ORIGINAL: NJ_Bowhntr

No Ryan, there USED to be some good hunting around Elmer 5 to 10 years ago, but since they went to the long gun seasons and unlimited antlerless deer, the hunting has taken a nose dive, even on private property. I've hunted in zones 35, 27 and 28 all my life, until last year. Oh, I still hunted in those zones, but I started hunting in some public land spots further north and could not believe the difference in the deer herd. That was my problem, I was staying with areas that were good, emphasis on were, as in past tense.

Alloway and Elmer used to be the talk of the town, but the hunting there just doesn't live up to the talk. It's not what it was 10 or 15 years ago, but I stayed with my spots because it was close to home, and they were supposed to be good.

When I checked out places further north, I learned a lot. I learned I was sticking with something for what it used to be, not what it currently is. I found Assunpink and Colliers Mills are loaded with deer, and the hunting was much better than what I have seen on private land in 27, 28 and 35 in recent years. I just couldn't believe the difference. Seemed like every time I went out, I had a chance to shoot a deer. I have hunted for two weeks, 6 days a week, in some of my Salem and Cumberland spots without seeing a deer.

And another thing I found, a very underhunted resource is the Wharton State Forest, also Lebanon State Forest and Greenwood-Passadena WMA. Big woods with plenty of deer. Their bodies are not that big, but they grow some impressive racks. The hunting around Elmer is crap compared to these areas. The pressure is much greater, there are less places for the deer to escape the pressure, and there access is very tough in most of zone 28. But get into those big forests, and you can hunt for days without seeing another hunter. I was amazed.

Also, closer to home, Glassboro WMA and Winslow WMA offer better hunting than my old haunts. If you look at the numbers, both of those WMA's produce more bucks per square mile killed each year than we have total deer per square mile in parts of zone 35. They get more pressure than the big woods areas, but they have a tremendous number of deer to support it. Zone 55, Glassboro WMA averages 10 BUCKS taken per square mile, zone 27 (Alloway Twsp), 3 bucks per square mile. Zone 65, Winslow WMA, between 8 and 9 bucks taken per square mile, yet zone 35 (Elmer area) just over 2 bucks per square mile. And it's not because of some great form of QDM, the deer just aren't there.

Look at the QDMA map of deer densities, they tell you, and the state confirms it, that the esitmates for much of the area are less than 15 deer per square mile. In some spots I'm familiar with, it much less than 15. If that is not enough, look into the Garden State Deer Classic results from last year. You'll have to look long and hard to find any entries from Salem or Cumberland County.

I hope your "Guide" will be more up to date than just including talk of what areas USED to be good. Sorry for the long rant, but it makes me sick to see what the State has done to the quality of hunting in most of Cumberland and Salem County. It's a mere shadow of what it was 10 or 15 years ago, even in the late 1970's we had better hunting than we do now, much, much better hunting. Any one of those public land spots I listed above offer better hunting than much of the private land in my normal zones (27, 28 and 35), and the public land in those zones is worse yet. It's really a sad state of affairs.