Maryland · Public Land · 2026 Edition
Maryland Public Hunting Land 2026: WMAs & Access Rules
2 wildlife management areas tracked here, from 3,589 to 13,565 acres. A hunting license covers you on Maryland WMA land the same as anywhere else in the state — but read the access rules below before you assume that's all you need.
01 — Wildlife management areas
| Area | County | Acres | Species |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deal Island Wildlife Management Area | Somerset | 13,565 | Waterfowl, Deer |
| Idylwild Wildlife Management Area | Caroline | 3,589 | Deer, Dove, Upland game |
Deal Island, in Somerset County, is built around a roughly 2,800-acre managed waterfowl impoundment that runs its own annual lottery permit system, separate from the plain-license upland hunting on the rest of its 13,565 acres. Idylwild, near Federalsburg in Caroline County, mixes agricultural fields with upland and bottomland forest along Marshyhope Creek — a more typical license-only deer and upland-game property. This list is a starting point, not DNR's full inventory of Wildlife Management Areas statewide.
02 — Access rules beyond your hunting license
dnr.maryland.gov blocked every fetch method used for this project as of 2026-08-13 (the same block affecting Maryland's license and duck season pages) — access rules here come from eRegulations' public hunting lands summary instead. Unlike states with one uniform statewide rule, Maryland's Wildlife Management Areas set access requirements property by property: some need nothing beyond a standard hunting license, others require a free permit, an advance reservation, or daily sign-in — and the pattern skews toward extra paperwork specifically for waterfowl impoundment sites rather than general upland hunting. Deal Island's duck impoundment is the clearest example: a controlled-hunt lottery permit on top of the license, while its surrounding uplands need no such permit.
03 — Where to go next
Verified · Maryland Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-08-13
Publisher's note. WMA list and access rules read from DNR, retrieved 2026-08-13. Review due 2027-08-01. This is a starting list, not the agency's full WMA inventory — confirm current rules for a specific area before you hunt it.