STATE OF NEW JERSEY
219th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2020 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator BOB SMITH
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
Senator STEVEN V. OROHO
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Permits certain deer control activities; establishes check-off donation on hunting license applications to support venison donation program; authorizes issuance of multi-species depredation permit for wildlife control on farmland.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning deer and other animals, amending P.L.1997, c.123, P.L.1997, c.268, P.L.1997, c.424, and R.S.23:4-42, and supplementing Title 23 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1997, c.424 (C.23:4-24.4) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1 and section 2 of P.L.1970, c.180 (C.23:4-24.2 and C.23:4-24.3) [, a person may] to the contrary, the Fish and Game Council may authorize a hunter to: (1) use bait , for the purposes of hunting, to attract, entice, or lure a deer; [and] (2) kill, destroy, injure, shoot, shoot at, take, wound, or attempt to take, kill, or wound, a deer, or have in possession or control any firearm or other weapon of any kind for such purposes, within any distance of a baited area [. A person may] ; and (3) be elevated , when using a baited area, in a standing tree or [in a] structure of any kind [when using a baited area for hunting deer, and the baited area may be within any distance of the standing tree or structure] , which lies within any distance of the baited area.
b. For the purposes of this section, baited area means [the presence of placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered] an area wherein agricultural products, salt, or any other edible lure [whatsoever] capable of attracting, enticing, or luring deer is placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered for the purposes of hunting; and hunter means any person who has obtained from the Division of Fish and Wildlife: (1) a license or permit to hunt deer, or (2) a permit, issued pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2000, c.46 (C.23:4-42.6), to engage in alternative control methods that have been approved by the division for use in a community based deer management plan.
c. The Fish and Game Council shall adopt, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the provisions of this section.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.231, s.1)
2. R.S.23:4-42 is amended to read as follows:
23:4-42. a. Except as provided in subsection b. of this section, no person shall hunt for, pursue, shoot at, take, kill, wound or attempt to take, kill or wound a deer of any description prohibited by the provisions of the State Fish and Game Code, or hunt for, pursue, shoot at, take, kill, wound or attempt to take, kill or wound any wild deer at any time except during the period permitted by the State Fish and Game Code, or kill in any one year more than the number of deer permitted by the State Fish and Game Code.
b. [The] (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of this section or any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, it shall be lawful for the owner or lessee of [any] land [, a portion of which is] consisting, in part, of forested ground or land under cultivation, who has on their person a written permit issued by the division; or for the authorized [agents] agent [of the owner or lessee having] thereof, who has on their person a written permit issued by the division and countersigned by the owner or lessee , [may] to kill any deer that [may be] is found on [that land] the forested ground or land under cultivation, as the case may be, during the period covered by the permit.
(2) As a condition precedent to issuing a permit to an owner or lessee of land under cultivation under this subsection, the division may require the owner or lessee of the land to provide evidence that deer damage has occurred on the land under cultivation within the preceding 12 months.
As a condition precedent to issuing a permit to an owner or lessee of forested ground under this subsection, the division may require the owner or lessee of the forested ground to submit evidence from a forester that the nature and extent of deer damage within the preceding 12 months interferes with the goals of the woodland management plan, forest management plan, or forest stewardship plan.
(3) If so requested by the owner or lessee of the land, the period covered by the permit issued under this subsection to the owner or lessee of the land, or to the authorized agent thereof, shall [also] include the entire months of February and March.
(4) The carcass of a deer that is killed [under such] in accordance with a permit issued by the division pursuant to this subsection, shall become the property of the division and may be removed and disposed of in the manner it directs unless the carcass cannot be located after a good faith effort, as defined by the State Fish and Game Code.
(5) For the purpose of this [section] subsection, land under cultivation [shall mean (1)] means (a) pasture fields that are seeded with cultivated grass or that have been so seeded within the prior 12 months, or [(2)] (b) land on which planted crops are growing or were growing within the prior 12 months [. The division may require the owner or lessee of the land to provide evidence of deer damage within the prior 12 months as a condition of issuing a permit pursuant to this subsection] ; and forested ground means land that is the subject of a woodland management plan prepared and implemented pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.3), a forest management plan that meets standards adopted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, or a forest stewardship plan, which has been approved by the department in accordance with section 3 of P.L.2009, c.256 (C.13:1L-31).
(cf: P.L.1999, c.327, s.1)
3. Section 1 of P.L.1997, c.123 (C.23:4-42.1) is amended to read as follows:
1. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S.23:4-45 or any other law