Six Day Firearm Deer Opens December 5

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,146
489
Little Egg Harbor
I think the danger of being in the woods during hunting season is blown out of proportion by many but I’m with you on this week. I used to avoid shotgun week and stick the solitude of black powder season until those damn inline guns ruined that season as well. Mostly waterfowl for me now.
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
I haven't hunted deer in over 20 years, but have been having thoughts of trying the muzzle loader season or going back to the bow. I want to find some time and drive out to Dixon's in PA to talk with them.
 

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,146
489
Little Egg Harbor
I haven't hunted deer in over 20 years, but have been having thoughts of trying the muzzle loader season or going back to the bow. I want to find some time and drive out to Dixon's in PA to talk with them.

I bought a rifle at Dixons. They are certainly the place to go for muzzleloaders. You might find a better price elsewhere but they have the knowledge and everything else you might need. You can walk out of their shop looking like Jeremiah Johnson if you want! I bought a .36 caplock for squrrel hunting from Cabelas years ago but they don't even carry ramrod attachents for calibers other than .45., .50 or .54. I had to order what I needed from the Dixie catalog.
 
Jul 12, 2006
1,354
345
Gloucester City, NJ
I think the danger of being in the woods during hunting season is blown out of proportion by many but I’m with you on this week. I used to avoid shotgun week and stick the solitude of black powder season until those damn inline guns ruined that season as well. Mostly waterfowl for me now.

I disagree. "Danger" is the operative word here. I'm not saying that issues or incidents occur, but you are certainly putting yourself in more "danger" frequenting the woods during this time. Grown men, many of which have something to prove to themselves and others, coupled with beer and carrying loaded firearms. I'd say the potential for danger is much higher then the days and weeks prior to this firearms hunting season starting.

Did I paint all hunters with a broad brush? Probably, the way it's worded. I'd like to think those I reference are the minority, so to the responsible hunters that don't drink and litter while you're hunting, I apologize.
 

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,146
489
Little Egg Harbor
Well I was in agreement that this particular week poses more risk than the rest of hunting season due to the far greater numbers of hunters, therefore greater odds of an incident than during other times, but I certainly wouldn’t refer to hunters as men trying to prove anything. Are fishermen catching their food with rod and reel trying to prove anything? How about crabbers, clammers or even gardeners who grow their own food? One might even accuse men who have to race around an oval in painted up racecars of trying to prove something. I wouldn’t. To each his own.

But danger is indeed the operative word here and there is very little of it to bystanders from hunters. It’s not even a matter of opinion. The hunting accident statistics show that. Do people get shot? Of course they do but how many (or better yet, how few?)? I saw something just yesterday about a person who was hit by a piece of space trash that fell from the sky. A foolish person would now worry about that. The likelihood of getting killed in a car accident during hunting season is infinitely greater than being shot but how many people have that fear every time they get behind the wheel. There’s a huge difference between being afraid of something and there being something to be afraid of. That’s why my kids no longer sleep with nightlights.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,057
3,328
Pestletown, N.J.
Well said German.
No one loves to hunt more than me. I have been at it since 1968 and was I a tag-along with dad before that. I have been
There really is minimal danger involved for the hunter and the general public using the woods at the same time.
As you said, it is statistically proven. I was being a little facetious when I said I stay out of the woods.

My dad let me play hooky only one day a year for it and I would take off every opening day for shotgun and pull my sons out of school for it too. Now that my sons are grown, I usually don't bother. Like German, I am more into waterfowl now than I ever was and my son's dog is making it wondrous.

I do enjoy the muzzlelaoder season far more than 6-day and I hunted with a TC Renegade for years until irons were't cutting it any more with my eyes and went to a scoped TC Encore 209x50. German, I did stick with real FF though, making me an oddball in the inline crowd.

What disappoints me about Jersey shotgun week is the clubs dominating the Southern Jersey State woods for the week. I thoroughly appreciate the tradition, comradery and longevity of the SJ deer clubs and I have hunted with several as a guest along with my sons when they were younger. I am also a board member and my younger son is the secretary for a 700 member sportsman's club but we do not drive deer as a club. I also have two gun clubs within shouting distance of my house and I have friends in each.

Personally, it is just a little frustrating to know that no matter how much time you spent patterning deer and all but living in the woods to figure out the deer, it all goes out the window shotgun week. The clubs drive the same piece of woods two and sometimes three times a day down here and by Wednesday most intelligent deer are screwed to the ground. The fat, hypertensive clown that smells like Mennen Skin Bracer and cigar ashes, who hasn't been in the woods since last December, is suddenly on the same playing field with you.

Don't think I haven't played the pressure to my advantage either. Some of my sons' biggest wallhangers are deer that were avoiding a drive.

Pennsylvania, where I will be all next week, (hunting with my TC Encore 209x50 inline BTW :D) does not have the club presence. Either does NW Jersey for that matter. When I explain drives and the number of people involved in a drive to my Pa. resident buddies they think I am exaggerating.

Be safe everyone, there really isn't anything to worry about.

:eek:
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,057
3,328
Pestletown, N.J.
Who wants to hunt deer anyway with this handsome boy ready to work for waterfowl and a pat on the head ?

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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,673
2,586
60
millville nj
www.youtube.com
Hunters are like everyone else.They have their share of buttholes, I know a few clubs down my way that being a butthole is almost a rite of passage to get in.The clubs down here make the woods a fearsome place on six day.I have had so many confrontations with hunters over the wearing orange issue.I'm not hunting so I legally do not have to wear it and my main bone of contention is when is the last time you seen a deer standing 70 inches tall wearing camo and glasses with an expression like you see to your left.
Don't shoot at moving brush,don't shoot at twig snaps,if every hunter made damn sure they could see the whites of the deers eyes or count the tines on the antlers before they pulled the trigger there would be no need for anyone to walk the woods looking like a neon sign.I still giggle when I see folks dressed in that camo orange mix.I don't care what they say,Deer are attracted to bright colors even if it does look white or whatever to them.I've stood motionless in solid colors and have had them pick me out,even in trees but motionless in a plaid flannel thats not day glo and they never notice me unless I twitch or stink.As far as drinking and hunting go thats what the clubs down here do,I know quite a few guys I've worked with that belong to clubs personally have told me their driving drunk,I mean a woods drive.If I wasn't immortal I'd be wearing orange.
Al
 

dogg57

Piney
Jan 22, 2007
2,912
379
Southern NJ
southjerseyphotos.com
Wonder how many people drove drunk after there After work party's Yesterday? The day before Thanksgiving has become one of the biggest days for drinking and driving .Myself I will be out there to hunt. Its a family time to hangout together.With both Friends and family eating junk food and telling of stories. Like Al said there are buttholes no matter what you do or where you go.Hopefully everyone will be safe and share the land together.
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
Yes Sunday bow hunting on WMA's and private property only is legal. There is a bill out there to include hunting with shotgun but as far as I know it has not passed yet

It is also legal to hunt with a shotgun on Sundays on semi-wild and commercial preserves, which are private property. This has always been legal.
 
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