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Today, I have to go pull down my tree stands from two properties I have hunted since the late 1970's. Last year, they were sold to a large company out of Union NJ. That company has been buying up all the surrounding land (over 800 acres) and now has all the pieces in place and will start developing it. The trees have all been marked and they are going to start soon, like in a week or so.
I had permission on two pieces, one 98 acres, the other 40 acres, and it was pretty good hunting for this area. The 800 acres is a large, contiguous block in a bigger piece of about 1500 acres, with fields on each end. The woods are mostly hardwoods, some mature, some only 75 to 80 years old.
The south side of the property, divided by a power line, began development in 1996, and they put two housing developments in there from 1997 through 2001. I had permission on both of those peices too, and lost about 220 acres in that build. To be honest, I knew the developer, and it was through him I had permission to hunt, so I always knew it would not be forever, but I had about 10 good years in there. These two pieces I'm going to today were different. I figured the guy would never sell his two properties I was hunting because he had another one adjacent to them that he hunted. Well, he sold that one too.
I've really been hit hard by the building trend here. I also lost two other properties in the last 3 years to housing developemnts, one was right behind my house. There was a 122 acres piece that adjoined my land that the builder allowed me and my brother only to hunt. He had been getting complaints about hunters shooting up the houses around the land (my neighbors included) and when I called to complain about buckshot hitting my house, our conversation led to my permission to hunt in exchange for posting, partolling, arresting and charging responsibilities. It was a great piece, we saw a good number of deer, and some decent bucks. The first few years I booted over 20 tresspasser off each year, but from 2000 to 2003, we had decent hunting.
Actually, my neighbors had the best hunting, and both of them killed big bucks in years past. In the early 1990's before the long guns seasons and unlimited antlerless kills, this place was a big buck factory. My neighbor to the north killed 3 bucks in 3 consecutive shotgun seasons basically in his back yard. The smallest was a 10 pointer that weighed 212 pounds, there was also an 8-pointer that weighed 217 and a 12 pointer that weighed 227, in GUN season. All the racks now sit in his workshop on the wall. None were entered in the books, he hunts for meat. My neighbor 3 houses down to the south killed 3 bucks in a 5 year span that had big racks. None exceeded 200 pounds, but one 8-point scored 142, an 11-pointer scored 151, and a 10-pointer that scored 156. None are in the books.
Since the long gun seasons were implemented and unlimited antlerless tags were allowed in zone 35, all that has gone away, and only one big buck has been killed, a shotgun kill of 133, but he was driven out of a sanctuary across the street where he lived a protected life. Now, the 122 acres is a development consisting of half million dollar homes, and the field to the south has about 90, 1/4 to 1/2 million dollar homes on it too.
Sorry about the long winded post, but I needed to vent. Watching that property for that last decade was like watching a loved one slowly die. First, the deer herd was slaughtered, and the number of big deer vanished, like a healthy man withering away to nothing. As that was happening, hordes of hunters invaded and ruined the woods, like a cancer that ate up the healthy man. When some control was finally established, it started to get better (remission), but then the entire woods was leveled, gone forever (cancer of developers returned BIG TIME).
I guess that is a typical lifecycle of a hunting property in NJ; it's good, it gets overhunted and is all the sudden not so good, then it gets developed and is gone for good. Man I can't wait to retire and move.
I had permission on two pieces, one 98 acres, the other 40 acres, and it was pretty good hunting for this area. The 800 acres is a large, contiguous block in a bigger piece of about 1500 acres, with fields on each end. The woods are mostly hardwoods, some mature, some only 75 to 80 years old.
The south side of the property, divided by a power line, began development in 1996, and they put two housing developments in there from 1997 through 2001. I had permission on both of those peices too, and lost about 220 acres in that build. To be honest, I knew the developer, and it was through him I had permission to hunt, so I always knew it would not be forever, but I had about 10 good years in there. These two pieces I'm going to today were different. I figured the guy would never sell his two properties I was hunting because he had another one adjacent to them that he hunted. Well, he sold that one too.
I've really been hit hard by the building trend here. I also lost two other properties in the last 3 years to housing developemnts, one was right behind my house. There was a 122 acres piece that adjoined my land that the builder allowed me and my brother only to hunt. He had been getting complaints about hunters shooting up the houses around the land (my neighbors included) and when I called to complain about buckshot hitting my house, our conversation led to my permission to hunt in exchange for posting, partolling, arresting and charging responsibilities. It was a great piece, we saw a good number of deer, and some decent bucks. The first few years I booted over 20 tresspasser off each year, but from 2000 to 2003, we had decent hunting.
Actually, my neighbors had the best hunting, and both of them killed big bucks in years past. In the early 1990's before the long guns seasons and unlimited antlerless kills, this place was a big buck factory. My neighbor to the north killed 3 bucks in 3 consecutive shotgun seasons basically in his back yard. The smallest was a 10 pointer that weighed 212 pounds, there was also an 8-pointer that weighed 217 and a 12 pointer that weighed 227, in GUN season. All the racks now sit in his workshop on the wall. None were entered in the books, he hunts for meat. My neighbor 3 houses down to the south killed 3 bucks in a 5 year span that had big racks. None exceeded 200 pounds, but one 8-point scored 142, an 11-pointer scored 151, and a 10-pointer that scored 156. None are in the books.
Since the long gun seasons were implemented and unlimited antlerless tags were allowed in zone 35, all that has gone away, and only one big buck has been killed, a shotgun kill of 133, but he was driven out of a sanctuary across the street where he lived a protected life. Now, the 122 acres is a development consisting of half million dollar homes, and the field to the south has about 90, 1/4 to 1/2 million dollar homes on it too.
Sorry about the long winded post, but I needed to vent. Watching that property for that last decade was like watching a loved one slowly die. First, the deer herd was slaughtered, and the number of big deer vanished, like a healthy man withering away to nothing. As that was happening, hordes of hunters invaded and ruined the woods, like a cancer that ate up the healthy man. When some control was finally established, it started to get better (remission), but then the entire woods was leveled, gone forever (cancer of developers returned BIG TIME).
I guess that is a typical lifecycle of a hunting property in NJ; it's good, it gets overhunted and is all the sudden not so good, then it gets developed and is gone for good. Man I can't wait to retire and move.
