Published: September 14, 2008 12:16 am         

Hunt deer now!!

Tomorrow is the beginning of Maryland’s wonderfully lengthy deer seasons.

This montage of buck and doe hunting begins and ends with archery. Bow hunters get after it tomorrow and can keep after it until the final day of January. Now that is opportunity.

As I have said many times, harvest is based mostly upon bag limits so why not offer a lot of time afield. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, via its Wildlife Service, does that.

Early muzzleloader season, the highlight of the deer-hunt world to many, takes place for three days in mid-October. The modern firearms hunt always lasts for two weeks, including three Saturdays, and begins on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Toss in the late muzzleloader season and you have a swirl of deer hunting that should please just about everybody.

We are allowed six deer apiece up here in Almost Maryland (Allegany and Garrett counties), as long as one is a doe and one is a buck in each of the bow, muzzleloader and rifle seasons.

If you want more deer meat than that, the same license that you use in these far western counties is good from Sideling Hill Creek eastward where some enormous limit of deer is possible. How many? I dunno. A bunch. Check it for yourself in the hunting guide.

From downtown Cumberland, it is only about 30-or-so miles down Interstate 68 to Washington County and the liberal venison bag limits that exist there and beyond.

I know that sometimes it seems that Maryland has a lot of anti-hunters, but it doesn’t. The ones it has are just loud and well-heeled. I find it interesting, satisfying, perhaps, that the state that is home to some of these industrial-strength antis also is the state that offers some of the more liberal seasons and bag limits around.

If the number of hunters should dwindle, I believe that the seasons should increase in length and the bag limits should swell in quantity.

I’m like a lot of you. I’ve put up some stands and one ground blind. I’ve gotten a few new broadheads, though I’m hoping to make it through on the arrows already in hand. I’ve gone to a new bullet for my muzzleloader and am thrilled with the paper results. I have purchased jerky cure. I’ve hung the meat gambrel and bought some additional Seal-a-Meal bags. The knives have been sharpened. The freezer has been cleared and cleaned. Days off have been scheduled. If I close my eyes I can see an 8-point slipping through the green leaves toward my stand. If I close my eyes I can smell venison stew and see steamed windows in our kitchen. I can see the dog sitting, waiting, hoping as I slice deer steaks.

Here’s to tight groups, big racks and short drags. Here’s to dry days and safe returns home. Here’s to the 2008 deer hunting seasons.

Here’s to young hunters bagging their first deer.

Here’s to the day after Thanksgiving, when our boys are home for the holiday. That’s always marinated backstrap day.

Here’s to you, and me, and us. Pinch down on one ... or three.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.