Hunting Seasons Begin 9-13-08

[Ben Ruset]

The hunting community has financed your outdoor enjoyment for a century or so...

Quoting this for truth.

The WMA's that we love to visit (Greenwood WMA, Colliers Mills WMA, for example) are paid for via hunting licenses, unlike state parks that get revenue from other places. I'd hate to see land in either place sold off because of lower revenues from hunting or fishing licenses.

 

[gipsie]

The WMA's that we love to visit (Greenwood WMA, Colliers Mills WMA, for example) are paid for via hunting licenses, unlike state parks that get revenue from other places. I'd hate to see land in either place sold off because of lower revenues from hunting or fishing licenses.

You mean that the state forests don't get even a percentage of the hunting license fee? I always assumed that a percentage of them went to the state forests as well. Do the fees go entirely to the WMAs? If not, I would be curious to see a breakdown of how they are meted out.

 

[wis bang]

You mean that the state forests don't get even a percentage of the hunting license fee? I always assumed that a percentage of them went to the state forests as well. Do the fees go entirely to the WMAs? If not, I would be curious to see a breakdown of how they are meted out.

I can't say for NJ but the PA 'game lands' and the PA Game Commission are 100% user fee [hunting license] financed. The PA DCNR, taxpayer financed, funds the State Forest/ park lands.

The Game Lands account for around 1/3 rd of the public lands in PA, one point sumtin' out of almost 4 million acres. My family has one of the 4000 leased cabin sites in the state forest so we contribute to the state forest system plus our hunting licenses pay for the game lands...

The game lands are open to the public 'cept hunting seasons are supposed to limit public access by horseback, mountain bike, etc. to Sundays September to May. I have to share the state forest w/ non hunting users during hunting season/

 

[MartGBC]

It is my understanding that your NJ hunting and fishing fees can be used to fund a project in Camden or Jersey City as well as to upkeep a WMA. I believe the fees are put in a general fund for various state projects and not just wildlife and land conservation. The politicians just see the fees as state income.

 

[46er]

Hunting & fishing license sales in NJ. The fee's could finance land management & research for, as well as education about, wildlife in Camden or Jersey City or any other area of the state, and that's a good thing.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/license_sales.htm


The fee's derived from the state parks go into a general fund, and thats a bad thing.

 

[MartGBC]

That is true but those fees paid by hunters and fishermen is used for things that could be thought as by some as a deterrent to them. A nice chunk of the money used to buy the land in the Chatsworth area for consevation was from license fees but yet hunters and fishermen are greatly restricted from using the land. It just gets poeple who hunt and fish frustrated as thier fees continually rise. Since the people on both sides of the argument have their points, it is sad a compromised can not be reached so that everybody benefits. The main problem I see is that both sides see the other as the bad guy but yet they both are basically trying to achieve the same goal.

 

[woodjin]

That is true but those fees paid by hunters and fishermen is used for things that could be thought as by some as a deterrent to them. A nice chunk of the money used to buy the land in the Chatsworth area for consevation was from license fees but yet hunters and fishermen are greatly restricted from using the land. .

If you are referring to the Franklin Parker Preserve, I am nearly 100% certain that no hunting or fishing fee income went toward the purchase of that 10,000 acres. It is owned by the NJ conservation foundation which is not associated with any state funding as far as I know.

Jeff

 

[46er]

That is correct regarding the FPP & NJCF, private donations and grants paid for it. It is managed along with the DEC, perhaps thats where some confusion comes in.

"New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) is a private, not-for-profit organization. We rely on philanthropic support and grants from a variety of public and private organizations and individual donors."

"In 2003, NJCF purchased the 9,400-acre Franklin Parker Preserve, the largest private land conservation acquisition in state history. Today, NJCF owns and manages the 14-square-mile property in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)."

 

[MartGBC]

The information I got from somebody with inside info is that a portion of the money was used from the state which came from hunting and fishing license fees. Look I am not trying to argue with anybody. I'm just pointing out that the state could care less about hunting and fishing. To them it is just a way to make money. The Frankilin Preserve is just 9400 acreas they do not have to manage. I hope the area is managed with a quality forestry and wildlife plan. It is better it went to the NJCF than some developer.

 

[Teegate]

. It is better it went to the NJCF than some developer.

Agreed! There is so much to see there and so little time. Life is too short to visit every place.

I have said it before that the bogs are changing already. If anyone has not been there now is the time to go. The bogs are being overrun by invasive plants, and trees are starting to grow along the edges of the roadways around the bogs. Eventually, from the lack of vehicle traffic the views of distance bogs will diminish and before long they will be just like Friendship Bogs and other long abandoned bogs in the pines where you can’t see a bog until you are upon it. Briers will increase making many not want to go there. Some of the causeways will erode blocking access to certain area’s further decreasing traffic and increasing the rate of encroachment. Beavers will invade changing the landscape forever. No matter how much management and good intentions are forthcoming, nature will eventually win, and we will be the last generation to see them as they are. It is a unique opportunity that I intend not to miss, and I hope all of the members here don’t either. If anyone visit’s Chatsworth or Batsto this weekend, lets see some photo’s from the Preserve.

Guy

 

[woodjin]

Agreed! There is so much to see there and so little time. Life is too short to visit every place.

I have said it before that the bogs are changing already. If anyone has not been there now is the time to go. The bogs are being overrun by invasive plants, and trees are starting to grow along the edges of the roadways around the bogs. Eventually, from the lack of vehicle traffic the views of distance bogs will diminish and before long they will be just like Friendship Bogs and other long abandoned bogs in the pines where you can’t see a bog until you are upon it. Briers will increase making many not want to go there. Some of the causeways will erode blocking access to certain area’s further decreasing traffic and increasing the rate of encroachment. Beavers will invade changing the landscape forever. No matter how much management and good intentions are forthcoming, nature will eventually win, and we will be the last generation to see them as they are. It is a unique opportunity that I intend not to miss, and I hope all of the members here don’t either. If anyone visit’s Chatsworth or Batsto this weekend, lets see some photo’s from the Preserve.

Guy

Actually, I prefer it after the pines reclaim it.

 

[MartGBC]

Do they have a wildlife management plan? What is the plan when the deer population gets larger than the land can sustsain? What is the plan if there is a major forest fire? These things affect the people living near the preseve. It is not always so simple to just let the pines reclaim it. This post seems to have drifted from the original idea.

 

[46er]

It's a brave soul that ventures to Chatsworth this weekend, it is festival time

 

[RednekF350]

This post seems to have drifted from the original idea.

You am right!
Allow me to steer it back on track.
This Saturday marks the opening of the first part of South Zone duck, a day I looked foreward to more than Christmas when I was a kid.
I'll be on a bog somewhere at 0'dark thirty.
Scott

 

[woodjin]

You am right!
Allow me to steer it back on track.
This Saturday marks the opening of the first part of South Zone duck, a day I looked foreward to more than Christmas when I was a kid.
I'll be on a bog somewhere at 0'dark thirty.
Scott

Have fun Scott. Bag one for PBX so we can have some glazed duck on our next hike!

Jeff

 

[dragoncjo]

MarkGBC, NJCF to my knowledge does have a wildlife management plan. The one thing about NJCF is that they won't acquire land and just leave it like some land conservation organizations do. I believe they were given a 3.5 million dollar grant to manage it. For instance a grant was given to replant atlantic white cedars in the cranberry bogs. The dikes were opened up to allow natural water exchange between the bogs. Also many of the cranberry bogs are going to be dug up in the inside. Presently the inside of those things is like concrete and the ones that have been dug up look great. Grants have also been received to handle the rare species out there, which is what I've been helping with. I know that many things are in the works out there, but it will take time and volunteer support, the land absolutely has a management plan. Also I know some of the blueberry fields will be left as they provide food sources for reptiles out there. I here you Guy as far a nature taking back the bogs, but unfortunately cranberry bogs left intact don't provide much ecological diversity. Bob H. has a great picture of the sunset on the bogs I'll have to get him to post it.

Now back to the original thread....sorry.

 

[Bionicrooster]

On a related (or not) note I have been hearing alot more coyotes than normal this year while bowhunting... Not that they are a threat but its another thing to keep your eye on.

 

[virgos]

Where do you hear the coyotes?

Where do you hear the coyotes?

 

[Bionicrooster]

Batsto area, just off washington turnpike. But I have friends who hunt closer to 206, atsion area and they have been hearing them too. I saw a couple a few years abck in greenbank.

 

[swwit]

I can see this thread quickly turning into a hunting vs. non-hunting thread, but before that occurs, I have to agree with Aaron. I fail to see the sport in baiting an area with dried-corn, while an "Elmer Fud" type person eagerly waits high in a tree, ready to shoot as his/her prey.

I feel to see the reason people tear up the terrain by "wheelin".