Essex County will once again be holding a hunt at its South Mountain and Hilltop reservations to manage the deer herds there.
The program will be conducted in South Mountain Reservation and Hilltop Reservation on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Tuesday, January 27 to Thursday, February 26. At South Mountain, the hunt will be held on Tuesdays January 27 and February 3 and Thursdays January 29 and February 5 in the afternoons only. At Verona’s Hilltop, it will be held on Tuesdays February 17 and 24 and Thursdays February 19 and 26 in the afternoons only. Both parks will be closed to the public on hunt days, and parts of Fairview Avenue will be closed to drivers. The program will not be held in Eagle Rock Reservation.
“We have been very successful in reducing the deer population in our reservations to a manageable level,” said Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo in a statement, “which has enabled us to transition our program from aggressively removing deer and scaling it back to where our goal is to maintain the population. While we have made tremendous progress, it is important to continue this maintenance mode to preserve the forest habitat and maintain our reservations as viable resources for recreation and open space,” the Executive pointed out. “Since we started in 2008, we have removed 1,030 deer from our reservations, started a program to accelerate the re-growth of our forests and introduced a pilot program to reduce traffic accidents involving deer. The over abundance of deer affects all of our communities, and our program provides a comprehensive approach to address the problem.”
Once again, the county will be using volunteer marksmen licensed by the state who have demonstrated their marksmanship ability and completed an orientation program with the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office. When in the reservations, the agents will station themselves in trees at least 20 feet above the ground and only take shots at a downward angle.
All deer removed from the reservations will be transported to an inspection station and then to an approved butcher for processing. Venison will be donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey in Hillside, which will distribute the meat to the needy and homeless. In 2014, 2,577 pounds of venison was donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, which provided over 10,000 meals for the less fortunate. Since the Essex County Deer Management Program started in 2008, over 30,000 pounds of venison have been donated. Volunteer marksmen who complete at least five half-day shifts of volunteer service will receive 40 pounds of venison.
