Not NJ but hunters may find it interesting.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nation-world/national/article191124169.html
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nation-world/national/article191124169.html
A hunter lied about poaching deer. (Not NJ)
- Thread starter Teegate
- Start date
Do poachers always poach during hunting season? I think if I made up my mind to poach that would be the last time of year I"d want to do it.
I agree and often thought the same. If during or close to hunting season it's for bragging rights. Other times it's for other reasons other than bragging and it's these folks that almost never are caught.
It is obvious that Texas takes their fish and game laws very seriously. Hopefully, others who would be predisposed to breaking the laws there will have second thoughts.
Wildlife is a resource that provides benefits to the public as a whole, not just hunters and managing hunting through law is critical. If that man followed the laws he would have been armed with a bow and his chances of harvesting a big, old, smart buck would have been greatly reduced. He would have been forced to use skill and knowledge of that specific deer's behavior to place himself within bow and arrow distance instead of cheating and taking it illegally with a rifle shot from a vehicle.
Wildlife is a resource that provides benefits to the public as a whole, not just hunters and managing hunting through law is critical. If that man followed the laws he would have been armed with a bow and his chances of harvesting a big, old, smart buck would have been greatly reduced. He would have been forced to use skill and knowledge of that specific deer's behavior to place himself within bow and arrow distance instead of cheating and taking it illegally with a rifle shot from a vehicle.
There are/were several state CO type TV shows on. Of the ones I saw, Texas and Maine take it very, very seriously. I have been fishing and hunting in NJ for over 50 years and have never been checked by a CO, not even a license check. In NY I have been checked several times for each.
Unfortunately skill and knowledge has largely been replaced by bait piles nowadays.Used to be you had to figure out where the deer were and when by tracks and sign.Now just throw out some sweet taters and bring em to you.
There are still many that hunt the traditional ways. The primary reason baiting came to be in NJ, after decades of it being illegal, was use as a management tool due to the large increase in deer numbers. Lot of damage to farmers and homeowners. Many no hunting towns had reverted to hiring hunters to reduce their local numbers, with the deer taken going to food banks. You can still see the browse lines on cedars and other vegetation. I don't care for it myself, just like I don't care for the drives, but its here, some folks use it, and I guess it helps with the management, but there are still a lot of deer around, in places most would never expect them.
This from a very populated place along a very busy state highway.
That photo looks like the Finnegar farm in Lacey. I've also pointed out those trees and their browse lines to others many times.
I'm not fond of driving, baiting or even game cameras (when used for hunting), for that matter. At least driving is a traditional legal method in the barrens. I understood the Division's motives for legalizing baiting but my concern was that something that was not only illegal, but was considered unethical, was suddenly neither. The law was not the main reason I never baited. It was the ethical and sporting concerns that kept me from doing so. Now ethics are being redefined for pragmatic reasons. Hunting for recent generations has been more about success and killing than actual "hunting". I recall the use of drones for scouting waterfowl discussed either here or on another forum, which was another prospect that disgusted me. Newer hunters take little pride in working for success. They simply want to buy it.
I'm not fond of driving, baiting or even game cameras (when used for hunting), for that matter. At least driving is a traditional legal method in the barrens. I understood the Division's motives for legalizing baiting but my concern was that something that was not only illegal, but was considered unethical, was suddenly neither. The law was not the main reason I never baited. It was the ethical and sporting concerns that kept me from doing so. Now ethics are being redefined for pragmatic reasons. Hunting for recent generations has been more about success and killing than actual "hunting". I recall the use of drones for scouting waterfowl discussed either here or on another forum, which was another prospect that disgusted me. Newer hunters take little pride in working for success. They simply want to buy it.
If they are concerned about over population of deer the first thing the state could do is to quit planting fields specifically for deer to eat from in all the state WMA"s. It seems to me their trying to play a game where they increase the deer population as much as practicable to increase revenue from Hunters buying Licenses and ammo and guns and such,the state profits from the licenses and business from everything else.But they don't want to go over the limit where the deer start having massive die offs from disease and starvation.So they are trying to have their cake and eat it too.Keep the hunters happy,keep their own pockets full whilst trying to keep the population at a healthy level thereby keeping environmentalists happy which also includes hunters in that category as well.I guess it's like my wife.She gets annoyed with the feral cats hanging around here spraying and stinking the place up but she hates to see them starve and will occasionally drop some chicken straps over the fence in the woodlot next to us and act like it was an accident.I wonder why those darn cats are still here????
That is across RT9 from the Oyster Creek nuclear power generator site. The deer grow BIG there with glowing eyes.
There is a military installation called Fort Seneca in NY Finger Lakes region.I did several annual trainings there whilst in the National Guard.It is a storage facility for nukes and is heavily guarded with multiple fences and concertina wire and such around it.They have a herd of deer in there maybe 200 strong? Every deer in there is either albino or calico.There is absolutely no hunting allowed and they are inbred as it gets.Many could be seen with large lumps on their skin.Probably a genetic mess.Quite beautiful from a distance though Obviously very tame.
I heard about them, was going to make a trip there but they had closed it down for visitors, some sort of territorial dispute closing down the depot between warring factions. 
They apparently have since reopened and have a web site and tours, but you have to go by bus.
https://www.senecawhitedeer.org/index.cfm?Page=Home
They apparently have since reopened and have a web site and tours, but you have to go by bus.https://www.senecawhitedeer.org/index.cfm?Page=Home
I was there back in the early 90"s.Wasn't any touring to be had then though the Army did take me up in a helicopter and give me a tour of the Finger lakes at 1200 ft.Hanging out of the door every time they banked a turn.Now that was pretty cool