Maryland opening day of Rifle season

Well this turkey day marks for many the opening day of the Maryland rifle season. Even though the day does not officially open for the harvest of deer until that Saturday, just getting to deer camp begins the season for many. We are fortunate to have both waterfowl marsh and deer woods on our property, so Wed, Thur, Fri, then Sat Sun. makes for a great week of hunting. Of course the water pump on the boat decides not to work meaning a phone call to a friend to see if he was going hunting this weekend, and was his boat available. But the wind! It blew a gale then some and no matter what you might think ducks are not into flying in a gale force wind! My son and his guest arrived at the cabin around 10;30 Thursday night, and I had the boat ready to go but like I said the wind was just brutal, so we hunted a quiet piece of water tucked in behind some trees. Later we moved out to a point and shot at a few diving ducks, after sacrificing a goose decoy to the water gods, we decided that maybe our time could be better spent back in camp. I mean there was a fireplace, half Banana cream pie, a Apple pie and turkey needing a new home, not to mention the possibility of a nap!
Sat morning came quick and the woods was Alive with hunters. Our 158 acres is well managed and we know where each other is positioned, but the adjoining property is a free for all and unfortunately our deer have to return to our area to bed, passing through the neighbors property first. I counted 30 rifle shots in the neighboring property in the first legal hour. The morning was unproductive, but after the woods quieted down we returned that evening and took up our stands. Deer were moving about and our party was able to take a nice doe of 100 lbs. We butchered our deer and packed out our meat in coolers the next morning. We will turn it into sausage, baloney, neck roast, jerky, and burger and enjoy the hunt many months after the harvest.