Published: November 13, 2008 10:01 am      

Junior hunt nears

Obviously it is not a scientific estimate, but it makes sense that if you see more dead deer along the side of a highway than in years past that there are more deer around.

Tuesday morning, after voting at the Danville Community Church, I counted three dead deer between that house of worship and state Route 956, where you turn off U.S. Route 220 to head toward ABL or Short Gap in West Virginia.

It used to be that there were a lot of deer along that highway that were killed by Detroit bullets. Then it got to be that fewer and fewer whitetails were biting the dust after run ins with grills or fenders.

Interestingly, the fewer highway strikes came at a time when hunters were bagging fewer deer.

So, with all this in mind, young Maryland hunters who will take advantage of the one-day deer hunt set aside for them on Nov. 15, have something to which they can look forward with great anticipation. They will be eager, not anxious, for that day to arrive.

The junior hunt is for hunters age 16 or younger. A junior hunter must be accompanied by a licensed, unarmed adult who is at least 21.

In Region A — that’s us — the young hunter may take one deer on this special day and it may be either a deer with antlers or one without the headdress.

If the youthful hunter will be in Region B — that’s not us — he or she may whack up to three deer on that day, but no more than one may have antlers.

My son, Ryan, always joked about starting Ryan’s Gutting and Dragging Service, where he would charge folks for those two procedures. He had an elaborate plan, including having a way to mark the site of downed deer and tired hunters via the global positioning system. With as many deer as a hunter can smack down in Region B, I’m thinking maybe his idea is not far fetched. Pulling the trigger numerous times in one day is not a tiring job, but what comes after certainly is.

On the day of the 2007 Maryland junior deer hunt, 136 deer were checked in from Allegany County. Racked bucks accounted for 74 of those animals and there were 62 antlerless deer.

Up in Garrett County, 240 deer were killed; 141 bucks and 99 antlerless.

I know from experience that I will begin to receive photographs of young hunters with their deer once Nov. 15 has come and gone. Please read the Times-News Deer Photo Policy elsewhere on this page so that your photo has a better chance of being used and I have to make as few follow up phone calls as possible. If you don’t follow the policy, there is a chance your photo will not be published.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com

or (301) 784-2523. Special note to whomever has started a letter writing campaign about hunting in Maryland. You are wasting your time sending me unsigned letters. Those letters have already been thrown away. I am happy to use letters that have signatures (not just names) and telephone numbers for confirmation.