2016-2017 NJ Deer kill numbers are out (big rebound from last season)

[BenedictGomez]

  Z5 has a bowhunter in every tree - would you prefer that we start putting two hunters in every tree? 

 

Zone 5 is one of the more truly rural and natural parts of New Jersey, so if there's a hunter in every tree it's probably because most hunters dont like waddling too far from their truck!

[Lunatic]

Texas has several very large densely populated cities much larger than anything NJ has... Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, etc. I bet if you took the percentage of hunter on huntable  land per square mile , versus NJ hunters per square mile on huntable land, you would see NJ has more hunters per huntable square mile than any other state.  Z5 has a bowhunter in every tree - would you prefer that we start putting two hunters in every tree?  NJ gets way too much hunting pressure for all game species - per square mile, IMHO

 

 

No we are actually 8th

[1957Buck]

                          

Edited May 17, 2017 by 1957Buck

[Lunatic]

                          

 

 

But you keep returning  

[BenedictGomez]

But you keep returning  

 

 I think he's referring to the constant Zone 5 whining.

[JHbowhunter]

 I think he's referring to the constant Zone 5 whining.

 

until I have it all to myself!   

[1957Buck]

But you keep returning  

But only for the amusement factor.   Throwing around Data. and surveys Quoting NJDFAG There is just no end to a post such as this. One guy sees too many deer the other guy can not find one. Brown its down. Trophy Hunters. it is all old most posters seem to have common sense with their Facts but even that fact is disputed. Deer move around deer go to the food source deer populations Cycle year to year.  Hunter Numbers are deceiving at best from hunters that hunt 1 day of the 6 days while others have the resources to hunt constantly.

My Opinion of Hunting is in the Minority OLD SCHOOL.

Your Ohio Hunt was against everything I was taught The Waste and Money to Hunt for Trophy is not my idea of HUNTING.  If that is ok with you so be it. To Each his own.    

[hemlock]

until I have it all to myself! 

 

I thought when you said you had a community scrape in zone 5 in past posts  I was doing a good thing for the community every time I hunted there. Know after reading this.It is just hurtful. lol 

[Lunatic]

But only for the amusement factor.   Throwing around Data. and surveys Quoting NJDFAG There is just no end to a post such as this. One guy sees too many deer the other guy can not find one. Brown its down. Trophy Hunters. it is all old most posters seem to have common sense with their Facts but even that fact is disputed. Deer move around deer go to the food source deer populations Cycle year to year.  Hunter Numbers are deceiving at best from hunters that hunt 1 day of the 6 days while others have the resources to hunt constantly.

My Opinion of Hunting is in the Minority OLD SCHOOL.

Your Ohio Hunt was against everything I was taught The Waste and Money to Hunt for Trophy is not my idea of HUNTING.  If that is ok with you so be it. To Each his own.    

 

 

I actually like it and it added some things to what I already knew.

 

Is there anything I said that made you come to this conclusion? I clearly defined what type of hunter I am, not a trophy hunter, so how did you ever conclude this was ok with me is beyond my imagination?  

[Bucksnbows]

While there has been a decline, the numbers posted do not tell the true tale. In 1971, there was no All Around Sportsman license, so you have to add those numbers in to both categories, since a hunter would not be buying an AA license unless he/she is going to hunt both. Same with number of fishing licenses...add in AA numbers. That was 17,655 in 2016, so there are 17,655 more archery hunters, 17,655 more firearm hunters, and 17,655 more people fishing. 

 

So yeah, numbers are down for fishing, down dramatically for firearm hunting but actually higher in 2016 than 1971 for archery season (and imagine the amount of acreage lost to development since 1971 to give you a better picture of the increased crowding in archery season). The real total for archery hunters in 2016 was 43,912. In 1971, 30,795 (adding in non-residents).

 

Part of the decline in firearms license sales is the near total loss of small game and bird hunting in NJ. When I started hunting in the 1970's, everyone hunted rabbits and quail. There was also a tremendous grouse population and pheasants were not hard too find. Waterfowl was much more popular as well. Rabbit and bird hunting in NJ are almost unheard of now. Places to chase small game, and populations of small game (except squirrels) has fallen through the floor. I don't have much recollection of deer numbers before about 1975, but I know for a fact we had more deer around in 1975 than we do now. You could count dozens of them in many, if not most fields around where I grew up in the mid 1970's through the mid 1980's. Now, it's common to see a half dozen in a few fields, no deer in most. 

 

I agree with you about the small game, but you are not correct about the deer numbers being greater in '75 than in '17.  The stats just don't back that up.  Certain areas of the state are seeing lower numbers than perhaps in '75, but overall our herd is much, much larger than it was back then.  It peaked in the late 90s and the Division has been trying to get a handle on it ever since.  Most of us would say they haven't been overly successful, but this is the hardest state in the union to keep a deer herd under control in.  

 

We can't forget that deer prefer edge habitat.  There's a very valid reason why NJ deer are everywhere in suburbs and even in cities in places, but why few are found in the deep Maine woods by comparison.  Human activity increases edge habitat and decreases predators for deer, hence why we have such a huge problem controlling their numbers.  We over hunt them where hunters have decent access and can't or under-hunt them where access if poor or non existent.  Yet NJ still tries more or less a one size fits all for deer management when we know that places like our WMAs are nowhere near capacity for deer numbers yet they keep EAB, unlimited does, too many bucks allowed to be harvested, etc. 

[dlist777]

I actually like it and it added some things to what I already knew.

 

Is there anything I said that made you come to this conclusion? I clearly defined what type of hunter I am, not a trophy hunter, so how did you ever conclude this was ok with me is beyond my imagination?  

I think 1957 misunderstood your post.  He thought you were some how endorsing killing bucks for trophies and wasting the meat.  You were not.  

 

Now, I did an outfitter hunt in MD Eastern Shore last year.  I got antlers and meat.  Bucks taste good too.  Not sure why anyone would waste the meat.  That is sad. 

[JHbowhunter]

Me like big antlers. Me like meat.   They are NOT mutually exclusive!

 

Call me narrow-minded, but I only consider a big buck kill legitimate if the meat is fully recovered as well.

 

That being said, I commend those who still burn their buck tag on a spoiled carcass so they can retain the rack and even possibly get a mount out of it, although realistically it's nothing to be proud of. Sh#t happens, but as we see on TV, very poor shots, recovered days later and a big celebration when IMHO it should be a humbling, somber event where some valuable lesson was learned.  

[BenedictGomez]

The Waste and Money to Hunt for Trophy is not my idea of HUNTING. 

 

Here's $3,000, now put me onto a huge buck!    Agreed, I dont see any thrill in that.  Same as the fence hunting stuff.

 

 

 you are not correct about the deer numbers being greater in '75 than in '17.  The stats just don't back that up.

 

Exactly, that was an extremely uninformed comment.  

 

There were way more hunters in New Jersey in 1975, and yet there were ~ 300% MORE deer killed this year than there was in 1975.  Golly, the NJ deer hunters in 1975 must have been terrible at hunting! LOL    Sure, we have unlimited now to boost numbers, but if you look at the high number of hunting license sales in the 1970s versus today that balances out some, and yet fewer than 13k deer were killed statewide in 1975.  That's pretty dramatic proof.

 

Total NJ deer kill 1975/76 = 12,688

Total NJ deer kill 2016/17 = 49,246

[dlist777]

Here's $3,000, now put me onto a huge buck!    Agreed, I dont see any thrill in that.  Same as the fence hunting stuff.

 

 

Don't you hunt over a feeder?  

[BenedictGomez]

Don't you hunt over a feeder?  

 

About 50% of the time.    But I don't get your point, my feeder cost $80, not $3000, and the deer on the property are still wild to roam, not fenced into giant pens and "managed" for growth.