Well I managed to get out in NJ for two mornings this year. 12/23 and 12/31. My first morning I was excited to get out to an area I like along the Del Gap Area. I got off exit 1 off Rt 80, which is Old Mine Rd. About 1 mile north there was a light blanket of snow, that was a pleasant surprise. I believe this road runs all the way up to NY, but I only take it between 12-20 miles. About 5 miles up the rd I see a bunch of tail lights and suspect a crash. As I pull up I see that the road is gated and closed. I hop out to see what is up and the other hunters are all pissed off. This is the border of state land and federal land. I made a suggestion of whether or not this could be our governor at work again (he closed state land to bear hunting last year). Oh boy, did I set off a bomb. People cussing and swearing about the politicians. Apparently this road was incidentally shut down the week earlier just before the firearms season opener. A federal land supervisor comes by later and opens the gate when he is on duty. This gate essentially shut down thousands and thousands of acres for hunting. But some think it was for needed road repairs. What a disappointment. I decided, rather than giving up a precious day in the woods, to drive back a ways and hike up the mountain. I have to admit I was not into the hunt and was just plain bummed about the state of things. I hiked up the mountain and just before reaching the peak I could here foot steps. A deer was coming down off the mountain. Soon seven doe funneled down the hill about 75 yards away. they were all small and I took a few videos and watched them for about 5 minutes. I hit the top of the Kittattiny range and bounced a few small deer out of their beds and the beds were quite small. It was a little weird hunting along and suddenly crossing a hiking trail, this happened frequently. Later that day I head back along the ridge towards the truck and was trying to make my way down the slick rocky cliffs. I suddenly heard a commotion ahead and ducked behind a boulder and waited. This was 4.5 hrs later and along come 7 doe. I have to imagine that they were the dame group even though we were about 3/4's of a mile apart and 4.5 hrs later. This time they came with 25-30 yards and fed around me for nearly 20 mins. I just could not drop the hammer on the does with fawns. Also, the doe were small, I think the largest may have been 60#. On my way down the mountain I continued to check out watch each nob for deer. There was one ridge area of whips that I wanted to check out. From about 100 yards away I spotted a deer lying down and the binoculars proved it to be true. What looked like a big buck initially turned out to be a small doe. I put some trees in between us and decided to see how close I could get. I got almost to 30 yards - in a very crunchy environment. The doe looked too small - I just did not want to shoot. hopefully you can see herin the photo.
Today i got out for a few hrs and ran along a ridge I like. i hiked to the top and was immediately enveloped with clouds. i was certain they would break so I stayed up high. i was wrong the clouds hung around. I poked along the ridge just outside the dense mountain laurel. I bumped into three deer but could barely even see the flags in the cloud/fog. It rained all morning but i had a nice hunt. I must have seen close to 50 rubs but those deer were in the thickest Mt Laurel and Rhodies that, as a lone hunter, just does not make sense to hunt. I found this cool rub on a fallen tree and a branch was now vertical had been rubbed well. And with that - my 2019 hunting season is in the books. 2020 is going to be epic!
Today i got out for a few hrs and ran along a ridge I like. i hiked to the top and was immediately enveloped with clouds. i was certain they would break so I stayed up high. i was wrong the clouds hung around. I poked along the ridge just outside the dense mountain laurel. I bumped into three deer but could barely even see the flags in the cloud/fog. It rained all morning but i had a nice hunt. I must have seen close to 50 rubs but those deer were in the thickest Mt Laurel and Rhodies that, as a lone hunter, just does not make sense to hunt. I found this cool rub on a fallen tree and a branch was now vertical had been rubbed well. And with that - my 2019 hunting season is in the books. 2020 is going to be epic!
