NJ DEPARTMENT of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER Amy Cradic
Division of Fish and Wildlife, Fish and Game Council

Notice of Rule Proposal:
Game Code N.J.A.C. 7:25-5

Public Notice
Take notice that the NJ Department of Environmental Protection is proposing amendments.  A statement of the substance of the proposal follows: The Game Code governs the activities relating to the taking of wildlife classified as game animals, game birds, or furbearers. Proposed amendments include the following: establishing disease containment areas to control the movement and sampling of carcasses of the affected species in the event of a disease outbreak; the addition of five days to the rabbit and hare hunting season; a statewide closure of the bobwhite quail season, with the exception of the Greenwood and Peaslee WMAS and existing semi-wild and commercial shooting preserves; the elimination of separate black bear hunting seminars as bear hunting will now be included in the regular hunter education classes; the creation of special black bear farmer permits; the addition of a second Saturday to the fall turkey hunting season; changes in the boundaries of  Turkey Hunting Areas 16 and 22; removal of the prohibition to take migratory birds with crossbows; changes to falconry including allowing the take of turkeys during the fall turkey hunting season, new dates for the take of eyass and passage birds, possession of threatened and endangered birds obtained outside of New Jersey, and language changes to come into compliance with Federal regulations; expansion of the early bow and arrow-only coyote and fox season, and regular coyote and fox season dates; the mandate of the use of hunter orange for ground blinds for deer hunting whenever there is a deer firearm season in effect; removal of the requirement for youth hunters to take an antlerless deer before an antlered deer during the early fall bow deer season; inclusion of five additional deer management zones (DMZ) into the Antler Point Restriction program; the creation of a new deer regulation set; the authority for the Council to shift DMZs up or down regulation sets based on one year of harvest data instead of two years; and boundary changes to DMZs 19, 23, 25 and 65.

The proposal is scheduled to be published in the New Jersey Register dated May 2, 2011.  A copy of the proposal (PDF) is available from the DEP website and LexisNexis Customer Service at (800)223-1944 or www.lexisnexis.com/bookstore. Be advised that there may be a fee for obtaining a copy of the proposal from some sources.

A public hearing(s) concerning the proposal is scheduled as follows:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011at 6:30 pm
NJ State Museum
Auditorium
205 West State Street
Trenton, NJ 08625

Comments may be submitted by June 30, 2011 via the online form

or in writing to:

Dave Chanda, Director
ATTN: DEP Docket No. 07-11-03
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Fish and Wildlife
Mail Code 501-03; PO Box 420
Trenton, NJ 08625-0420