Deer Hunting Season Opens In Morris County Parks Saturday

Deer hunting season is once again open, starting tomorrow, September 10, in many parks across Morris County, and continues through February of next year. The deer management program, organized by the Morris County Park Commission, was created to prevent the detrimental effects of overgrazing by a species with no natural predators across the Northeast.

The white-tailed deer have been picking off flowers, leaves, and other succulent bits of New Jersey foliage for decades, ever since their numbers rebounded following restocking efforts and state-sponsored intervention measures during the late 1800s. These days, with the threat of natural predators like wolves and cougars long gone, deer have been comfortably satiating themselves and exponentially growing in numbers, to the detriment of the flora that share their habitat.

According to a report by Brook Maslo at the Rutgers University New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, humans have helped to create the problem of too much deer:

"Agricultural and horticultural practices created a constant supply of high quality food resources for deer. Reductions in recreational hunting further reduced deer mortality; in areas where hunting continued to persist, hunter preferences for antlered bucks favored female survival and ultimately population growth. Because New Jersey's landscape is highly developed, hunter access to deer is limited due to safety regulations."

But programs, like the Morris County Park Commission's deer management schedule, which begins in many parks on September 10 have been successful in helping flora regenerate.

The first controlled hunt ever in Morris County was in 1991 in the Black River County Park. About 16 areas across Morris County Parks are included this coming season, including Jonathan's Woods and Schooley's Mountain.

This season, as in those of the last couple of years, only bow hunting is permitted in Schooleys Mountain County Park. About 330 hunters joined in the hunt last year. Firearm hunting is scheduled at other parks around Morris County.

Image via SandJLikins, Morguefile, used under Creative Commons.