The goal of Chester Township’s controlled hunting program is to manage wildlife on Township owned park preserve and open space areas without excessively conflicting with park users or park neighbors. The specific objective of the controlled deer hunting program is to reduce the population of white-tailed deer on six Township-owned tracts totaling approximately 700 acres, to reduce agricultural crop damage, to reduce motorist collisions with deer, and to restore or improve forest health by reducing over browse of the forest understory. A multi-year controlled hunting program has been designed to decrease the deer herd on these lands to an average of 20 deer per square mile, in a program consistent with state regulations.
In the Township of Chester, we are fortunate to have many acres of preserved parkland. Some of our parkland is managed by Chester Township, some by Morris County, and some by the State of New Jersey. Separate management plans mean that schedules for hunting can differ from park to park.