

Get rid of the early teal season and put those dates on the beginning of the third split or at the end of the third split??

Why doesn't Maryland allow Sunday waterfowl hunting? Take a day in the middle of the week and add Sunday. Other states do it and it works well. West Virginia has no issues with Sunday hunting even if it is only on private land not state land like it is for deer hunting.

Please leave AP Canada Goose limit at 1, however give our days back with another split the week of thanksgiving. Also September teal season should run the first of the month or at least the first weekend of the month through the middle of the month instead of starting in the middle of the month. The majority of the blue wings leave before the 15th of September due to the common small cooler weather fronts that come with early September and a second advantage would be less wood ducks that would have to be either watched for or accidentally killed during this season. Thank you, Bobby Heim 10 year waterfowl guide

Allow management hunting for cormorants and shift the ducks season into February. Statistically birds arrive in Maryland at the end of January and hunters would be able to fulfill more bag limits if we were able to hunt into February.

We need Sunday hunting on private land and and remove one week day

God afternoon. My name is Justin. A few things i would like see change next season is one, sunday hunt days maryland is one of 10 states WITHOUT sunday hunts. We live in one of the most taxed areas in the country atleast let the blue collar workers that all hunt have an extra day on the weekend. Also i would like to beabe to goose hunt on thanksgiving again so just a season extension to start it back thanksgiving weekend. I know nothing can be done about limit with the hatches up north but hopefully they have good hatches the next few years. Thank you for your time.

yes

During the 21-22 season I had seen more geese then I have ever seen in my life. It bothers me as to why the limit was brought down to 1 bird in my county (Howard) but next county over (Montgomery) is 5 I think limits should be raised to atleast 3 birds per person and also a longer season this years goose season was laughable could definitely use some improvements. Also maybe start looking into issuing tundra swan tags in maryland would be awesome!

Would love to see more public dove fields planted and open season long. Cheltenham closing after the first split is a real shame, especially when it isn't listed as only open for a certain parts of the season. Would also like to see more public water access for duck hunting on navigable waters or at least have it clarified in the regulations. Highway 301 being the dividing line for migratory/resident geese also seems really ambiguous.

Canadian geese limits need to be raised again, there is a surplus of geese in the state of Maryland. Anywhere you go may it be Salisbury or Cambridge there are geese, one bird is not enough to keep the population at a desired limit. As a waterfowl hunter to many years, growing up with the sport being one of the biggest things in my life I was taught that we hunted to put food on the table and keep the population of what we hunted down for the animals own sake, with seemingly growing populations I believe that it should be placed back to a 2-3 bird limit.

Goose.  2 per day.   Extend duck and goose until mid February when birds are actually here.

Fix the goose limit and add a swan season. Surrounding states have bigger limits and swan season makes no sense

Expand the resident goose season for eastern shore counties.

We would like to see a open goose hunting day on Thanksgiving to observe the long tradition of going out and harvesting the Thanksgiving Goose.

Hello DNR....most proposals look very reasonable, especially the 1 bird limit on Canada Geese. Even without a spring survey you can tell migratory numbers are down in Maryland. One suggestion: Since diving ducks often do not come down by the end of January, how about taking 2 days out of the regular season and opening a special duck season for 2 days (Fri & Sat) in late February?   Thanks for the opportunity to commend. Gary N. Michael, Baldwin MD

Thank you for all you do.  I know it is not easy.  I live on a farm and i love wildlife.I would like to strongly recommend to cut 50% of the timber we have.... in stage of course and maybe even more.  I cut over 70% of my forrest 6 years ago and i see a lot more deer, turkey and rabbits around.  Close the Grouse season for 3 years.  They need all the help we can give them. 
Also, the dove count in the last 6 years has gone down in my area and other places in MD.  I do my own count so I can believe what I see.  Doves are down.  Turn it to 10 doves a day.  Geese and duck numbers are down.  Close the goose season for 3 years but have other states do the same.  I know this sounds harsh, but we have no control over weather and farmers clearing land. 
We do have control on how many we can kill legally and the season dates.  thank you again

I think (Maryland) needs a open bag system of upgrading 1 Canadian goose to 3-4Mallards should be instead of 2 a person too 4 And the season should be pushed from October to start in
November and extend a extra 2 weeks in February

Isn't it time to allow us waterfowl hunters to thin the population of cormorants. The last few years there has been a huge increase of them and more and more are starting to call southern
Maryland their home they just stay all year. It has to be putting a hurting on our local fish. Even in local ponds and lakes they are more and more common. There must be 20 of them staying in Gilbert run lake, 4 or 5 that never leave lake on 235 and quite a few in st Mary's lake. I seen other states are starting to see the problem they are causing. Was catfishing on potomac river this past Sunday there was a hundreds  just above 301 and not to mention the hundreds we have seen hunting pax river.
I don't think the sea duck season should be eliminated altogether. There are numerous eastern shore waterman that rely on the sea duck season to supplement their income in the winter months.

Swan season and cormorant season. Swan season is open to the lottery in NC, VA and DE, Maryland is missing an opportunity with a swan lottery tag. Regarding the cormorants, they are in higher numbers than ever and eat an insane amount of small fish, each eating around a pound PER DAY.

I would like to know why western of 95 can have a 5 goose per day limit but east is only allowed 1 per day. And the fact that they don't have a split season and they are allowed to hunt till March?
Maryland has 2 late Canada goose hunting zones (see map HERE​) to manage hunting pressure on the 2 different populations of these birds.  The western part of the state contains mostly abundant resident population Canada geese that can sustain higher harvest while the eastern part of the state serves as a wintering area for migrant Canada geese (Atlantic Population) with lower harvest potential necessitating a shorter season and lower bag limit.  Both zones have 2 season segments with the western zone having one segment proposed for Thanksgiving week and the later (and longer) segment proposed to run from the end of firearms deer season to early March.

One bird limit is a waste of time.  If there is a moratorium, ALL states in the Atlantic FlyWay need to participate, NOT just Maryland.

I understand you can't change federal framework.  However, would be nice if state would communicate to the feds that a thanksgiving hunt would be valued to continue traditions.  I agree it doesn't make any sense for md to use a segment for November as most of the birds are not down.

A number of migratory birds are killed in the residential zone.  With goose populations on the brink, residential seasons should exist prior to the goose migration such as 9/1-10/15
Maryland should forbid leaving waterfowl decoys, especially geese, out more than 18 hours.   When decoys are left out they disrupt birds normal feeding patterns for not only the property which leave them out, but for neighboring properties.  The ability of leaving out decoys also encourages setting up hundreds more decoys than would otherwise be setup which increases hunter success beyond harvest estimates.

Please allow to legal waterfowl hunting on Sundays. People that work 5 days a week hardly have any time to attempt to harvest birds.
1 bird per man limit on the migratory Canada goose population could easily be raised to 2 (or higher) and remain manageable

It would be nice to open Canada goose season again in November near thanksgiving. I would also like to go back to a 2 Canada goose limit over in the eastern shore. Thx

With Delaware and Virginia having a tundra swan season and the population of tundra swans is growing on the Eastern Shore, it's time to have a season on tundra swan. Just last week there were fields upon fields with several hundred to thousands on Rt 309 from Queen Anne to Centreville.

It would sure be nice if the DNR would explain to us how a portion of the State can shoot 5 geese per day for 80 days, while the rest of the state gets a 30 day season and 1 bird. Those geese in the 80 day portion are no way all resident. If the goose population is in such dire straights, the rest of our state as well as the States North of us should ALL have the limits cut back. Thanks

I would like to propose dropping the  resident  daily limit to 2-3. I am curious to know what is considered a  resident  goose. If I was told correctly. One side of the bay, the limit is 1 and the other is 5... doesn't make much sense to me as a  AP  goose could easily find it's way on the other side of the bay where 5 of them could be killed. I am all for the 1  AP  goose a day as I understand the breeding pair situation. People will complain about it but that is because they don't understand the situation. I am just curious is it would make a difference if the  resident  daily limit was changed would it make a difference in the  AP . I also do understand the  resident  problem but if  AP  geese are being shot on the west side of the bay then that is a problem. Also, someone needs to push for all states in Atlantic Flyway to understand the situation. I heard limits up north were dropped but you can't believe everything you hear.
NY and PA are were the birds are holding up when it is warm and if they don't lower their limits like MD has then MD lowering the limits is pointless and they will destroy the population. Thanks

Duck and goose season should start later in the year and end later no waterfowl at the start of the last several years they don't get here till Jan the season ends to much money for no hunting. Now goose bag limit is terrible to much money invested and time to kill 1 goose with as many geese are on this shore

Shooting light regulations for Geese is absolutely ridiculous, I can understand ducks....  But geese is easy to identify, it should be 30 mins before and 30 mins after sunset.

Sunday waterfowl hunting

Bring our limits for geese back to 2 there's no shortage of birds.Also consider a swan season for Maryland.

Is there a reason for no waterfowl hunting on Sundays? Most waterfowl hunters work Monday- Friday so our only chance to go is Saturday or to take off of work. This rule seems outdated and I believe it should be readdressed. Thank you   The Department does not have the authority to authorize additional Sunday hunting opportunities. We may only open those Sundays that are authorized by the legislature. If you are interested in expanding Sunday hunting opportunities, please reach out to your local legislative representative.

 No more permits for impoundment and swan season

We should have a Moratorium on mallards or at least 1 per person per day.Also A swan Lottery season makes a lot of sense here in Maryland.Open some Sundays for hunting!

Season needs to be moved from days in October to days in February. Climate changes are making the October and early November days very poor hunting season due to it being warm. The birds have not been migrating until December and early January due to the weather. Giving one or two weeks in February would hopefully see cooler weather and better hunting.

1- Why not make snow goose conservation all year. They are a species that hurt are farmers and our crops so why not allow us to shoot unlimited Snowgeese all year during the season instead of during conservation time2- We should be able to have a tundra swan permit considering every state around us

More Canada goose per day. Almost not worth hitting for just a single goose

I think a second week of bear season should be put in and also I say we should allow baiting for a bear and allow it to starts a week before the season comes in  I would also like to see the trapping g of 1 bobcat that has to be checked in like you would bear

Allow Sunday hunts and 2 geese per person

Have a limit of 2 per day for Canada goose but less hunt days

We have a very large migration of scuap aka bluebills that come to maryland throughout the year it is really our main species to kill here, saying that to have 1 per person per day is ridiculous... I also have to disagree with leaving stands up on Public WMA's due to the amount of stands that would be put up on heavily hunted areas, the trash and left stands that would be all over our woods. The pressure that would occur from all of these stands on public land would only ruin hunting relationships to deer numbers on public land. Thank you for reading this! Hope you guys take this into consideration.

Open more Sunday hunts in Harford county for the working men/women who can only get out on the weekends.

Please raise the goose limit to 2 birds. I also have a question. How can the resident and migratory goose season run at the same time.

We have a very large amount of cormorants invading the Chesapeake bay, suggest opening a season for them to be reduced in numbers

1 scaup per day until January 9 is outrageous it should be raised to at least two scaup per day anywhere on the eastern region on main bay 90 percent of birds you will see are bluebills Baltimore county public land the only duck you have a real shot at harvesting are scaup

2 week Designated crossbow season. Unless youth 16 and under or disability

Treestand law horrible idea keep it no leaving tree stands

I really think we should be able to shot more geese then just one

I think the proposed season and bag limits make sense to me. I live in the western zone and what some would call liberal bag limits I would call sensable. We are loaded with resident geese in upper Montgomery County. We just need a little more cold weather earlier. But I believe Global warming is going to help us with that.

I would like to see the goose limit raise to 2 bird limit or raise it to 2 the last part of the season . But what I really would like to see is to take the first split and move it to the end of the season cause the birds are not showing up until the season is almost over.
Would you consider giving us two AP goose days earlier than what is proposed?  One on Thanksgiving day and the day after.  Take December 17 and 18 away to stay within the Federal frame work.

I would like to see 3 of the earlier days of duck season (December 12 13 14) between deer and duck season added on to the December January duck season due to the later migration between
Canada and the US. Or delay the 3rd split of duck season to January and February.

Two comments. 1: Where is the September resident goose season?  2:  why can't we raise the goose limit back to 2 per person and shorten the season to the month of January? This leaves less time for the geese to be hunted but will raise the quality of hunts for the people who take parties etc. The September resident goose season proposal is the very first proposal listed within the Proposed  Migratory Game Birds Seasons and Bag Limits document. Maryland’s  Migratory Game Bird Hunting Season proposals must remain within guidelines provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Frameworks which currently allows for 1 goose per day.

Would like to see the duck blind drawing go back to public instead of online it would cut down on a lot of issues I think

NO  to the leaving of private stands on public lands. It will be a disaster.

Encouraging to see the nesting pair projections of 153,000 for the AP Geese.  Let's hope you are right and we have a nice rebound.  Separately, I'm not a fan of the current splits for Goose.  The mid Dec to New Year's followed by the mid-January to the end, has had us on a full moon phase for both splits the last few seasons.  The Geese feed at night and it makes it tough on those of us who like to hunt the fields.  I'd like to see a short, 5-day season that runs from the Saturday before Thanksgiving to the Friday after.  The second split can cover 25 days in January.  It gives us an early and a late season and takes the moon phase out of concern in the last split.

I would like to see portable ground blinds included in this proposal. I am a 64 year old disabled hunter whose balance prevents using a tree stand. It would enhance my ability to hunt public land to be able to set up and conceal my ground blind and not have to pack it in and out daily. I like the one stand per area part of the plan as well as having to put an ID tag on the stand or blind.

A higher bluebill limit. 1 and 2 birds is very low. Being as that's the most abundant bird on the bay

I believe the season needs to be closed for several years to bring the numbers back. The past few seasons of waterfowl hunting have been garbage with less and less birds every year

Change howard County from migratory to resident.We are not connected to any part if the bay or and major tributaries like Montgomery is. They have the whole Potomac. We don't have anything so we should be considered resident. Most birds are here year round. At least make all of carrol County resident.The imaginary line is hard to decifer.my friend was told once he was in the resident zone but then he was tokd he wasnt just cause we double checked before hunting.

We need to close the Canada goose season until the population increases.The upper shore goose count is way down, ponds the held geese were empty this year. Drive on rt213 from Galena to Elkton very few birds.

Let us kill 6 blue bill that's all that piles here anymore let some people be able to go out and limit with more than 2 damn birds

Canada Goose daily limit in the eastern zone to be increased from one to two per day. Thank You.

Get rid of September teal season and push it into the October split of duck season.  Get rid of the November split and add it to the end of January. Let's marylanders have a shot at harvesting birds since most birds don't show till the end of january

Move the duck and goose season to were it ends the first Saturday 2nd Saturday in February. Birds really show up at the end of January.

I would like to be allowed to inverse the Canada goose limit to 2,Allow Maryland to hunt waterfowl on select sundays like deer season And many other states. Or possibly up the mallard limit to three birds

Tundra swan season and Sunday hunting for waterfowl!

Need a swan season like the other states and our bag limits are a joke they say they are resident geese in western md they are not but you can shoot a Dr ent limit

We need to allow Maryland hunters the opportunity to have a decent bag limit. I have seen more geese in my fields the last two years then the prior 10. I also saw a large amount of black ducks this year specifically on my ponds. Other states are not changing their limits as low as we are. It is unfair to our citizens.

The limit for migratory geese is disappointing, one goose for what we have to pay to hunt them is ridiculous. Each day we hunted we saw thousands flying and to see what there doing to farmers crops the state didn't take neither one of these into consideration when setting the limit. Region B always gets the short end of the stick. On everything hunting. Duck season sucked this year. And when the ducks start showing up the season closes. It was terrible which shouldn't be no surprise to any of the Law officers. That's another debate the officers which are a joke. Worried about a oyster of fish or duck or goose but not life of duck hunters in Deal Island. I know first hand because I was there when the mother was told it wasn't the DNR problem. Get your heads out of the sand with these dumb laws that only exist for this region. Rediculous.

Extend the duck season to February 15. This provides more opportunities because ducks are not here early in the season with the exception of wood ducks . Delay the start of the season two weeks if need be ,

I would like to see the limit of geese back up to two per man. And the resident zone removed. Also push the duck opener back a month and extend it to February. No birds show up till the end of the third split. We hunt all three splits and for years it always been the last three weeks that the birds show up. As far as the resident goose zone goes. There are plenty of resident geese on the east side of 301.  Just as there are plenty of migratory birds on the west side of 301. It needs to be better balanced out

If you're going to have a 1 bird limit for 30 days on geese just close it for a couple years and stop wasting our time so you can make money of the license sales. I also think the way the season runs out west is a much better idea. Longer season because you can only hunt weekends and Wednesday.

My suggestions are:-a swan tag lottery as surrounding states are doing.-Sunday waterfowl hunting even if it's only select sundays-non residents should be accompanied by a resident on public for waterfowl-consider a late resident goose season for the eastern shore as we also suffer from damages of resident geese after the end of the season

Youth, veterans, handicap day, seniors day..... You took the whole point of you stay away by adding something else so I think this is only fair or have separate days have one youth Day for 16 and under and have another day for youth 16 and under and the others

Youth Day should be every Sunday in every county

Why do the areas change from early residents goose season to late residents. Why do they not stay the same? The early September Canada goose season zone boundary differs from the Late Resident Canada goose zone for several reasons.   In the September seasons we close the eastern zone earlier than the western September zone to reduce the chance of harvesting early arriving migrant geese where they are most likely to occur.  This also allows Maryland to host an Early Teal Season in the eastern part of the state while​ the Western September Canada Goose Zone remains open.  These 2 seasons (Special September Teal and early Canada Goose) cannot run concurrently in the same part of the state because we allow special harvest methods for Canada geese in September (unplugged shotguns and quitting time 1/2 hour after sunset).   The late Canada goose season zone boundaries separate out migrant (Atlantic Population) wintering areas in the east from areas primarily populated by resident geese in the western half of the state. 

Coyote/fox trapping needs to be extended till at least the end of march
Cancel the early migratory AP Canada Goose season in November and extend a 2 week season into early February

Raise the prices for out of state hunters

3 geese bag limit on east side of 301 4 mallard bag Limit

Need to make the blind sites at hart miller and back river go back to reservations.

Start the duck season in Nov1 to march15 in eastern zone also move east and west zone line  to east side of bridge not rt301
not sure how or why the Atlantic Flyway Council has come to determine that the canada goose season should stay the same. It is pretty obvious their numbers have increased and their report should show that. I understood it did not have to get cut to to start with.was done precautionary.It is important to get the one bird  goose season in conjunction with the entire second half of duck season. Would appear  there would be absolutely no reason for that not to happen. Was even buzz about a possible 1 birds start for 2 weeks then two birds final two weeks. Bad idea with everybody then holding off until the last two weeks and birds less-educated. I just think it's not being taken into account that a lot of these Canada geese have really gotten plentiful in regions where they maybe weren't before and that's just not being taken into account.

Ansoloutely no Sunday waterfowl hunting.too much pressure on the birds and will fuel the anti hunting community.

We need to seriously consider taking second split and cancel that. Give us a week in February when the weather is here.