Hunting in Chatham, NJ

[TroutandBucks]

Since I am new to the chatham NJ area and have been seeing alot of deer around does any one know if you are able to bow hunt the area? Any information would be great!

Thanks All

[redsquirrel]

It looks like that is on the border of zones 13/36.  The only bowhunting I know of if you don't have access to public land is the morris county parks which you need a permit for.  

 

There are also a lot of no discharge towns in this area.  It is a shame because if they would open up more areas to bowhunting we could thin the population out a bit.  There are too many!

[MRMCR]

Hey forget Chatham , get over here to Cranford and knock a few off....they are destroying my vegetable garden....

[Bucksnbows]

Hey forget Chatham , get over here to Cranford and knock a few off....they are destroying my vegetable garden....

 

Ah yes, the railroad track blind

[MRMCR]

They've seen to have teamed up with the ground hogs.....plus there is turkeys a few times a year.... and a fox on a regular basis......who would have thought in Cranford......maybe I should put my taxidermy bear in the garden to scare em away ???

[TroutandBucks]

Any one have any info on this??

[TroutandBucks]

Almost hit a young 8 pointer around the block from my condo about 10 minutes ago

[TroutandBucks]

im sure there are some monster bucks in chatham

[TroutandBucks]

Also, One day I went into the PD station and one of the officers said that the town it self does a hunt but in early Nov. Where would be a good location to find information about this.

 

 

Any one know if chatham is no discharge if I ever wanted to shoot my bow in my yard?

[MRMCR]

I was gonna say since youre pretty young , that you could go hunting down the road in Summit, at the all girls school....but hey they are probably a bit too young for you.....

[MattC]

I signed up to this site so that I can read the answer to your question - which obviously no one knows. I am just like you and new to the area, just moved here two days ago and I have seen a fair amount of does crossing the street. I hunt in south NJ near fort dix but would rather find a place closer to home - I have google maped the area and it seems like there is a place called Great Swamp outdoor education center near a golf course that has promise but it seems like you need a permit to hunt there

I am going to check it out and let you know - please if you find any other info do the same

[TheGreek]

Great swamp was hit with ehd a few yrs back and I think there was some mention of it recently as well. It did a number on the herd

Edited October 25, 2016 by themadgreek

[TroutandBucks]

Hey MattC 
Yes you need a permit for the great swamp to hunt and there hunt is coming up so you missed the time to get one. And its only a few days per year and gun hunts. 

Shoot me a PM. Havent been seeing many deer by me this year 

[Gobblengrunt]

Chatham used to be open to the public (by permit only) for bow hunting deer for quite a few years. Since EHD hit that area so hard multiple years in a row, the town closed the hunting/ permits. Yes the deer are coming back slowly but that area herd is down at least 75% of what it used to be. The first year EHD hit (about 5 years ago), you could walk along the Passaic river and find dead deer everywhere, it was beyond devastating to the herd. As for target practice, I do believe Chatham does have a discharge ordinance only to have exceptions related to town and state (great swamp) permit only hunting.

[MRMCR]

Mike ( Trout and Bucks ) .......Old Man Tony has hunted  the Great Swamp for years.......unsuccessful;y to say the least......