Bow-hunting bill sparks N.J. tiff

Some people like to watch football or NASCAR on Sundays. Others like to ride mountain bikes, run marathons, or cast neon fishing lures into one of New Jersey's many tea-colored lakes.

But for a small group of men and women in the Garden State, an ideal Sunday would begin in the forest with them bedecked in camouflage, silently waiting for the opportunity to sink a razor-tipped arrow into the chest of a whitetail deer.

Hunting, however, isn't allowed on Sundays in New Jersey - at least not yet. Animal-rights activists say the ban dates back to the "blue laws" of Colonial times. It would be lifted if Gov. Jon Corzine signs a bill to allow bow-hunting of deer on private property and on state Wildlife Management Areas.

Robert Corrales, a spokesman for Corzine, said Thursday that the bill was "still under review."

Opponents, who say they'll consider legal action if the bill is signed, also believe that once Sundays are opened to bow-hunters, it opens the door for shotgun and muzzle-loader hunters, too.

"It's going to set a dangerous precedent for the state," said Angi Metler, director of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance. "I'm going to be terrified, frankly. These guys are up in the trees and if you don't have orange on, they can get you. You could bleed to death."

Bow-hunters say the bill is simply about fairness.

"You can do anything else on a Sunday," said Stephen Fox, a Cherry Hill resident and a member of United Bowhunters of New Jersey. "Why are we excluded?"

Hunters bring in big money to the state - an estimated $100 million annually, according to the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife - and fees and licenses they're required to purchase go directly toward maintaining those Wildlife Management Areas, which hunting groups say they can't use on Sundays because of "ancient tradition."

"Honestly, it's been a long time coming," said Rob Fischer, vice president of the United Bowhunters of New Jersey's southern region. "The state has to come up into the 21st century."

Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney sponsored the bill after hearing from constituents in Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem counties.

"My district is loaded with sportsmen," he said. "I have a lot of friends of mine who go as often as they can but when you work all week long, you only have the weekend to enjoy your hobby."

The U.S. Humane Society opposes the Sunday hunt for almost the same reason: hikers, bird-watchers and nature enthusiasts have to work, too.

"Why don't we deserve one day of the week to hike and go outdoors in relative peace?" asked Andrew Page, senior director of the Wildlife Abuse Campaign. "It's difficult for these two user groups being in the forest at the same time. It's not a good idea."

A family walking a dog past a silent, hidden hunter seems like a headline in the making, but bow-hunter Clinton Miller of Marlton says it doesn't happen.

"You're never in the same area. Deer are naturally going to stay away from people and hiking or jogging trails," he said. "That's why hunting isn't easy."

The New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates that 64,000 whitetail deer are "harvested" annually from a population of about 200,000 statewide by various kinds of hunters.

Those deer aren't just in the rural southern counties, the wide expanses of the Pinelands or the mountainous areas of the northwest: They're everywhere.

That's why the second part of the bill, which reduces the distance a bow-hunter must keep from a building from 450 to 150 feet, is also a milestone, hunters say. They claim it will help curb deer numbers and consequently reduce car accidents in more populated areas.

Fox believes that the deer are moving into more suburban areas because of development and easier food sources, and says they represent a real threat, if not to the family garden, then to motorists who may slam into one.

Camden County officials say they removed 139 deer carcasses from county roads last year.

But Metler, of the Animal Rights Alliance, says deer regulate themselves based on available food and land. Hunting, despite what proponents say, disrupts this natural rhythm and causes them to breed even more, she says.

"Fish and Game just winds up increasing the population," Metler said.

Fox says he respects the opinions of his opponents, but says most arguments boil down to people simply not "liking" hunting and arbitrarily picking certain animals to defend.

"People have a Bambi mentality," he said. "If we had cows grazing and running wild, people might feel the same way about them. They don't see cows get killed."

For more information about deer hunting in New Jersey, visit www.state.nj.us/ dep/fgw/deer.htm