Tags: hunting | New Jersey | dogs | regulations

Hunting in New Jersey: Regulations for Hunting With Dogs

By Leah A. Zeldes    |   Thursday, 28 May 2015 01:22 AM EDT

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For many hunters in New Jersey, a big part of the allure of the sport is getting out in the wild with their friends, especially their four-legged friends. Training your dogs to find, point, and retrieve game and watching the dogs at work can be the best part of a hunting expedition. But before taking your dog hunting in New Jersey, make sure you know the rules.

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• All hunting dogs must be properly licensed in the municipality where their owner lives. Proof of rabies vaccination will be required.
• Dogs may never be used for hunting bears or turkeys.
• Exercising or training hunting dogs in New Jersey Wildlife Management Areas is permitted during most spring and summer months only in designated dog-training areas. These WMAs offer dog areas: Assunpink, Glassboro, Pequest, Tuckahoe, Black River, Hainesville (water dogs only), Salem River, Whittingham (upland and water dog areas), Clinton, Manasquan, Winslow, Colliers Mills, Millville, and Stafford Forge.
• In the fall and winter, hunting with dogs and training them is allowed in most areas except on specific dates each year.
• Dogs may not be used to hunt raccoons, opossums, foxes, or coyotes during some periods.
• Training dogs for hunting raccoons or opossums is permitted only after dark on designated dates in early fall and spring.

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• When training your hunting dog in a New Jersey Wildlife Management Area, you may release pheasants, quails, and partridges, but you must buy the birds from a licensed game breeder and have a “Game Animal – Game Bird Sales Receipt” with you.
• You may use pigeons for dog training, but you’re not allowed to shoot them.
• Dead game birds, such as last year’s frozen catch, are OK, as long as they were legally shot during a hunting season.
• Rabbits, hares, raccoons, foxes, woodchucks, and other furbearing game may not be released for dog-training purposes.
• Any live birds you release on New Jersey Wildlife Management Areas for dog training may not be brailed, tethered, or restrained in any way. Before release, you may keep the birds confined with a mechanical bird-holding device. Call back pens aren’t allowed.
• If you use live birds when training your hunting dog, you must comply with all New Jersey rules and regulations regarding seasons, bag limits, and methods, just as if you were on a regular hunting expedition.
• Except during hunting season, you may not use firearms for training hunting dogs. Noisemakers such as starter pistols and dummy launchers are OK, as long as they’re not capable of firing a projectile that could hurt someone.

Much more information about hunting in New Jersey is available on the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife website. They also have a smartphone app.
 
This article is for information only. Please check current regulations before hunting.

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For many hunters in New Jersey, a big part of the allure of the sport is getting out in the wild with their friends, especially their four-legged friends.

hunting, New Jersey, dogs, regulations

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Thursday, 28 May 2015 01:22 AM

2015-22-28

Thursday, 28 May 2015 01:22 AM

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