What can be done about barren wasteland farm fields on WMAs??

[Mixbaghunter]

What's wrong with upland field  maybe we can bring back small game hunting  .not just deer hunting. 

[Bucksnbows]

What's wrong with upland field  maybe we can bring back small game hunting  .not just deer hunting. 

Nothing wrong with them reverting. But if you want rabbits, you’re going to want some field habitat. Stocked pheasants will live for a few hours in any habitat they are dumped in, so they don’t really count. Woodcock and grouse benefit from early successional forest habitat which is the next stage once
a field goes fallow.


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[Bonefreak]

1 hour ago, Bucksnbows said:

 

If you leave the fields to go fallow, they will quickly become upland forests and not fields any longer. The Division does not have crews or equipment to plant and weed and harvest.


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Yep Bucks, I'm familiar with the successional cycle......and am aware at some point fallow fields would need to be set back by mowing or brush hogging if the management goal was to limit it from reverting back to upland forests.

I'm also aware of the Division's perpetual under staffing issues......but they certainly have the equipment.....i have seen giant New Holland tractors and implements at their field offices.......so the Division needs to utilize a very ambitious  and willing volunteer program of license buyers to help maximize each WMAs carrying capacity potential. 

They have had a history of utlizing dedicated passionate volunteers over the years like the Deputy COs and fellas who used to help float stock trout streams.......unfortunately the Deputy program was nixed for liability issues after the Ramapo shooting incident by DEP State Park officers......and not sure what ever happened to the float stockers......but they need to tap into their constituent base who will help them with their mission and goals. 

[Batsto]

3 hours ago, Bucksnbows said:

 

If you leave the fields to go fallow, they will quickly become upland forests and not fields any longer. The Division does not have crews or equipment to plant and weed and harvest.


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Work for welfare folks or bring in inmates to get workers. Make deal with jailbirds. Cut your jail time if you work WMA farms. I see plenty equipment sitting in state depots. Some look old and rusted. Bad management and lazy admins. Cheap attitudes in a high tax state. Less money for illegals and more benefits for law abiding taxpayers. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Batsto

[tcook8296]

9 minutes ago, Batsto said:

Work for welfare folks or bring in inmates to get workers. Make deal with jailbirds. Cut your jail time if you work WMA farms. I see plenty equipment sitting in state depots. Some look old and rusted. Bad management and lazy admins. Cheap attitudes in a high tax state. Less money for illegals and more benefits for law abiding taxpayers. 

Stop it. You are starting to make sesnse

[MGHunter66]

Didn’t the division just save hundreds of thousands of dollars by closing Rockport? Didn’t they free up staff? Seems they have some extra cash and some free time for workers.


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[Nomad]

I heard Murphy wants to use the states open lands for immigrant villages...  

Edited January 6, 2019 by Nomad

[buckhound]

I know guys that work for F&G that do that and yes they have the equiptment they also will plant fields from what i am told if you pay for seed and time  ....  that is in this part of the state...

Edited January 6, 2019 by buckhound

[Sako76]

The big money farmer out by me just bought himself a new Corvette, I guess he is just making it!  You should see how much USDA crop insurance money they get!

[MGHunter66]

The big money farmer out by me just bought himself a new Corvette, I guess he is just making it!  You should see how much USDA crop insurance money they get!

Funny you mention that, all this talk about poor farmers. I have a farmer near me that has sold off property to builders making millions. Last i checked he still receives a 325k dollar subsidy. He also leases fields from the state to farm but tries to keep people from hunting the surrounding property so his boys and friends can hunt it. When i contacted the state they sent me a copy of his leased area and showed what still is public hunting land. He still considers me a trespasser and called local police( his buddies) which tried to say i am on posted property. Funny how things changed when i pulled the states paperwork out. I wonder how many people he bullied into leaving previously. Yep those poor farmers


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[Bonefreak]

1 hour ago, buckhound said:

I know guys that work for F&G that do that and yes they have the equiptment they also will plant fields from what i am told if you pay for seed and time  ....  that is in this part of the state...

So if sportsmen bought seed....and.....we paid for their time..... they would plant it??

Don't we sportsmen already pay for their time??

[Bonefreak]

46 minutes ago, maximus66 said:

Funny you mention that, all this talk about poor farmers. I have a farmer near me that has sold off property to builders making millions. Last i checked he still receives a 325k dollar subsidy. He also leases fields from the state to farm but tries to keep people from hunting the surrounding property so his boys and friends can hunt it. When i contacted the state they sent me a copy of his leased area and showed what still is public hunting land. He still considers me a trespasser and called local police( his buddies) which tried to say i am on posted property. Funny how things changed when i pulled the states paperwork out. I wonder how many people he bullied into leaving previously. Yep those poor farmers


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Greedy Farmer Smacked A$$ sounds like a real jitbag!!!

[buckhound]

12 minutes ago, Bonefreak said:

So if sportsmen bought seed....and.....we paid for their time..... they would plant it??

Don't we sportsmen already pay for their time??

this is what I was told maybe i miss understood something but i dont think i did. in the area i live i see nothing done for wildlife other than for birds. what irritates me is i know several of those working for F&G and even parks and forestry most of the time i see them riding around. since they have been pushing the no stands in woods year round and conservation ID on them seems like the parks and forestry workers spend more time searching for stands even to the point the state has them out with spotlights looking for night eyes and  following them to remove stands after season and during if no ID is on them .. seems to me that time could be used planting fields and repairing roads that have hole that could swallow a truck....

[Bonefreak]

35 minutes ago, buckhound said:

this is what I was told maybe i miss understood something but i dont think i did. in the area i live i see nothing done for wildlife other than for birds. what irritates me is i know several of those working for F&G and even parks and forestry most of the time i see them riding around. since they have been pushing the no stands in woods year round and conservation ID on them seems like the parks and forestry workers spend more time searching for stands even to the point the state has them out with spotlights looking for night eyes and  following them to remove stands after season and during if no ID is on them .. seems to me that time could be used planting fields and repairing roads that have hole that could swallow a truck....

Hmmmmm.....looking for bright eyes and looking for ID #s on stands?  What properties are enforcing that!!??  I know Monmouth county parks say you need ID on stand and remove stand after season....but I don't think that's a WMA reg. 

[stratocaster]

23 hours ago, Bonefreak said:

No doubt Bat!!  

We should take matters into our own hands, start a WMA Committee w the NJSFSC, and with some volunteers.....make our WMAs great again.....get rid of the farm leases and manage the acreage for wildlife, which is more in line with the Division's mission statement and goals!

 

Your frustration is understandable, but you really must understand the state you live in.   NJ is not a hunter friendly state and your wish to have our concerns addressed about having more huntable acres as opposed to generating revenue is just that-----a wish.   If you compare NJ to a state like WI or NE to name a few, those states go out of their way to cater to having hunters access as much huntable land as possible and have hunters rights protected in their state constitutions.  NJ will never do that.  If we had license sales over 100,000 then we might have more of a voice but as it stands we squeak like mice as opposed to roaring like a bear.