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February 8, 2001

2000-01 Permit Shotgun Season Deer Harvest Estimates
through January 5, 2001

For more information contact:
Dan Ferrigno at 609-259-8692

As of January 5, 2001 a total of 14,603 deer were taken during the 2000-01 permit shotgun season, representing a small increase over last year's outstanding permit shotgun harvest of 14,404 deer taken during the same time period. Although not a large increase, any results similar to last year are encouraging because they indicate the Division is on track for reaching antlerless deer harvest goals.

On a county basis, Mercer, Ocean and Monmouth saw the largest increases over last year with 30, 27 and 20 percent increases, respectively. A majority of the increase in Mercer County is attributable to allowing permit shotgun hunting on Baldpate Mountain County Park. Most importantly, high antlerless deer (young males and females) harvest rates continued in the "hot zones," encompassing most of the agricultural and suburban zones in New Jersey.

The permit shotgun season continued in agricultural and suburban zones during mid to late January with four to 19 additional days of hunting, depending on the zone. In addition, there are three additional weeks of permit shotgun hunting in Zone 11, from January 29 to February 17, 2001. Estimates of the number of deer shot in mid to late January and February were not included in this summary. Consequently, the permit shotgun season total will increase, and is expected to exceed 25,000 deer.

"Since the majority of the season's harvest is antlerless deer - young males and females, the permit shotgun season plays a important role in the Division's deer management program," said Division Director Bob McDowell.

Preliminary Deer Harvest Estimate by County

County Preliminary
2000-01 Harvest
Thru 1/5/01
1999-00 Harvest
Thru 1/5/00
Atlantic 519 475
Bergen 2 0
Burlington 765 649
Camden 92 95
Cape May 108 169
Cumberland 299 289
Essex 9 23
Gloucester 713 662
Hudson 0 0
Hunterdon 3,332 3,505
Mercer 761 586
Middlesex 453 481
Monmouth 714 596
Morris 1,178 1,058
Ocean 264 208
Passaic 10 10
Salem 531 571
Somerset 1,170 1,074
Sussex 1,330 1,399
Union 0 15
Warren 2,353 2,539
Total 14,603 14,404

Preliminary Deer Harvest Estimate by Zone

Deer
Management
Zone
Preliminary
2000-01
Harvest
1999-00
Harvest
Thru 1/5/00
1 36 56
2 497 482
3 11 28
4 78 70
5 1,878 2,013
6 184 210
7 792 762
8 1,675 1,755
9 290 235
10 1,128 1,154
11 702 813
12 1,360 1,280
13 234 217
14 687 699
15 198 201
16 102 107
17 197 142
18 4 4
19 168 148
21 16 12
22 110 55
23 25 7
24 10 5
25 601 507
26 131 105
27 140 118
28 153 134
29 134 173
30 75 62
31 22 18
33 99 24
34 147 211
35 469 500
36 54 54
37 0 3
38 215 197
39 50 46
40 59 no season
41 489 347
42 70 140
43 11 4
45 9 7
46 12 14
47 22 40
48 455 405
49 46 42
50 331 332
51 245 234
52 0 1
53 0 0
54 20 14
55 12 2
56 23 15
57 4 9
58 12 9
59 23 23
60 23 35
61 15 10
63 28 98
64 0 0
65 2 2
66 20 14
67 no season no season
Total 14,603 14,404