A proposal to temporarily ban sport hunting of cownose rays in the Chesapeake Bay is one signature away from becoming law.
Tag: hunting
Maryland Lawmakers Pass Bill Stopping Ray Hunting Contests Through June of 2019
Maryland Senate Unanimously Passes Moratorium on Cownose Ray Hunting
Apparently, Maryland lawmakers don’t like cownose ray hunts much, either.
Black Bear Hunting is Getting Bigger in Maryland
Hunters in Maryland killed the highest ever total of black bears this fall.
There’s a Brain Disease Outbreak Spreading Among Deer, and Now It’s In Maryland
Deer already have it bad enough, being the target of hunters and making death-defying jots across highways. Now, a chronic brain disease is spreading through Western Maryland, making things even harder in the woods.
No Elk for Western Maryland, After All
Elk used to occupy nearly all of what is now the United States, but their populations drastically decreased and some subspecies became extinct in the late 1800s. Recently, Elk have been reintroduced to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, among other states. And Maryland was this close (can you see my fingers?) to getting our own population, but it ain’t gonna happen.
Clinton Man Shot in Hunting Accident
Friends like these.
Ricky L. Johnson, 59, of Clinton, was hunting with four of his buddies on state land off Indian Head Highway, when one them, Roy A. Contee, 57, hit him with buckshot after being startled by a deer. Johnson is in the hospital with non-life-threatening wounds.
After rescue crews tore through brush to bring Johnson safely out of the woods, Maryland Natural Resources Police charged the rest of the group with a laundry list of hunting violations (one of which was hunting with buckshot).
Saturday was the last day of the season for hunting deer with non-muzzle-loading firearms. Deer can be hunted with bows and arrows until January 31. But be sure to get a license, wear fluorescent orange, get permission to hunt on the land, field tag the deer, oh and be careful!
Is $30 million Too Much to Ask?
HOT HOUSE: Tudor Farms, 3675 Decoursey Bridge Road, Cambridge, MD 21613
Spectacular hunting lodge with 6,250 acres of land, indoor riding ring and stables, indoor tennis/sports center, two guest houses, barns, kennels and picking house, in Cambridge, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: $30 million.
What: Built as a weekend retreat in 1990 for Wall Street hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones–who later pled guilty to federal wetlands violations there–this is a grand, Adirondack-style hunting lodge of turn-of the-century splendor. Eleven bedrooms, ten and a half baths, and eight fireplaces on three stories make it a natural for large group entertaining (your family reunion!), and would work really well as a small hotel or private hunting club. Heated and cooled with geothermal energy, the house is supplied with all the custom features you would expect in a $30 million property. Gourmet kitchen? Duh. Yoga room? Yup. Games room? Check. Walk-in closets, built-in bookcases and hardwood floors? Check. Window treatments all in-place, and included, a nice touch. In the living room, a breathtaking wall of glass overlooks the water. Even so, the real appeal of the place is at least as much about the property as the house. Head for the basketball court or the equestrian center, to check out the riding ring and pristine stables. Then off to the kennels, ready for your pack of hounds. This is a nature connoisseur’s paradise. Considered “one of the most important hunting estates in the country” and categorized for tax purposes as a “hunting and fishing reserve,” the land has been carefully managed to insure the widest variety of native wildlife. There are ponds for fishing, wetlands and woodland for hunting duck, goose, turkey, pheasant, deer and more. The peaceful, private atmosphere (broken only by occasional gunfire…) creates a haven for man and beast. Fun fact: The lake on the property has islands in the shape of the owner’s initials PTJ.
Where: Cambridge (pop.12,326), a pretty town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Its also one of the state’s oldest towns, so guests not out hunting on the reserve can get a little history and shop its galleries and markets. To get there, take Rt. 50 east over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Go about 40 more miles and you’ll cross the Choptank River and be in Cambridge. Decoursey Bridge Road is about six miles out Bucktown Road from Cambridge.
Why: The picking house obviously–how many people do you know who have one? But really, because this is an over-the-top man cave, a boy’s retreat, where hunting is the main event and every day is Superbowl Sunday. The former owner’s status as a Wall Street celeb gives it extra cachet. Jones, 56, nickname PTJ, is a Memphis boy and UVA grad/major donor who made a killing in the 1980’s futures market as head of Tudor Investments. He founded the Robin Hood Foundation with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, married an Australian model after dating Bianca Jagger and Christina Onassis, and was involved in a minor scandal when his environmental planner, hired to create ten duck ponds on the property, was convicted of knowingly in-filling wetlands and sentenced to two years in jail. Jones paid $2 million in fines. Interestingly, Jones is also the star of a rogue documentary called “Trader,” (a clip currently shows on the Baltimore Fishbowl video landing) recently released on You Tube after years off the market (rumor is that Jones tried to buy all the copies out there) in which, among other things he predicts the Wall Street crash of 1987. Current worth, $3.3 billion.
NB: No swimming pool–possibly due to environmental concerns or restrictions. Also, an ongoing battle with nutria, a small destructive rodent currently infesting North American wetlands.
Would suit: Teddy Roosevelt…Great White Hunter…Dick Cheney…
