Re: [MDOsprey] Piscataway Creek and Nat'l Colonial Farm
Paula Sullivan (paulas@erols.com)
Sun, 21 Nov 1999 20:28:06 -0500
Dovekie7@aol.com wrote:
> We were puzzled why there were no waterfowl.
> Piscataway has always had high numbers of ducks. I was sickened to
> see this in a state park. Hunters were shooting Bufflehead and if they were
> not dead they were beating them over their head with an oar. This was
> happening right off shore in Piscataway Park. Is this legal? We hurriedly
> left because they seemed to be shooting in all directions and I did not want
> to be mistaken for a Common Merganser.
I was also concerned about the gunshots, but am still uncertain about
the legality of hunting in that location. Piscataway Park is under the
jurisdiction of the National Park Service, not the state of Maryland.
(The Delorme map does not make that clear, but the Regional Road Atlas
distributed by the JOURNAL newspapers does.) The river waters off the
parkland still belong to Maryland, I believe. It is duck hunting season
in Maryland now, running from Nov. 5-26, but I am sure that it is never
legal to beat a duck to death with an oar. I intend to find out more
about this by calling the NPS and the State of Maryland and would
welcome anything that other MDOspreyers can offer on this subject.
Were the hunters using dogs? At what part of Piscataway Park did you
witness this? We saw what we presumed to be hunters in camouflage attire
in a boat with a light-colored dog in the creek off Wharf Road, although
we never saw them fire a gun. We also visited the part of the park off
Bryan Point Road where the boardwalk is located. We heard gunshots in
that area and someone mentioned that decoys were being used nearby.
Paula Sullivan
Alexandria, VA
paulas@erols.com