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zone 3 report

2K views 15 replies 14 participants last post by  citori 
#1 ·
i have hunted zone 3 all my life and this shotgun and muzzy season has reached a all time low. the private property i hunt . abuts state property which gets hit hard, but this shotgun and muzzy season was the pitts. nobody was hunting the state land and i can not figure why ? so my question is anybody on here hunt zone 3 and just curious how you did.
 
#2 ·
Maybe no one is hunting state land because there are low deer numbers, probably due to increase in bear and coyote numbers. We hunted Zone 4 for 20+ years and with all the bear, lower hunter numbers, deer are non-existent. I don't hunt NJ anymore but talking to friends, they just don't see the deer numbers up there either and the limited times I walked thru those old areas, found the same myself.
Plus you hunt a state that has open seasons from early September to almost March, buy as many tags as you want, kill as many deer as you are willing to buy tags for, etc.......
Hunt good states in the Midwest and they limit everyone, resident or NR to one buck or 1 anterless tag, shorter seasons, drawing one tag for certain seasons, etc. It's not about making money but properly managing a resource: their deer herds.
 
#3 ·
I hunted zone 2 and 3 ..It took my buddy and I all of muzzy season to find deer, we did not see a single deer till on the last day of muzzy we figured we try one last spot and when we got in there I seen a group of 8 deer and killed a big doe in the first hour of sitting..Then my buddy who sat about 500 yds from me said he seen 5 and he also killed a doe right before dark..Yes we did not see any other hunters either , its been very empty woods and the deer are bunched up so you really had to work for them..
 
#5 ·
I've hunted zone 3 for 30 years or so ( holy crap did I say that lol). There has never been an over abundance of deer. What I've noticed is as the bear population has risen the deer have decreased. Also with the legalization of baiting deer numbers have decreased. There are still deer out there but like you said it take time to dial them in which alot of guys don't have so we see less hunters.
I was out Monday afternoon of six day and it was winter bow quite. Very weird.
Also alot of you don't realize zone 3 has never had early bow ,late gun season s or unlimited harvests. It has always been a more challenging area to hunt.
 
#7 ·
sometimes we expect the same areas to produce because we are familiar with a hunt spot. plain in simple is that acorns were abundant last year and crap sandwich this year. wont dispute the number are down but the deer found better places to go.you gotta scout sign. this is why the game camera crowd always wins. they adapt and change. no sign no deer. dont be afraid to change up to new areas. not just down the road. try another zone. snow is on the ground. id go take inventory looking at tracks. i learned the hard way years ago. some people will say its just you or its early or too warm but its a bunch o hooey. find the deer anf thats where they will be. i have plenty of spots with good time memories and in my mind wanna wanna say the deer will be there but your just foolin yourself.
 
#11 ·
Keep shooting Big Does... I am still relatively new, but I have seen a decline in deer numbers in the last 3 seasons in some zones I hunt. I don't blame coyotes or bears, I blame people shooting does for for 5 months straight.

Kill one doe and one buck, and you'll watch the numbers jump. Keep shooting does and then run and complain about less deer is absolutely retarded in my opinion.

This is my opinion and you guys do as you please within the law, but just remember to stop complaining because you are your own worst enemy hiding behind the guise of I am following the law, or I need to feed my family as if you don't have a job and only eat deer and twigs and berries you gather.

Anyway good luck with the herd, but when they are gone, no one is to blame, but yourselves.
 
#12 ·
zone 3 always had a low deer density, but 15 yrs ago when i started hunting this farm . the deer were plentiful and the predators such as, bear, yotes and bobcat were low. the bear and yote population is getting higher. i blame them for taking out the fawns during the spring and yotes running the deer down on the snow and ice . there are less hunters than ever in this zone 3 and would would think there would be more deer but thats not the case. just saying
 
#13 ·
My secret plan for zone 3 Ringwood SP (formerly Wanaque WMA) backfired this year. That plan involves hunting just south of the state line when the NYS and NJ seasons overlap. Hunters in Sterling Forest stink up the area with human scent north of the state line driving the deer south. I have taken several bucks that way over the years. Two years ago I shot a nice buck at 8am and it was the third or fourth deer I saw. Last year I couldn't hunt due to injury and surgery. This year I sat there dark to dark opening day of NJ muzzleloader and opening day of shotgun. I saw nothing. I also hunt SF. Part of the problem is hardly anyone was hunting SF this year.

The Saturday morning of shotgun season I hunted my usual Z4 spot. Saw nothing. In the afternoon I went to Wawayanda. There were people hunting there because there were vehicles parked in the two of the places I planned to hunt. I went to an alternate area and saw nothing. The rest of muzzleloader I went to WayWay saw no other hunters and no deer either. The only thing I saw was someone's trail cam that I waved to when it took my pic.

The only place I saw any deer this year is in my Z36 spot.
 
#15 ·
its a shame how this zone is managed.
with the vast acreages of undeveloped land the deer herd is low. true there are the pockets of them but it takes a lot of physical demands to search them out. you are not just getting out your trucks and walking 100 yards into the woods and getting into them, excluding pouring a bag of feed, which is not the way i choose to hunt.
the herd was larger years ago but was always lower then other areas located more west or more surburban. bears, yotes, bobcats and bag limits all have had impact. not to mention two brutal winters in a row where winter kill was a fact, especially the winter of '13-'14. this past summer my cams did pick up more fawn pairs then the past two which is encouraging.
i would love to see bag limits here cut in half for each season. i only care to bowhunt but can't see how legally being able to take 6 bucks or as many as 9 does is detrimental to the current herd. i would be fine with one deer per season buck or doe its your choice.
i grew up hunting zone 3 & 4. i do not hunt 4 anymore but have enough friends that do and it seems to be the same issue of predation and bag limits affecting the same type of vast habitat. not quite sure why these areas cant be managed for a better carrying capacity vs. herd reduction like alot of other areas?
 
#16 ·
I think a significant reduction in the harvest on public lands is in order across the state. I think separate regulations for public and private lands is what needs to happen. There are areas of private propery that are just over run with deer and vast areas of public land like zone 3 and 4 that are pretty much barren wastelands. From an enforcement perspective it would probably be difficult to do but probably what needs to happen.
 
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