MD blind site lottery today

T

Todd Williams

New member
Today was the first of two for the Maryland blind site lottery. "squatters" get their chance to claim a section of shoreline to hunt after all the landowners have had their chance. 170 ish guys in my county showed up this morning. Got pretty lucky and drew slot 22 (opposed to 146 last year). It still took 2 1/2 hours from start until I walked out the door with my two sites. Got lucky on my second one. We need 250 yards for a site and the place I was looking at had about 600 yards. Someone before me claimed a spot in that stretch and was nice enough not to plop his site down in the middle of that 600 yard stretch but off to one side so there was enough shoreline left to get my site in. Whoever took that first site, I appreciate the courtesy. It's hard enough having to go thru the lottery process or fight the reservation systems for public blinds. Nice to see someone not blocking the other guy out. If your state has a similar process, think about showing the same courtesy.
 
Nice job!

Other states having something similar? yeah right, MD is the only one with a $^&^*&&$*$ of a process. I went to another county for my friend and drew 53 and left. Processing a mininum of 6 people an hour and would required me staying 6-8+ hours, no thanks.
 
I should have followed you Bill but I hung out with my buds until 3:30 . We picked up most of our sites from last year but lost a few to guides/outfitters. It was very hard for us to bite out tongues when one of the guides with a top 10 slot asked us which spot he should stake.
 
There were a couple of spots I wanted to get, but last year I was getting good spots in Jan, so it wasn't worth wasting a day. Don't get me started on the guides, I will just bite my tongue.
 
I moved to MD from MN and grew up in OH and I have to tell you the way they do the lottery here is so screwed up. I cannot understand why it takes so long and why the person gets two spots. Wouldnt it make sense that after you pick your spot if you want a 2nd spot you wait til everyone else has had a chance? You can only hunt one spot at a time.
 
Dont disagree with you there Bill. OH had blind draws but it only gave you permission to put up a blind. It didnt mean you controlled that spot all year. If you werent hunting it another hunter could hunt there. If you showed up they didnt have to leave but out of common courtesy most would. (depending on what time you showed up).

MN i loved. If it was public hunting then it was 1st come 1st serve. There were public spots I would drive hours to hunt and there wouldnt be a person around for miles.
 
I'm still getting back in the swing of things and I am fortunate that I can hunt the base in southern maryland and have some good friends that stood in line to get blinds. I used to love going in a month before anyone else and picking my spots because I had landowner permission. Well, they have moved or died while I was gone and it's back to square one. Maye it would be more efficient if they allowed the MVA to run the blind draws.....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! dc
 
i love the fact that iv'e been getting the same spot for years and have the maps to prove it , and this year they woudn't give it to me and it's not protected. Not to mention that last year i got a spot and it was ok, until a guide wanted to guide there. Then they said i could no longer hunt it. I am almost in favor of saying if your a guide you cant get one. I actually used to guide when i was in college. I paid for my spots or did out in the zones. The good old boy system coupled with people who just dont like there job, make this thing a joke in this state. Not to mention half the people who show up and dont know where the hell they are putting these things. They should open some of the off shore stuff up. You cant even blind site something hundres of yards out in the water away from protected land. Dont think it would bother anyone if i was 200yrds out. Sorry just love the system.
 
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