There will be hell to pay when people find out what is going to happen in their backyards. This bill, along with its' Assembly companion A2129, were reintroduced shortly after being pocket-vetoed by Governor Whitman due to public safety concerns. There have been no substantive changes in the bill and it once again deserves to be vetoed. This legislation will do nothing but increase the problems it seeks to solve. It is not difficult to understand why shooting in the woods would send deer out onto the roads, in a panic.
Habitat management is encouraged on other public and private lands.
Limited burning, wood harvest and planting of various agricultural crops favored by deer can increase the carrying capacity by increasing the quality and quantity of food available. From the mid-1970's through the 1980's, the Division and the Fish and Game Council sought to allow deer numbers to increase within sections of the inner coastal plain including Salem, western Cumberland, Gloucester, northwestern Burlington and western Monmouth counties. By 1990, with the exceptions of Island Beach State Park, a small portion of Cap May County located below the Cape May canal and a few other isolated areas, deer occupied all available range. This legislative attempt to reduce the deer herd will fail as previous attempts have. There is no greater example of this than when the Legislature made baiting deer legal.