NJ Deer Hunting...

[nmc02]

I was just sitting here thinking about deer hunting in this state. We could easily look at the glass being half full or easily the other way, being half empty. 

Definitely expensive licenses & permits, but SO much opportunity. 

Some states you are lucky to see a deer a month, not here. See tons. Granted not a lot of huge deer, but some.

Some pay thousands of dollars to hunt bears. Here it is $2 and very easy to harvest a bear.

Most importantly for me, our seasons are insanely long....I do not enjoy hunting warm weather (before Halloween mostly), but others do. This is great, as those who enjoy the early season can hunt while those who do not can hunt the late season!

I FAR prefer hunting the later season; as it's colder, there are less people in the woods, & we can hunt until mid February. 

My point..easy to complain, but many opportunities here.

[fab]

Would be great if we had more access to the areas where the deer live 

 

 

[Sotaroas]

" Definitely well said ! "
 I'll second the later season colder weather less people recently that seems to be shifting a littlest appears to me that I see more people right up until the end .

[CapeCod]

And to add to all the different opportunities here you can also experience all different types of habitats. Hunting in suburban neighborhoods, big mountains, deep woods, pines, farmland, flat lowland etc 

[Rusty]

I have no complaints at all.   Archery runs continuously from September through the end of January so we can hunt whenever we want.  We don't even bother buying a firearm license, there's no need.    

And regardless of all the complaining about mismanagement,  we are seeing more bucks and more big mature bucks than in the past.  There are less hunters and the average hunter is older, more experienced, and has killed lots of deer.  So they are happy to let the younger bucks walk, resulting in more mature bucks, regardless of the regulations.   

[bucky]

23 minutes ago, Rusty said:

So they are happy to let the younger bucks walk, resulting in more mature bucks, regardless of the regulations.   

This is true but for the amount of bucks I pass up every season never equates to the number of nice bucks the following year 

[DV1]

34 minutes ago, Rusty said:

And regardless of all the complaining about mismanagement,  we are seeing more bucks and more big mature bucks than in the past.  There are less hunters and the average hunter is older, more experienced, and has killed lots of deer.  So they are happy to let the younger bucks walk, resulting in more mature bucks, regardless of the regulations.   

I agree with some of the points, but have to say, your observations must be regional on these points above, except hunter age.

In the last few years, most notably since Covid, we have seen a pretty significant jump in hunters in SW Jersey, specifically on public land. It reminds me of the immediate increase after they legalized crossbows. That did tail off after several years, but this year, I have more hunters on my WMA cams than I think I ever have, and they seem angry. I run cams on video, with audio on, and have had a couple get pretty aggravated when they see the cam...at least the ones I could view because the cam wasn't stolen. I hadn't had a cam stolen in a while, but lost 2 this year, and some were missing just the cards and batteries. There are stands popping up everywhere, I see more unfamiliar vehicles in the parking lots, and my friends and 3 brothers all say the same thing. 

As for deer,  and big bucks, not on public land here. We got crushed with heavy pressure during the first few Covid years, and devastated by EHD last year. I've seen some nice ones killed in the area, private land deer, but the public lands are pretty bad right now. It goes through peaks and valleys, and right now, we are definitely in a valley... The Valley of Darkness, if you will.

My brother had a guy following a map on his phone, some hunting app I would guess, right to his stand a few days ago. The guy gets to the tree, looks up and gets disgusted when he sees him the stand, a stand we hung a few years ago, 1537 yards from the parking area. Says something about there being no place that someone isn't hunting and crashed off through the woods at 3:30pm. We have no idea who he is, but it wasn't hard to tell that stand was actively being hunted, yet he figured he would come use it anyway. 

I haven't hunted bow season at all because of my arm, but I have 3 brothers and a few friends who all hunt the same area as me. I've been scouting and running cams for them too, so I haven't been tied to a tree just hunting, I've seen a good bit of the woods and what's going on in several SW Jersey zones. It's not very encouraging out there. Now Maryland, that's a different story. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by DV1

[blackpowder]

7 hours ago, fab said:

Would be great if we had more access to the areas where the deer live 

 

 

I’m curious what would more access look like?

[jumpthestring]

36 minutes ago, Rusty said:

I have no complaints at all.   Archery runs continuously from September through the end of January so we can hunt whenever we want.  We don't even bother buying a firearm license, there's no need.    

And regardless of all the complaining about mismanagement,  we are seeing more bucks and more big mature bucks than in the past.  There are less hunters and the average hunter is older, more experienced, and has killed lots of deer.  So they are happy to let the younger bucks walk, resulting in more mature bucks, regardless of the regulations.   

See lots of young bucks shot on here all the time.

[Gobblengrunt]

NJ hunting for me its just ok.  I hunt areas with few deer but more mature deer on average, i seriously have to work my ass iff to kill a good buck, which i truly enjoy.  On the nice part for such a congested state, i rarely if ever see or have a hunter anywhere near where I go.  The part that is discouraging is the amount of predators particularly bears i see on a daily basis.  It’s tough and annoying having them ruining so many hunts.  We really have some beautiful places to hunt here though!

[Rusty]

38 minutes ago, bucky said:

This is true but for the amount of bucks I pass up every season never equates to the number of nice bucks the following year 

Bucks have naturally high mortality rates.   No regulation is going to change that.  

[Lunatic]

6 months of hunting season is nice!!

by now had enough of deer hunting so next week will be geese and then predators next month, mixing some deer here and there, hopefully in the snow 

 

[Lunatic]

1 hour ago, jumpthestring said:

See lots of young bucks shot on here all the time.

You see on this site a tiny fraction of what is being killed in NJ. 

there always were, are and will be hunters happy with killing a young buck and I’m fine with it. If it makes a guy happy to take a spike why would I care or discourage him? 
But Rusty is right, if you have more older hunters then more young deer walk. That’s a step in natural progression of a hunter who after years afield becomes more selective. It’s not a decision it’s a feeling. Very much so like a feeling of a young hunter to take deer, without any consideration of deer maturity. 
 

 

[Roon]

When you look at a glass as half full or half empty, always remember the top half was the cleanest while all the $hit settles to the bottom.

Like you said I personally l ove early season I hope to be out of the woods by Halloween, Veterans Day at the latest.

I honestly don't feel we should have an open season until the 3rd week of February  but it is what it is.

I understand just because we have the opportunity to shoot deer 7 days a week for 6 months doesn't mean you have to. 

Each is own and with the length of our seasons no one can say they didn't have a chance to get out

[BHC]

I love hunting NJ, it's home !!!! expensive in some ways yet the amount of game allowed it's a value. There are some things I don't agree on like 6 months of hunting and unlimited antlerless deer allowed, but again this is NJ a money-starving state

The deer herd is very healthy, the bucks are bigger every year. I can only speak for myself and with that said overall I'm happy, I see a deer while hunting great if I get a deer even better. One deer is enough in my house