I can't say why the laws are the laws in some states. Until maybe 5-6yrs ago, even in Kansas - arguably a more level headed and hunter friendly state - we were ONLY allowed one option during any given antlered deer season. The weapon specific seasons did not overlap in date, so you only could use that specific class of weapon during that specific date range. I suppose even then a person could have carried an ML and a CF during firearms season, and of course, our extended doe season allows any legal weapon after the 1st of the year. I suppose another "loop hole" was that you could carry a handgun and a rifle during firearms season also, or a shotgun and a rifle... Or you could carry 7 bows during archery season if you really wanted to...

But then around 5-6yrs ago, they changed the wording such that the archery season dates were the entirety of the season, overlapping all others, except for the special youth hunt season - the weekend before anything else opens up. We also recently approved crossbows as ARCHERY equipment, whereas they were not allowed at all until a few years ago, when they were only allowed during firearms season. In chatting with the guys in the law dept at our parks and wildlife dept, they said it was a very simple change to make archery overlap everything else, just that nobody had thought about it before - and that the only complication was that now archery hunters had to buy blaze orange if they wanted to hunt during the firearms season.

So I suppose I'm not really surprised to see that NJ has segregated weapons seasons.