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Union County Commissioners Approve 2024-2025 Deer Hunt
By Andrea Crowley-Hughes,
18 hours ago
The goals of the annual deer management program are to allow forest regeneration, protect residential landscaping and minimize the risks of deer-related motor vehicle accidents. Credits: Frank Malfatto/File
UNION COUNTY, NJ — The commissioner board authorized the 2024-2025 hunt of white-tailed deer, for a cost not to exceed $20,000, at its June 5 meeting.
Its cost has increased from last year’s hunt , which was authorized in July 2023 for a cost not to exceed $17,500.
The annual deer management program takes place in county parks and some municipal properties, with the goals of allowing forest regeneration, protecting residential landscaping and minimizing the risks of deer-related motor vehicle accidents.
A recap of the 2023-24 hunt indicates that the Union County animal disposal contract vendor removed 301 deer carcasses from Union County roads as a result of deer/automobile collisions between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023.
“The cost increased from $17,500 last year to $20,000 this year due to a contingency budget we set aside to cover potential increases in supplies, such as baiting and butchering,” county parks director Victoria Durbin-Drake told TAPinto.
No other changes to the program are anticipated, according to Durbin Drake.
Volunteer hunters selected and trained by the county use crossbows to cull deer in various county and municipal open spaces in the hunt, which typically takes place during daylight hours over two periods in the fall and winter. Hunters shoot from portable tree stands over baited sites.
Plainfield, Linden and Westfield must pass separate resolutions to allow hunts to be conducted through a shared service with the county.
A total of 168 deer were killed in the 2023-2024 season, the parks director said.
Meat from the deer carcasses not harvested by the volunteer hunters is donated to the Hillside-based Community FoodBank of New Jersey.
At the end of last year’s hunt, 108 carcasses were butchered for Community FoodBank donations. This resulted in approximately 7,316 meals being provided to feed food insecure families, according to the county recap.
This story was made possible through a collaboration of TAPinto sites in Union County.
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