BillHoo said:
I'm relatively new at this. So If I have a boat or canoe and I'm floating down stream. How do I get back to my start point?
Would a trolling motor be able to get me back? Or is it easy enough to paddle upstream? Or are the currents so strong, I need a more powerful motor?
Looking at water like the Potomac, or Shenandoah, or Rapp
Upper Potomac Regs and information
Postby Cupped-n-Committed » Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:54 pm
I was talking with Buzz and we are getting tired of typing this all over again. So we are making a sticky of the thoughts we have for things you can and cannot do when hunting the upper Potomac. I am going to prefer this stays an "information only" thread and do not want idle conversation on this. I will delete posts and just keep quality information.
Buzz posted this the other day and I thought it covered it pretty well.
PSUbuzz wrote:
If I see it, I would call it in to NRP. Not to be a jerk to a fellow hunter, but to preserve duck hunting on the river for those of us that do follow the rules. I would rather we police our own than to have a anti-hunter have ammunition and reason to add to the mounting group of people that dont think hunting should be allowed on the upper Potomac.
That being said, I will also remind you guys that the Virginia shoreline is privately owned(not by the state). I have seen one blind on the VA shoreline before and thought the same thing. But upon talking to the guys, they had permission from the landowner in VA to hunt his land. There is a very grey line though with the fact that they did not have a MD resident with them and they were hunting ducks over the river.
To review for any new guys reading this that are thinking of hunting the upper potomac:
1. You may not hunt from the MD bank period.
2. The VA bank is privately owned, you may not hunt from that bank without a VA license and permission from the landowner.
3. If you hunt the potomac river, and you are not a MD resident, you must have a MD resident with you in order to hunt the river. If you are a Virginia or WV or PA or anywhere out of state resident and you go out by yourself on your boat without a MD resident and get checked, you will be fined. Find a MD resident to take with you, whether you are in a kayak, canoe or boat or whatever. You must have a MD resident in your hunting party to hunt the Potomac River. Period.
4. Not all islands are public hunting, in fact many of them are private which needs written permission to hunt from just the same as a farm on land.
5. There are private stretches of upper potomac river where you may not hunt period because they are privately owned. They are listed on the DNR offshore map with blind sites.
The orange islands are the islands that are privately owned. The X's means that there are licensed blind sites and you may not hunt within 300 yards of those X's. If there is less than 300 yards between that X, and the bank of the river, than that person has ON PURPOSE, and smartly so, boxed out any other hunting on that stretch of river(see below whites ferry, and the islands above McKee Beshers). There is a measuring tool on that map as well if you ever want to check how far your own blind site is from another person's site. There is also a stretch of river between the 340 bridge and knoxville falls that is completely colored orange, islands and water. That stretch of river is completely privately owned by Potomac Shores hunt Club LLC(has been owned by 2 families dating back to the civil war. It is the only stretch of river that is like that in the state). They are lawyers and judges and they have NRP on speed dial and one of them has a house overlooking the river. They call when they hear shots on their stretch of river and its not their club members. I know some of these club members, and I would not try to be sneaky and tip toe on that stretch.
6. BETWEEN NOV 15-MAY15, YOU MUST WEAR A LIFE JACKET AT ALL TIMES WHILE IN A WATERCRAFT VESSEL on the Potomac river. That means not just while in motion, you have to be wearing one even when you're anchored and hunting. They make nice camo life jackets that dont have the foam in the shoulders, it even has a shooting pad for you for while youre hunting. Get one and use it. If you have a public island you are hunting from, you can take your jacket off once you get to your island and hop off the boat.
The above items are not my suggestions. They are MD Dept of Natural Resources Law. They are enforced by not only the Natural Resources Police, but also by US Park Police, Federal USFWS, and if you are trespassing on another man's land and are caught, by the county or state police. Be safe, have fun, and for God's sake do it with someone that knows what theyre doing a few times before you try it on your own. Running a boat in the dark, in the winter, navigating all the obstacles that the upper Potomac holds is not for the novice hunter. Don't be a statistic.
I've hunted on the Potomac River a few times with my buddy and it is not an easy trip. You must have 2 people if you don't know the channel, one to drive the boat and one to spot. Also when we hit ducks or geese, or more like when my buddy hit ducks. We had to jump into the boat real fast to pick up, so they wouldn't float down the river. The first time I went out with my buddy I was hooked, it was the freezing water, pitch dark, setting up the decoy or the blind,learning all about duck hunting with someone that knows the in's and out's, and last but not least the sunrise WOW! :beer: The picture is us on the Potomac River :thumbsup:
