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Hunters in other states are making changes, when do we?

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#21 ·
nmc02 said:
There are plenty of deer in NJ as a whole. Although, I agree the quality of deer is and always has been poor in NJ for a variety of reasons. The food here is not the same as the midwest.................no 5 mile long and wide corn nor soybean fields. It would be nice to have a 3 pt restriction statewide, as well. I would also like it if we were a state like Ohio that allows ONE buck per year, all seasons combined. There are too many people shooting deer simply because it has an antler on its head (i.e. a spike). There are more than enough does to shoot in the woods. Yesterday was the first time all season that I saw a truly mature buck....4-5 yr old..no shot. I passed on small bucks all year. Its like this....when you shoot small bucks all the time...1.) Youre killing potentional & 2.) A kill becomes less exciting. It's like this, if you go out to dinner every night............it's no longer something great, it becomes routine. So what I am saying is..........if there is not an antler restriction THEN lets only allow 1 buck per hunter all seasons combined. This way, those who complain that have limited hunting time and want to be able to shoot what they want to, can do that. BUT....it limits total number of bucks harvested.
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Plenty of deer as a whole? Yea maybe in areas you cant hunt them. Come down from the highlands to where us flatlanders are and try and tell us there are enough deer "as a whole". Ive seen as about as many deer aded together this season that I would usually see (going back a few years) in one day of hunting the pheasant opener on a wma. fyi I dont shoot small bucks, usually only fill one buck tag and try and take two-three does a year.
 
#22 ·
I would say in my area I have seen more good bucks then I have in past probably 3 years. Population is up. No shortage of does and cam ratio of good bucks to dinks is higher this year from what I've seen. All situational obviously depending on Ur area but that's what I've been seeing personally.
 
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#23 ·
Not so long ago driving to hunt in the morning was a gauntlet of avoiding deer collisions. I think I had to ease off the gas once this year and I hunt as much as I always did and actually I hunt more mornings than afternoons than I use to because I don't mind waking up early as I get older
 
#25 ·
deer really never pass 3 -4 years old in NJ especially bucks
 
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#26 ·
I am glad you brought this up, because had I, people would have called me everything and started with the you only hunted a year and blah blah blah.

So thank you! [up]

I would add in my opinion the state wants deer gone for land development reasons. I think the eco-people stop this from happening because they want the animals to have ample woods to live in. Cutting the deer population really has nothing to do with accidents because accidents actually make the economy stronger so it really isn't a bad thing.

I truly believe the more deer are cut back opens up new land that was protected before from development because of the deer will be opened up and built on. Does NJ really need another strip mall? well a new one is being put up and a huge portion of forest was clear cut to do it.

I like the eco-people they are the lesser of the two evils, the state and F&G are the ones to watch out for, one lies and the other one swears.
 
#29 ·
fish_hunter said:
Tom for reasons such as yours is why I started to duck hunt. I'd rather hang out with some friends and shoot some ducks. I'll keep pushing the bow hunting thing in NJ but my time typically put in on deer will be spent chasing other game. I’m not crying poverty by any means as I have shot some nice NJ bucks the past few years but with that being said the quality of the herd and the shooters has gone way down. I'll keep holding out of for nothing but the big ones and a few does to fill the freezer as there is plenty of guys willing to dink out and shoot everything that walks and unfortunately I don't ever see that changing. As BH2004 stated and I couldn't agree more, “The Shitheads win.” I love when I hear people say it's time to manage the herd. Wake up it's being over managed and managed in a way that will not provide us with a better quality of hunting. The generous bag limits that are in place and seasons that span over 7 months never allow the deer to calm down. They are always on edge especially a mature buck. The pressure on the deer in this state is relentless and I hunt every part of the state in NJ so I know it is just not a concentrated problem.
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This^^ about sums it up for me too, and the guy who bought the boat...me too.

There is probably no one on this board, or anywhere in NJ, that is, or was more of a deer hunting fanatic than me. Many guys may have it as bad, but I doubt anyone was more consumed with it. Now, while I still have the drive, I have to take it out of state because NJ sucks so bad. I've been hunting a combination of public and private land since 1979 and it has never been as bad as it is now, never. Going back to the late 1970's and early 1980's, we had more deer than we do now and still had shorter seasons and more conservative bag limits (hence, more deer in the woods instead of at the butcher). Doe Day was just that...one DAY, and you had to apply for a permit and the odds were only so-so you would get it. In some areas I think it was 3 days but still, only 3 days.

There was no permit bow season. Bow season started the last Saturday in September and ended the first Friday in November, the day before small game opened. Even after Permit Bow was established, it was called permit bow because you had to apply in a lottery for a permit, and there were many years I didn't get one. Back then, NJ was being praised for deer management. They approached it on a micro level with the distinctive zones and permits allocations. Now, NJ deer management is a joke. I'm not saying we have to go back to those types of regulations but we are far past time for a more conservative season/bag limit structure. The people responsible for deer management at the Division and F&G Council should really be ashamed of themselves...embarrassed is a better word... for how poorly they are doing their job.

The Division found a money making machine with these permits and fractured seasons so they built on it and now we have deer managed for maximum revenue generation, not necessarily for proper wildlife conservation.

The numbers don't lie; in the past several years, the deer take during 6-day firearm is at the levels it was in the mid 1970's and it includes antlerless deer now whereas back then, it didn't. Our estimated deer herd is even further below the numbers it was at that time with a preseason estimate of 105,000 deer. The problem is that they have gotten so hooked on the revenue they will not change. And you can't ask hunters to just not shoot deer. Most are accustomed to shooting a lot of deer and feel they have to get their money's worth due to the constant raping of deer hunters for revenue. Regulations will have to be changed, people will not do it themselves.

Within the last 10 years, when the Division was searching for ways to make more money, they began doing things like charging for extra buck tags and doing everything they could to sell more licenses which results in over-crowding of the woods and over-hunting/pressuring the deer (people feel they need to use that buck tag before it expires and they have to buy another one=more pressure on bucks). A $5.00 saltwater fishing license would have given them the revenue they needed and maybe slowed down the disintegration of deer hunting here.

There is nothing about me that is anti-hunting but I am a conservationist first and realize that there comes a time when continuing to expand hunting opportunities is not the right approach. We are past that time but you're not allowed to say that or the apologists for the F&G Council and Division will accuse you of being an anti-hunter, or greedy, some other dumb-ass thing because they they never got past the spoiled brat stage of life where they think they can just take, take, take and there will be no consequences. The current state of deer hunting in NJ IS the consequence.

Rant over, I'm going fishing.
 
#30 · (Edited)
Changes need to be made, 6 months of hunting, unlimited antlerless harvest has over the years has taken a toll on the herd in our typical deer areas. The herd is up and continues to grow in areas where hunting isn't allowed or limited. I would say where I deer hunt the herd is down and has been down since 2001/2002, but I do see bigger bucks. As long as the state sees $$$$$$$$ they will never make the proper changes.

Now they want to commercialize deer hunting, which so wrong.....Allow the hunters access to these areas, we as hunters earned and deserve that right, not some corporation
 
#31 ·
Within the last 10 years, when the Division was searching for ways to make more money, they began doing things like charging for extra buck tags and doing everything they could to sell more licenses which results in over-crowding of the woods and over-hunting/pressuring the deer (people feel they need to use that buck tag before it expires and they have to buy another one=more pressure on bucks). A $5.00 saltwater fishing license would have given them the revenue they needed and maybe slowed down the disintegration of deer hunting here.
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Create a $5.00 tax for the non-hunters in this state that goes to njfg because we hunters are paying out of our asses to control the deer herd and everyone of them are benefiting from us...just a thought
 
#32 ·
I know guys that have to shoot something every time they go out or they get pissed. Hunting for me is all about being one with nature, yesterday I was about done being one with nature. I saw 16 squirrels and a hawk. That's it. I maybe heard 5 shots all day, could it be all the things you guys mentioned? Maybe, I think it had more to do with the moon than anything, because as soon as I left my afternoon spot, crossing over the road into the fields, I counted 35 does, bucks, yearlings.....those deer are smarter than you think.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Maybe, I think it had more to do with the moon than anything, because as soon as I left my afternoon spot, crossing over the road into the fields, I counted 35 does, bucks, yearlings.....those deer are smarter than you think.
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I would never use 6 day as a determining factor to sum up the quality of hunting in the state. I barely gun hunt at all just do it to get out and do something different and keep an eye on my property at the same time.

I don't think the full moon helped matters yesterday
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No doubt about it but I don't think that was the basis of the OP's thread.
 
#36 ·
I only shoot the does that the rules require to be able to hunt for bucks.(EAB and Cnty Park rules) I feel there are enough other hunters shooting does, so I do not need to. This state wants the deer population to be decreased. As hunters most feel the herd is down enough. The problem that I see is if we don't keep the deer population down , many more places are going to hire White Buffalo or Deer Management Inc. to kill them off. This state sucks for management of any of our wildlife and I see no way to fix it.
 
#37 ·
njdeerhunter54 said:
I only shoot the does that the rules require to be able to hunt for bucks.(EAB and Cnty Park rules) I feel there are enough other hunters shooting does, so I do not need to. This state wants the deer population to be decreased. As hunters most feel the herd is down enough. The problem that I see is if we don't keep the deer population down , many more places are going to hire White Buffalo or Deer Management Inc. to kill them off. This state sucks for management of any of our wildlife and I see no way to fix it.
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I don't see that being the case. They would already be doing it to keep numbers down because the problem lies now where the deer can't be hunted easily with numbers of hunters in and around the McMansion developments where soccer moms don't want their volvos crunched. I see it every day, I go hunt state/private lands where there's plenty woods and areas to hunt and see very little deer then during the week I go to work in these developed areas and deer are around every corner and behind every tree! So with your theory the sharpshooters should be there taking these deer out because the numbers are too high and the habitat is beyond carrying capacity with little to no hunters taking care of them.
 
#38 ·
I have a plan and the solution, when I die I want them to freeze my entire body (not just my head) because the next generation will most likely not be deer hunting, it's to difficult, it's to expensive, nowhere left to hunt, there won't be enough deer left to keep them interested, and they rather simulate it than to actualy go out and freeze there butts off... In a 100 years when they thaw out my frozen dead corpse, the herd would have rebounded quite nicely, and the hunting ought to be pretty damn good.
 
#39 ·
fish_hunter said:
I would never use 6 day as a determining factor to sum up the quality of hunting in the state. I barely gun hunt at all just do it to get out and do something different and keep an eye on my property at the same time.



No doubt about it but I don't think that was the basis of the OP's thread.
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That's why I stated yesterday only[up]
 
Discussion starter · #40 ·
teddrick said:
Good articles and would agree with stiffing the 3 point rule, etc. what I don’t agree with is the “let her walk”. I personally do not shoot any bucks unless they are a monster, which I have not seen for a while. I do shoot does and fawns, for meat. Yes bucks come from doe’s, but there need to be a balance.
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neither article states you should not shoot does. My take on both is a balanced herd. If you have lots of does, take them. If your not seeing enough deer, let them go. If you want better quality bucks, pass the immature ones. Basically if you want better quality deer hunting in NJ, we as hunters need to start being responsible because the state cares nothing about your hunting experience only how far they can get into your pocket. Changes need to be made. The state is not going to do it.
 
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