Mountain Maryland Branch National Deer Association

01/04/2026

Well our Third Annual Mentored Muzzleloader Hunt is in the books. All of our hunters have packed up and started their journeys home. I am certain that the last 3 days were not the last that these folks will spend in the whitetail woods!
We hosted 6 new hunters and harvested 8 deer. We had 5 of our 7 hunters harvest at least one deer and a couple tagged out. Our mentors worked hard to get the final hunter on a deer. At last light this evening an opportunity presented its self! Unfortunately it resulted in a clean miss.
Each and every harvest made in the last few days holds a special memory on our hearts. Probably the last deer harvested today will be a story that a young female hunter will remember for a long time. Haley harvested her first deer yesterday on her very first deer hunt. Today she was able with the help of her awesome mentor performed a spot and stalk on a deer that resulted in her taking her second deer ever!
And to make it even more memorable the entire hunt was captured on video!
A bit of a back story on Haley. He step mother applied and hunted with is last year and harvested a deer. Not only did she convince Haley to apply this year but so did Haley's father who also harvested a deer this year!
Our little Western Maryland Mentored deer hunt has now created a whole family of deer hunters!
Awesome three days of hunting and fellowship!
Of course it would not all be possible without the hard work put in by our NDA Board, our mentors and Brian and Tammy who host the hunt ! Also a big shout out the the family's who allow us to hold this hunt on their farms!
Can't wait until next years Hunt!

01/03/2026

What makes for a better mentored hunt than a first time hunter taking her first deer? That would be taking a second deer on day two of the hunt! Congratulations Haley and welcome to the hunting world! Makes it even more special to have a father and daughter on the hunt to share the excitement. Total deer so far.... 8 with a couple more hours of hunting to go!

01/03/2026

Final day of our Third Annual Mentored hunt is starting off well! Two hunters are tagged out! This brings the total to 7 deer!

01/02/2026

WOW!!! Is all we can say! We close day two of our Mentored Hunt in amazing fashion! Talk about trophies ..... Look at the smiles on these first time hunters faces. One deer earlier today and 4 more this evening! Six first time hunters harvest 5 deer today! I can not wait to see what tomorrow brings!

01/02/2026

First deer of our Mentored Hunt on the ground! Congratulations to Jesse on his first deer! Look at those smiles on both Jesse's and his Mentor Ryan's faces! Big shout out to Ty George and his dog Browning of Longspur Tracking and Tyler Hershman from ChargingAtU Deer Recovery for the outstanding tracking job!

01/02/2026

What an awesome day! Day one of our third annual Mentored hunt is in the books. We have 6 new hunters paired with awesome mentors! We spent the afternoon getting our new hunters familiar with muzzleloaders and Muzzleloader safety. Had an officer from Maryland Natural Resources Police stop by and spent some time educating the group on various hunting regulations. We also spent some time discussing deer sign and habitat. Then we took our new hunters to the range and they got hands on experience loading and firing muzzleloaders! By the looks of the targets...... If the deer cooperate the next two days it will be a great hunt! I can not wait to get these folks in the blinds chasing those whitetails! Hopefully we will be able to share some photos of success tomorrow!

01/01/2026

Well here we are on our Mentored Hunt Eve! Looks like the weather man is giving is a good old Garrett County Late Muzzleloader Season winter storm! For the volunteers that help make this event possible excitement is building as much as the Eve that happened last week! I can't wait to meet all of our egar new hunters tomorrow afternoon! Luckily most of tomorrow afternoon will be indoors learning about muzzleloaders and Muzzleloader safety and the hunters getting introduced to their mentor for the event. Luckily the landowner had an extra shooting house that we can get out of the weather for our range time! Hopefully after this storm moves out the deer will be on their feet for the Friday and Saturday hunting!

12/27/2025

This is a public service announcement!!!!! West Virginia DNR erroneously posted that the youth season that is currently in is a buck season as well as anterless. This is false!! They have since tried to correct this with another terribly worded, confusing post. In West Virginia, antlered bucks are not legal with a rifle during youth season! The rifle season is ANTERLESS season only!! Please have a safe hunt and please only shoot anterless with rifles!

12/20/2025

Ok folks we are two weeks out from our Third Annual Mentored Muzzleloader Deer Hunt. Applications have been reviewed and hunters have been selected. We had a ton of great applicants and certainly wish we could take them all. If you applied for this hunt watch for an email in the next day or two from us with details on the hunt! Muzzleloader Season kicks off today. If you are in the woods today we wish you good luck! Be safe, remember to positively identify your target and what is beyond it, always keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction and if you are hunting from a tree stand make sure you are properly wearing a full body safety harness. Remember that a trophy is defined by the smile on the hunter that harvested the animal!

12/09/2025

Interesting information. We wish there were easier ways to identify the age classes above 2.5

Man, y’all don’t know what you’re talking about Monday

We hear it every month when we share harvest reports:
🗣️ “There’s no way that antler spread question is accurate.”

Turns out… we know exactly what we’re talking about. 😉

During the Telecheck process, hunters are asked whether the outside antler spread of their buck is greater than or less than 11 inches. That single question helps us estimate the age-at-harvest breakdown of bucks — specifically 1.5-year-old bucks vs. adult bucks (2.5+ years old).

Over the last several decades, we’ve handled tens of thousands of known-age bucks and collected detailed biological data, including actual antler spread measurements. From that work, we know:

• The average spread of a 1.5-year-old buck is 8.43 inches
• The average spread of a 2.5+ year-old buck is 15.27 inches

There is some overlap in the data — not every buck under 11" is a 1.5-year-old, and not every buck over 11" is a 2.5+ year-old. But thanks to statistics and huge sample sizes, these rare occurrences wash out and don’t affect the overall age-at-harvest estimates.

So far this season, hunters have telechecked 70,000+ antlered deer, giving us one of the most accurate datasets we’ve ever had for estimating buck age structure.

📊 The scatterplot you see here shows the real-world data behind the process.

Fun fact: Another Telecheck question asks how many points your buck has. Many think it relates to age, but it’s actually just a law enforcement tool to help verify that a buck matches its confirmation number. It doesn’t tell us anything about the deer’s age.

Your reports matter. Your data matters. And yes — the science works. 🦌

12/05/2025

Ok folks here is the link to get you application in for our third annual Mentored Muzzleloader Hunt. The hunt will be held on Jan 1,2&3 2026.

Are you interested in deer hunting with a muzzleloader? Maybe you just haven't had the opportunity or found the right person to show you the ropes.

The National Deer Association is hosting their Annual Muzzleloader Mentored Deer Hunt in Garrett County Jan. 1-3, 2026. Selected participants will be treated to an orientation day followed by 2 days of hunting. If that isn't good enough, all meals for the event are provided and it is free!!

For more information and to register, visit https://forms.gle/KAsFk2KkqNhMPe9t5 Act fast, registration closes December 15!