Maryland
144,500
Duck Statewide Harvest
109,200
Goose Statewide Harvest
30,100
No. Waterfowl Licenses Sold Annually
6.2
Ducks Per Hunter
5.2
Geese Per Hunter
$35
Cost of Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$15
Cost of Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
Season $160; three-day waterfowl and small-game $65
Cost of Non-Resident Waterfowl Hunting License
$15
Cost of Non-Resident State Stamps and Permits
$25
Federal Duck Stamp
Photo by Nick Costas
With Atlantic Population Canada Geese, inland mallards and wood ducks, and big-water divers and sea ducks, Maryland has it all for waterfowlers.
It starts with the fabled Chesapeake Bay, which cuts through the eastern portion of mainland Maryland, separating it from the Delmarva Peninsula. The famed water offers excellent gunning for scoters and long-tailed ducks, plus canvasbacks, scaup, ringnecks, buffleheads and goldeneyes. Mallards dominate the state's harvest, however. Folks also take good numbers of gadwalls, black ducks, wood ducks and green-winged teal.
The state is also synonymous with East Coast goose hunting, and it's easy to see why. Maryland hunters shot more than 108,000 honkers in 2023-'24. Hunters also have some open-water opportunities for Atlantic brant.
Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area, a 29,000-some-acre property in southeastern Dorchester County, has the largest chunk of publicly owned tidal wetlands in the state. Hunters can find mallards and black ducks on its inland ponds and bluebills and other divers on larger bays and river shoreline. Many other WMAs, including 1,120-acre Taylors Island, also offer excellent waterfowl hunting.
