Anyone hunted geese in Chestertown, MD?

Joe Friday

Joe Friday

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A friend invited me to hunt geese with him in Chestertown, Maryland a couple weeks ago. He's part of a goose club there. Having never been there before, I did not know of its role in goose hunting. Almost every big field we passed by had some kind of blind in the middle. We hunted from a pit blind dug into the farmer's field. That was a first for me, and it was really neat.

I'd be curious and interested to hear about anyone's experiences there. It's a very ducky place I found. We were wrapped up in Swan, Snow geese, and Canadas for two days of hunting. The folks there seemed very friendly. We hunted near Kennedyville, not far from an outfitter/restaurant called "Molly's Place."

We got our daily limit on Canada geese, and got a few snows, too.

It's a beautiful area.

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we hunted there with Chesapeake Outfitters right before new years. We limited out on geese the first day in Kennedyville (one a day right now) and Mallards the next in Earlsville. Its a cool area and my little group tries to make the trip once a year for 2 or 3 days
 
Capt Rich, yes the place is wrapped up in Snow Geese. We saw very large flocks on both horizons, and had groups of 100s working over the decoy spread we had.
 
Have hunted there for 30+ years. Certain areas hold more geese than ducks and vice versa. Kennedyville holds tons of geese. The whole area from Rock Hall to Chestertown is full of history and good hunting. Before Mollys it was called Vonnies and was as good or better than Mollys years ago.
 
My father and three other gentlemen leased some waterfront property in Rock Hall from 1960-1975.
The duck shooting was fantastic for Canvasback,Red Heads and Broadbill, I was able to experience some of that. The property was located on Langford bay in Rock Hall.When the farmers started to grow field corn the goose hunting took off , about that time the duck shooting started to dwindle. What hurt the area was the run off nitrogen into the Chesapeake bay killing the wild celery grass which was the diving ducks main diet.
I hunted geese in the Chestertown ,Rock Hall area from the mid seventies to the mid eighties during the hey
days. Haven't been there since, when they dropped the limit to one bird I stopped going.

As you witness the area is rich in waterfowling history and the people are great. On a side note when the limit was dropped to one bird it really hurt the economy put guides, motels, restaurants and sporting good stores out of business . It had to be done, the pressure on the geese was crazy.

I am grateful that I was able to experience the Duck and Goose Hunting on the Eastern Shore.
 
BTW Molly's was Vonnies at one time which was owned by a guide named Floyd Price. He was one of the
first guides to start using Stuffed Geese for decoys, after awhile all the outfitters were using them. They were deadly in the right conditions....
 
I have hunted in that area also several times since the late 80's. I have some friends from the DC area that starting hunting there with their fathers and such. I have hunted several of the areas ChrisH mentions, some of my friends have and have had either property or leases. The goose hunting was crazy good in the late 80's and early 90's, but it wasn't going to last. Guides were running two parties a day thrugh their pits, shooting limits including the guide's , and the limit was 3 birds a day. By the late 90's there were a few bad breeding years in a row, geese were shot hard, and we ended up with a closure on canada's for a couple of years and slow drip back. Now it has dropped again but seems like I've seen more flight geese this year than the few previous ones. It is a great place to have a hunt. The lore is long and colorful all around the eastern shore. I'm glad you went, it's one of those places you want to be able to have hunted if you live out east. I have a friend that has a place in Cambridge, and he has a place called Cindy's Kitchen he goes that is probably a lot like the place you went. Those type of places should always be part of the trip too.
 
I came of age in Anne Arundel and Kent Counties and hunted waterfowl throughout the area. My folks are buried in Kent County near a pond filled with geese over near Tolchester. They had waterfront property in Cliff's City and knew a fair number of landowners. It is and was a water fowling hotspot. I think its been about 40 years since I hunted there. The goose hunting pressure has been intense for a long time. About the mid-1980's some farmers started building shallow impoundments or low dikes so they could hold water in their corn fields and then they had puddle ducks and geese to hunt. The Eastern Shore is a special place and with a unique culture and amazing history in addition to a waterfowl mecca.
 
Greg, -- the local guy we hunted with talked about the drop in the limit. He also said the limit was going back up next year to 2 Canada per day. We say a lot of them, but I think they were reluctant to commit to our giant spread of snow geese/Canada mixed. we watched them commit to another field about half a mile away which was only Canada decoys. we had 4,000 snow geese decoys and several hundred Canada decoys around the sweet spot.

Seeing all the hunters at the hotel, I knew this place was special.
 
Joe, I'm glad you had a great time. Hopefully you heard some great stories from your guide too. That is one heck of a spread you hunted over.
 
I hunted ducks a few times at Remington Farms/Chesapeake Farms in the 90's when goose hunting was suspended, although lots of geese still came in to the sanctuary pond.
Came back a few times in the 2000's when the limit was restored to 2 geese order to extend our season after our freeze-up in Ontario. Enjoyed hunting with Schrader's, and with Quaker Neck Gun Club in Chestertown (next to Chesapeake Farms). Quaker Neck offers pit blinds and A-frames, and has stuffer decoys for some hunts. Would love to go back some day.
Yes lots of waterfowling heritage in the area, and plenty of shops for gear - Vonnie's/Molly's was the coolest.
 
I still hunt that whole part of the shore. Been doing so since the early 80s with my father.

I currently do most of my hunting around Queenstown, just a few miles southwest of Chestertown. Also have a spot closer to Easton. I hope the prediction of a 2-bird limit comes true and that it is supported by the bird numbers.

Ed
 
Made it to Cindy's Kitchen every Saturday in January, sometimes early, sometimes late depending on how the geese flew. She closes at 2 so don't dilly dally.
 
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