County plans one-year trial of bow hunting on 85 acres at Elms property pending DNR approval

County Recreation and Parks staff briefed the board on a recently endorsed plan to permit bow hunting on 85 acres inside the Elms property lease area, subject to approval by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) secretary.

Phil said the Board of County Commissioners endorsed a management proposal his office prepared and that the plan would require DNR approval because DNR is the property landlord. "If the DNR secretary approves the plan because they are the landlord, so we have reason to believe that they will," Phil said. The county proposed that Recreation and Parks would manage the bow-hunting site and issue county permits to hunters for the 85-acre carved-out area to reduce impacts on the Elms Environmental Education Center programming.

Key elements of the plan provided by staff include a permitted system with a sign-in sheet and a daily cap on users: only authorized, permitted hunters may use the site and the county will require a visible county permit in vehicles. Phil said the proposed bow hunting season for the site would run "from September 15th to about January 31st every year." DNR police would continue to respond to game-related issues on the larger property, while the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office agreed to respond to reports of unpermitted users on the county-managed 85 acres.

Staff said there would be no additional county fee for taking deer beyond the existing state hunting license requirement; hunters must hold Maryland hunting licenses and a county permit to be authorized on the site. The plan would be executed as a one-year trial with evaluation after the season.

No formal county board vote was needed; staff reported the commissioners had already endorsed the plan and that Recreation and Parks staff would implement permitting and site management if DNR approval is granted.