Shooting Death Prompts State Review Of Game Preserve Rules

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says state regulations for hunting on private game preserves are under review following the shooting death of a guide on the Eastern Shore.

Agency spokesman Stephen Schatz told The Cumberland Times-News Monday that the Maryland attorney general's office is studying a rule allowing people to hunt without licenses on private preserves.

New applicants for Maryland hunting licenses must pass a hunter safety course.

Marvin Coppage of Centreville was killed Oct. 10 by a shotgun blast at Schrader's Outdoors, a private game preserve near Henderson.

Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson says investigators are trying to determine which of two teenage hunters in the client group fired the fatal shot.

She says it's unclear if either of them had taken a hunter safety course.

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