The 2024 General Assembly adjourned on Monday, April 8, 2024, without
having adopted any policies deemed detrimental to Maryland’s hunting
community…attributable to the continued due diligence of the HUNTERS
OF MARYLAND, LLC. Identified herein are those hunting-policy-related
issues addressed during the 90-day Session.
The most controversial issues facing Maryland’s hunting community during the
2024 Session were as follows:
HUNTING - LEAD AND LEAD-BASED AMMUNITION - PHASE-OUT: The most
controversial hunting bill of the 2024 Session was to ban lead ammo effective in two
years. The HUNTERS OF MARYLAND, LLC played a strategic role in defeating it.
FIREARMS - LIABILITY INSURANCE - PUBLIC WEARING AND CARRYING: This
legislation – it was defeated – would have required gun owners to purchase a $300,000
liability insurance protection policy as explained via link to the bill below.
INCOME TAX CREDIT – VENISON DONATION: Effective until June 30, 2029, one is
eligible for a cumulative tax credit up to $300 in any taxable year for having donated a
processed deer to a food bank. The bill passed.
NATURAL RESOURCES - ANTLERLESS DEER HUNTING PROGRAMS –
AUTHORIZATION: For years there has been a doe harvest contest on the Lower
Shore intended to help control the deer population in particular while encouraging
hunting in general. DNR has ruled this contest illegal as explained in the fiscal note link
below. However, the stars aligned this Session and the bill passed both Chambers and
is currently awaiting signature into law by the Governor.
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/bills/hb/hb0481T.pdf
https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/fnotes/bil_0001/hb0481.pdf
NATURAL RESOURCES – HUNTING – TUNDRA SWANS: During both the 2023 and
2024 Session legislation to allow a Tundra Swan hunt in Maryland failed. Though
Maryland has federal authority to enable an annual Tundra Swan hunt, DNR will not
allow absent statutory authorization in view of the perceived negative pushback by the
non-hunting community. The bill failed.
HUNTING - NONRESIDENT SIKA DEER STAMP - FEE ALTERATION: State
lawmakers passed an increase in the nonresident sika deer stamp from $25 to $200
effective July 1, 2024. Revenues to be generated are explained in the second link
below. Advocates argued the increase mirrors comparable costs to hunt deer, elk and
antelope in other states by non-residents, not to mention the significant special fund
revenue increases for WHS to be realized.
DORCHESTER COUNTY – SUNDAY HUNTING – REPEAL OF TIME
RESTRICTIONS: This bill would have repealed the nonsensical 10:30 am stoppage of
Sunday deer hunting on private lands in Dorchester County…a policy adopted in
Annapolis courtesy of the equine community. The bill failed. However, future efforts will
be made to repeal this nationwide one-of-a-kind punitive law, especially when viewed as
an effective deer management tool.
SUNDAY WATERFOWL HUNTING: A proposal in 2024 to enact statewide Sunday
hunting of waterfowl failed (see link below to the bill plus the accompanying fiscal note).
A similar fate was realized in 2023. Why? Until there is unanimity within the hunting
community, a reversal of the 1723 statutory prohibition will continue to elude enactment.
In short, national groups – DU, Delta Waterfowl, National Shooting Sports Foundation,
Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation – have tagged team with DNR and the
HUNTERS OF MARYLAND, LLC to pursue enactment. Sportsmen from the Shore,
however, remain vehemently opposed and have coalesced around the rallying
cry…rightly or wrongly, “enactment would impose undue pressure on an already overly
stressed resource leading to another [AP Canada goose] moratorium” which, to date,
has carried the day in Annapolis.
BUDGET LANGUAGE REJECTED: The HUNTERS OF MARYLAND, LLC pursued
two non-legislative issues in 2024: (1) budget language directing DNR to pursue
management strategies at the Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary in Prince George’s County
consistent with and responsive to the wishes of Edgar Merkle who, in 1981, donated the
400 acres encompassing the sanctuary, aka manage for attracting/retaining AP
migratory Canada geese; and (2) encouraging DNR and MDA to suggest access to
hunting – via DNR’s Hunter Mentored Program – when negotiating with landowners
interested in selling a conservation easement on their land under Maryland’s Program
Open Space, Rural Legacy and Agricultural Land Preservation Program.
The Senate adopted the language, but the House did not. In the budget conference
committee – to our surprise – the House position prevailed. No sure thing in Annapolis!
DEER MANAGEMENT: Not legislation per se, but worth mentioning herein. The
increased hunting license fee legislation enacted in 2023 directed, among other things,
that DNR and MDA pursue the following:
(a) On or before December 1, 2023, the Department of Natural Resources, in consultation with
the Department of Agriculture, shall develop a plan to address the overpopulation of deer in the
State.
(b) The plan shall include: (1) the feasibility of implementing a rotational closure hunting
strategy on State land, including State park system lands and hunting on State land on Sundays;
(2) any legislative, budgetary, or regulatory changes needed to implement a rotational closure
hunting strategy on State–owned land; (3) subject to subsection (c) of this section, the feasibility
of implementing a rotational closure hunting strategy on locally owned land; (4) proposals the
Department of Natural Resources determines are viable for addressing the overpopulation of
deer in the State; and (5) suitable uses for any increased federal funding to the State Wildlife
Management and Protection Fund.
(c) The Department of Natural Resources shall consult with local governments regarding the
feasibility of a rotational closure hunting strategy under subsection (b)(3) of this section.
The Report, issued on time, recommends the following (link provided):
1. Identify a funding source and PINs to hire department staff dedicated to supporting a Deer
Management Assistance Program directed towards mitigating deer damage suffered by
landowners. This program should have the authority to issue deer management harvest tags
outside of the current agricultural/forest damage requirements.
2. Address legislation that prohibits or restricts Sunday deer hunting in order to provide more
deer hunting opportunities. This should be addressed at the private and public land level,
including state parks.
3. Work with local and county governments to develop county-specific deer management plans.
4. Expand cooperation between agencies, including MDA and UMD Extension.
5. Identify funding to support additional research and management concerning deer damage
mitigation.
https://dlslibrary.state.md.us/publications/Exec/DNR/SB327Ch543HB983Ch544(2)(
2023).pdf
The proposed Deer Management Assistance Program did not see liftoff in 2024. Why?
State lawmakers are facing a structural fiscal deficit whereby projected State revenues
fall short of anticipated State expenditures in conflict with Maryland’s Constitutional
requirement for an annual balanced budget. According to the General Assembly’s staff
agency, the Department of Legislative Services:
The State’s roughly $63 billion operating budget is projected to have a
$761 million structural deficit in fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024, through
June 30, 2025), up from a previous estimate of $320 million. The shortfall
is projected to hit $2.7 billion by fiscal year 2029, up from a previous
estimate of $2.1 billion. The long-term spending gap is attributed, in large
part, to the State’s roughly $40 billion plan to reform public education
systems.
As of this writing, the HUNTERS OF MARYLAND, LLC are working with MDA and DNR
to identify farmers willing to allow hunters to help control their deer herd.
MARYLAND’S DUCK STAMP PROGRAM: On the eve of the November 2023 Easton
Waterfowl Festival, DNR announced the end of Maryland’s 50-year Duck Stamp
Program. Reports from across Maryland’s hunting community indicate that DNR did not
talk to them about this impending decision…they learned after the fact and have
appealed to us for keeping this Program alive and well. The HUNTERS OF
MARYLAND, LLC anticipate its continuation…to be, ideally, announced soon.
We are reminded of what we hear all the time; that is, hunting in Maryland
is only one generation away from ending as we know it. And who can
argue if you’re familiar with Annapolis? The HUNTERS OF MARYLAND,
LLC will continue to fall on its sword on behalf of Maryland’s hunting
community.
