I participated in an adult mentor hunt sponsored by MD DNR and the NWTF. Strory was published in the July/August issue of Sports Afield. I defy Matt to tell me an R3 event like this is evil in someway.
First Shot
The wind was calm, and the only noise was from the rain pounding down. I checked the weather app again. The rain should have already left. So much for modern technology. I sat back down in the stand, watching the mosquitoes being held at bay by the Thermacell.
I whispered to Mat, huddled beneath the tree umbrella, “Keep your eyes open. With all this rain they will be hard to see. They call them marsh ghosts for a reason.”
As I scanned the flooded patch of Loblolly pines, the silence was suddenly broken by several bugles. Mat turned his head and mouthed “What was that?”
“That’s a stag letting the ladies know he’s here. He’s out in the marsh and he sounds close,” I whispered. “He may come this way.”
A minute later we heard the distinct chirp and mews of the hinds. Mat’s eyes grew large and he spun around in the stand, squinting through the rain. And there they were, three hinds making their way towards the marsh and the bugling stag.
“There they are, about 50 yards to our left,” I hissed. “I’m going to try and get them to stop.”
A sharp whistle stopped them, but they were partially obscured by some Merkle bushes. Mat scanned frantically with the scope, desperate to find fur in the crosshairs. But the hinds grew restless and slipped out into the marsh to join the still bugling stag.
“I couldn’t find them in the scope,” Mat said, upset with himself. “I hope that isn’t our only chance today.” He fixed his binoculars on the spot where the hinds had been, willing them back.
“Don’t worry, it’s your first time hunting and those hinds are tough to see,” I offered. “That’s why they call it hunting.”
Mat and I were hunting the elusive Sika deer in Maryland’s Dorchester County through a program called First Shot, a mentoring program aimed at recruiting new adult hunters. Looking at declining license sales, Maryland allows first-time adult hunters to buy a onetime apprentice license. After completing an online safety course, the apprentice hunter can then hunt with a resident hunter 18 years or older. The idea is to engage adults who may be interested in learning about hunting by pairing them with an experienced hunter.
The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) along with staff at Maryland’s Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge came up with the idea of organizing and allowing the hunts to take place at the refuge. Eager to see the program succeed, Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources,the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance and Young Life Farms also stepped in to help.
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1933 as a refuge for migratory birds. Comprised of 30,000 acres of tidal marsh, mixed hardwood, loblolly pine forests, managed freshwater wetlands and crops. Blackwater serves as a resting and feeding area for migrating and wintering waterfowl on Maryland’s picturesque Eastern Shore. It also harbors a large population of sika deer, one of the quirkiest and most elusive big game species in North America.
Japanese sika deer were introduced to Maryland in the early 1900s when a local resident named Clement Henry released 6 deer on James Island in the Chesapeake Bay. As the herd grew, deer migrated to the nearby marshes. Today, that herd numbers around 12,000, centered primarily in Dorchester County on Maryland’s lower eastern shore. They represent the only huntable free-range sika population in the United States.
Though tiny in stature, sika are actually members of the elk family. Females, called hinds, range from 40-70 pounds. Males, called stags, weigh on average only 90 pounds and have antlers up to 15 inches. In the early fall, their shrill bugles can be heard rising from the area’s marshes and forested wetlands – habitat the native whitetails largely avoid. Primarily nocturnal, the sika is best hunted in the early morning or late afternoon.
Our hunt began over the summer, when 21 mentee hunters were randomly selected from over 60 applicants. As a mentor hunter, I was paired with Mat, and reached out to learn a bit about him and find why he became involved in the program.
An ethical vegetarian since age 11, Mat said he always felt that it was wrong to raise animals just to kill them. In later years he went strictly vegan. Then, he said, it just kind of clicked one day on a trip to Cape Cod when he saw a group of wild turkeys: they are a renewable food source, and they looked delicious. Eager to educate his four-year-old son about land management and the responsible use of natural resources, he began searching for a way to get better connected to nature.
“I realized that hunters think and care most about protecting the environment,” Mat said. “I believe it’s critical that people who think hunting is negative or offensive begin to change their view.”
A week before the hunt, volunteers, staff, mentors and mentees met up for a mandatory daylong session on deer hunting basics. Topics included whitetail and sika biology and behavior, hunting and social media, scouting, why people hunt, conservation, tracking and tree stand safety. The eager new hunters had dozens of questions.
The morning of the hunt brought rain. Mat and I donned our rain gear and hip boots for a wet 20-minute hike to our stand. Later that morning, after the three hinds disappeared into the marsh, Mat remained focused. Throughout the morning we heard shots to our south and two shots from a hunter nearby. We stayed in the stand until 11 am, and as the rain subsided decided to head in for lunch. On our way out we ran into Zia, another mentee who it turned out had been the source of two nearby shots. She emerged from the marsh in waders with her mentor Trevor, dragging both a hind and a stag onto the trail. Their smiles said it all.
As we joined the other mentees for lunch, the table was abuzz with stories from the morning hunt - animals seen, shots taken, success and failures. It was like any other hunt camp at lunchtime, with the exception that these were all brand new hunters. Eating a sandwich, I sat and talked with some of the diverse group of mentees to find out what drew them to the program.
Many had always wanted to learn to hunt but didn’t know anyone who hunted. Some grew up in families that were anti-hunting and anti-gun. Some of the women even had friends and family say they were crazy to want to hunt, that they were too girly.
Others had reservations about joining the program. They had heard hunting was an old boy network that doesn't want outsiders. They didn't look like the hunters they saw on TV and in the magazines. They questioned if mentors would really want to spend the time and effort with new hunters. Others told me there was simply so much information about hunting available that they didn't know where to start. All expressed their thanks for the opportunity to learn from hunters with experience.
As Mat and I headed back out for the afternoon hunt I asked him what he thought about the program.
"I have to be honest, I’m usually hesitant about any program run by the government,” Mat said. “But this program makes me reassess. You have the federal and state government, nonprofits and volunteers all working together. Its way beyond my expectations.”
The rain had stopped as Mat and I headed back into the marsh, opting for a different afternoon stand. Passing bald eagles and skirting muskrat dens, Mat was keyed up for the afternoon hunt. Though we heard several stags bugle through the afternoon, none came close enough for a shot. Then, as the sun set over the marsh, we heard a deer approaching through the marsh grass. Mat got ready. With the light fading, I could just make out the shape of a hind.
“There's one, quartering towards us, about 50 yards,” I whispered. But as he searched through the scope, the wind swirled and she was gone.
We readied our gear in the stand as darkness fell. Mat was dejected. He had his heart set on a deer. We started our hike back to the truck beneath a moonless sky, sika stags bugling around us. I was disappointed for him, but knew from all I had seen that another passionate hunter had just joined our ranks. I offered a concession, unwilling to see his season end without success.
“Would you be interested in coming out with me for late season muzzleloader hunt for whitetail?” I said. He paused for less than a second.
“Let me know when and where and I’ll be there.”
