As Deer Project Manager Eyler explained, Sunday hunting is a legislative issue, not one controlled by the wildlife management agency.

As he said, “Bringing in more Sunday hunts is out of our hands. That’s a county decision. County delegates move forward to the state delegation, for it to go through the legislative process.

“Right now, there’s a bill to expand the Sunday hunting in Washington County. If passed, it would follow the models in Dorchester and St. Marys counties, where instead of just one Sunday of bowhunting, there would be five: the last three in October and the first two in November.

“Currently, Washington has one Sunday in bow season -- the first one in November -- and also the first Sunday in the firearms season.”

In addition to the Washington County scenario, Eyler noted, there’s also a bill to bring Sunday hunting into Harford County.

“So it would be the first Sunday in November for bow hunting, and the first Sunday of the firearms season.”

Additions to last year’s Sunday hunting list include the five bowhunting Sunday dates in St. Marys, Somerset, and Wicomico and Worcester counties.

Such Sunday hunts are limited to private lands only. Also, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester Counties now have sika deer bowhunting on specific dates, on private land only.

At press time, the DNR was also proposing several regulatory changes that will potentially impact the coming year’s deer hunts, and the opportunities present.

One of the changes being considered will be to establish a bag limit for the Junior Hunt in both regions A and B. Under current regulations, according to the DNR, youth hunters who harvest deer (whitetails and sikas) during the Junior Hunt day have limited hunting opportunity during later portions of the firearms season.

For example, if an antlered deer is harvested during the Junior Hunt in Region A, that youth hunter may not hunt again during firearms season until the antlerless deer season opens later in the season.

This proposal would allow successful youth hunters to continue hunting throughout the firearms season in accordance with the regular firearms season’s bag limits.

The proposed bag limits mirror current Junior Hunt day bag limits, but stand independent from the season limit.

A second consideration deals with increasing the length of the antlerless segment of the Region A firearms season to two days, on private land only. As the language of the proposal reads, “The current one-day antlerless season in Region A limits the ability of private landowners to manage deer herds via the normal hunting season.”

Environmental factors such as weather or mast production can heavily influence the regional harvest, especially when it’s limited to one day. This proposed change would allow agricultural producers an extended opportunity to harvest deer without the need to rely on Deer Management Permits.

The proposed change would affect private lands only; the DNR’s public lands would continue with one day of antlerless hunting during the firearms season in Region A.

Another Region A restriction is to limit a hunter to two antlerless deer on public lands. According to the DNR, hunters may currently harvest up to three antlerless deer per year in Region A -- one each during the firearms, muzzleloader, and bow seasons. This concept would limit deer hunters to taking no more than two of their overall Region A bag limit on public lands.