Hunting the Marsh Ghost: On the trail of Sika deer deep in the 15-foot Maryland phrag

Trumpeting banshee bugles across Maryland’s Eastern Shore are diminutive ungulates known as Sika Deer.

Native to southern Japan and resembling tiny elk, Sika were imported here in the early 1900s for private sport but established themselves as unique public hunting opportunities in the prevalent marshes.

Until recently, they’d skirted the attention of non-resident hunters. In 2019, however, Steve Rinella and his “Meateater” crew released a filmed Sika hunt on Season 8’s “Ghosts of the Chesapeake” episode. This publicity sparked an interest in out-of-staters from near and far, and to claim resident hunters resent the attention Rinella wrought is an understatement.

What was once a relatively private, local resource prior to the episode is now fair game. Access points into the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, a 45-square-mile series of public wetlands and forests, were suddenly clogged with alien license plates. Rescue missions for hunters lost in the inhospitable refuge spiked. The price of land and leases in Sika territory also increased.

My interest would’ve happened if Rinella had been born a vegan. I’d learned of these deer through the DNR webpage several years prior when my sister lived in Maryland but had been unable to secure a hunt either through an outfitter or one of her friends. Finally, last October I booked three days of crossbow hunting in Dorchester County with Nanticoke Outfitters hoping for my first stag.

I was prepared for difficulty upon arriving in Baltimore. A severe storm front was forecast during my stay, but the animals themselves are tough quarry. The stags were rutting, their shrill bugling a notable mating call, but by nature they're elusive and nocturnal and thrive in the thick phragmites. 

“Phrag” is colloquial term for this invasive Eurasian grass that has completely altered the Chesapeake tidal landscape. Growing to 15 feet tall, they created a dense monoculture that is ideal for the small deer but about impossible for humans to stammer through. You could easily be lost amid this stuff even a few yards off the muddy paths beaten down by Argo ATVs.

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As such, Sika hunting involves sitting in blinds along the edges of the phrag, covering travel routes, or perching higher above it, overlooking holes and feeders in the endless waving reeds. Corn and calling sweeten the pot, but neither are sure bets. And, as a turkey hunter, to hear a stag bugle and be stymied by the phrag from attempting a stalk is torture.

So, there I was — a non-resident hunter chasing a foreign deer amid invasive vegetation. I'd like to report I beat the odds and the mount is at the taxidermist, but it wasn't to be. I hunted many hours, calling occasionally with my Sexy Sika call, which I guess didn't sound so sexy. Enjoyed the guides and the local seafood, but a cooler of venison wasn't happening.

But, I did see a trophy stag, though unfortunately he was along the road during the drive to the stand on the last morning. Later in that hunt, I watched two hinds and a spike frolic around a neighbor's feeder across the hypnotic phrag.

Over the howling winds and sounds of geese and ducks trading around the bay, I listened as a stag bugled in the distance, knowing then that despite these challenges, or maybe because of them, I'd return for another crack at the Marsh Ghost.