Some interesting changes for sure:

• Buckshot (#4) and lead BB legal for fox & coyote during the special season
  
• Small-caliber centerfire rifle (.25 caliber or less, 80 gr. bullet max.) legal for fox & coyote during the special season
  
• Air rifle legal for small game
  

http://www.njfishand...ers_Meeting.pdf

Some interesting changes for sure:

• Buckshot (#4) and lead BB legal for fox & coyote during the special season
  
• Small-caliber centerfire rifle (.25 caliber or less, 80 gr. bullet max.) legal for fox & coyote during the special season
  
• Air rifle legal for small game
  

http://www.njfishand...ers_Meeting.pdf

 

 

All welcome changes in my book.

Yup, herd a rumor about that one a couple months ago, now confirmed. The other changes I was not expecting............ gives me another use for my Cooper 22-250.

 

They are also looking to allow shooting coyotes and foxes incidental to turkey hunting.

Those all sound like really good ideas, which is I suppose a bit surprising. Air gun for small game is particularly interesting to me.

Those all sound like really good ideas, which is I suppose a bit surprising. Air gun for small game is particularly interesting to me.

 

It's nice to see some progress in the right direction. Anything the state can do to generate more interest in hunting through the offering of more alternatives is a plus. In 1991 the state sold 88,263 resident hunting licenses. Last year they sold only 39,225 resident hunting licenses.

 

Airguns are allowed in New York for small game. Pennsylvania needs to move in the same direction.

they need to allow gun hunting on sundays

they need to allow gun hunting on sundays

 

They do, archery only.

No gun hunting on Sunday is a tradition that will die hard in New Jersey.

 

Sunday bow hunting is still limited to certain areas of the state. WMA's are open; but parks, state forests, Federal lands and some other public properties are closed. The list is extensive.

 

No Sunday Deer Hunting on the Following Properties:

 

ALL TOWNSHIP/MUNICIPALLY-OWNED LANDS

COUNTY PARKS

Atlantic County Park System (Zone 61)

Hunterdon County Park System

Mercer County Park System

Middlesex County Park System

Monmouth County Park System

Morris County Park System

 

STATE FORESTS

Abram Hewitt

Bass River

Belleplain

Jenny Jump

Lebanon

Norvin Green

Penn

Ramapo Mountain

Stokes

Wharton

Worthington

 

STATE PARKS and RECREATION AREAS

Allamuchy Mountain

Allaire

Bear Swamp Natural Area

Delaware & Raritan Canal

Double Trouble

Farney

Hacklebarny

High Point (Zone 67)

Kittatiny Valley

Long Pond Ironworks

Pigeon Swamp

Rancocas

Ringwood

Round Valley

Six Mile Run Reservoir

Spruce Run

Stowe Creek

Swartswood

Voorhees

Warren Grove

Washington Crossing

Wawayanda

NOTE: The former Wanaque WMA has been incorporated into Long Pond Ironworks State Park and is NOT open to Sunday bow hunting.

 

FEDERAL PROPERTIES

Cape May NWR

Delaware Water Gap NRA

D.O.D. Ponds

Earle Naval Weapons Station (Zones 39 & 40)

Edwin B. Forsythe NWR (Zones 56, 57, 58, 70)

FAA Technical Center (Zone 66)

Fort Dix Military Reservation (Zone 37)

Great Swamp NWR (Zone 38)

Lakehurst Naval Station (Zone 53)

Picatinny Arsenal (Zone 54)

Supawna Meadows

Wallkill River NWR

 

OTHER PUBLIC LANDS

Bayside PSEG Tract

All State of NJ Natural Lands Trust

Lizard Tail Swamp

Newark Watershed

Thanks for the heads up, would be nice if they would allow rimfire for fox

Coyote = AR.... Baby!!!!!!!!!!

So i can hunt with my ar then?? Wma ranges may open up for center fire to then

So i can hunt with my ar then?? Wma ranges may open up for center fire to then

 

Don't bet on it. The argument will be " what if you shoot over the berm" Ouch!

Damn the one by me is a 100yard range to.

They do, archery only.

 

You can archery hunt with a gun? Weird.

Don't bet on it. The argument will be " what if you shoot over the berm" Ouch!

I agree, you can shoot chucks with an AR now, but they don't allow them at the WMA ranges.

 

You can archery hunt with a gun? Weird.

 

Yes. "Crossgun"

 

It is the bowhunter's lament.

Yes. "Crossgun"

 

It is the bowhunter's lament.

 

A dumb lament I never quite understood. It's as divisive an argument as recurve vs. compound, traditional flintlock muzzleloader vs. an in-line fitted with high-grade optics, baiting vs. non-baiting, trail cameras vs. no trail cameras, etc. The list can be made endless if folks want to split hairs.

Yeah well, apparently certain purists would rather you have a harder time getting an accurate hit and maybe leaving an wounded animal then using a weapon designed 600 years ago. I find it absurd, and I use a standard compound bow.

man....... ar outfitted with night vision scope, and flashlight no longer tacticool its fully functioning for hunting coyotes.....thats awesome

 

edit never mind rifles only during the day still cool but not as cool lol

Who and Where do we call/write to make positive commemts about the proposals

 

Airgun small game, it's about time. Next bigbore airgun for Deer

Yeah well, apparently certain purists would rather you have a harder time getting an accurate hit and maybe leaving an wounded animal then using a weapon designed 600 years ago. I find it absurd, and I use a standard compound bow.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the crossbow is at least 2500 years old. At least that is the earliest artifact we have of it. Bows seem to date back about at least 10, 000 years.

 

So, even at 2500 years old, the crossbow is hardly unproven technology for killing. So, yeah....it is patently absurd.

Can't wait for 2014! Good job NJFW!

Can't wait for 2014! Good job NJFW!

 

So is this a done deal? Or simply a wish list?

I expect them to go through without an issue. Perhaps a bit pre-emptive on my part, but oh well.

Well I'm hoping for scoped air rifle to be a-ok for tree rats and bunnies.

Who and Where do we call/write to make positive commemts about the proposals

 

Airgun small game, it's about time. Next bigbore airgun for Deer

 

Go to this website: http://www.njsfsc.org/

 

There is a chapter in a number of counties that meet regularly, and you can join if you like and attend the meetings. Everyone can offer an opinion. The NJSFSC is made up of hunters and farmers who recommend or make proposals to Fish & Wildlife items like season changes, extending seasons, reducing seasons, reduction of bag limits, increase of bag limits, antler restrictions, etc. Of course, the decisions are ultimately made by Fish & Wildlife after scientific analysis by biologists when required. But it is also hunter input from the field that is listened to since they are the ones out there. (There has been a push by activists over the last few years to add two members to the committee who are non-hunters, like PETA members, claiming the committee is biased since it is comprised of only hunters.) The NJSFSC has begun working in concert with the NJOA (http://www.njoutdoor...about/njoa.html) as well.

 

I was a member and attended the NJSFSC Bergen chapter meetings.

I'm still dreaming of the day I can hunt deer with a revolver in NJ!

I'm still dreaming of the day I can hunt deer with a revolver in NJ!

 

Me 2!

 

Me 2!

 

I was told that the only reason they don't pursue passing hand gun hunting is because of the anti gun attitude in NJ. A while back I discussed this with a retired game warden.

Logic is sometimes never used in defining game code regulations. However, modern technology often pushes the envelope in many cases.

• While a pistol or rifle cannot be used for deer hunting, modern sabot slugs which enable a shotgun to push a pistol bullet at velocities from 1700-1900fps, certainly changes the game, and definitely increases the effective range of said round. Rifled shotguns are now more rifle-like than shotgun-like today in contrast to when games codes were first developed in this state. Ditto for modern in-line, scoped muzzleloaders. What started out more than thirty years ago (1978) as a "traditional" hunting season with primitive muzzleloading rifled arms has evolved into one that accepts more modern technology. The same sabot technology makes modern in-line muzzleloaders the equivalent of a short-range rifle. Since they and the ammunition they fire are all accepted for use as hunting arms, will we see more evolving change?
  

• It is illegal to hunt squirrels with a .22, but it's perfectly acceptable to hunt raccoon and opossum at night in the dark with hounds and a spotlight, invariably shooting upwards at them them in their perch where the dogs have treed them. And you can use a .22 Short to dispatch trapped game animals. But you can't hunt rabbits with a .22. You can squirrel hunt with a muzzleloader rifle in .32 or .36 cal., but not with a .22 rimfire. As Spock would say, "illogical."
  

Old habits die hard, and there are plenty of them in this state when it comes to game codes that should be revised. Hunting with a handgun I am sure I'll never see in my lifetime. The concept of hunters (or anyone else) heeled with a sidearm simply scares people in this state. (Current age limitation in PA is 18 years to handgun hunt. 21 years of age in NY for a resident to handgun hunt if I remember correctly. Both states have a sportsman's permit or license that excludes concealed carry but allows hunting. Our neighboring states can do it. Why don't we? )

 

One example of how people get things moving with game code changes is through groups like the the NJSFSC and NJOA.

 

There is a neeting of the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, for the Upland Game Committee, scheduled for Nov. 16, 2012 at 6:30 PM at the Assunpink WMA Conservation Center.

· The Upland Game Committee is made up of species or issue oriented sub committees. The Six Mile Run project and the re-opening of the Dove Season have been on our agenda since the Committee was formed. We now have a third sub – committee. Any NJSFSC members interested in creating additional upland game species sub-committees will be welcomed.

 

 

Events that come up in these meetings are discussed and approved before moving on to the State Membership. If you want handgun hunting, join the NJSFSC, lobby the big game committee for a motion to adopt handgun hunting, and create an agenda and plan for State approval.