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Lebanon Township Committee approves municipal deer-management hunt for 2024–2025
Summary
The Township Committee adopted a resolution designating six municipal properties for regulated bow hunting during the 2024–2025 deer seasons, set permit limits per property, prohibited Sunday hunting, and required harvest reporting by March 2025. The Committee also authorized a lottery and a provisional hunter-mentoring option for under-18 hunters.
Lebanon Township’s governing body voted July 17 to include specific municipal parks and open spaces in a township deer management program for the 2024–2025 hunting seasons.
Mayor Beverly Koehler said the resolution designates parcels including several Anthony Preserve tracts, the Woodglen‑Miquin Trail, Sun Mountain Preserve and Red Mill Race Preserve for regulated bow hunting during New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Fish and Wildlife seasons for Deer Management Zone 8. The resolution limits the number of municipal permits per property (ranging from three to five per parcel), prohibits Sunday hunting on township lands and requires permittees who use elevated tree stands to wear full‑body safety harnesses.
The resolution sets the township’s anticipated season windows as: fall bow (Sept. 14–Oct. 25, 2024), permit bow (Oct. 26–Dec. 24 and Dec. 26–31, 2024) and winter bow (Jan. 1–Feb. 15, 2025), while noting that State season dates control where inconsistent. The Township will run a lottery to award permits (lottery dates were specified in the resolution) and winners will have two weeks to collect permits and required harvest-report forms. Failure to return the Deer Harvest report by March 2025 will exclude applicants from the 2025–2026 season.
Sharon Petzinger, chair of the Environmental & Open Space Commission, presented the egg‑mass (LDD) and other environmental considerations during discussion before the vote. The resolution also authorizes a limited hunter mentoring program for the 2024–2025 season: a licensed permittee 21 or older may accompany one licensed hunter under 18 provided the youth has the required State license and liability documentation, the adult remains in direct voice contact and sight, and the adult has no prior Fish and Wildlife violations; the adult agrees to be responsible for violations by the accompanying youth.
Other administrative conditions: no person may hold multiple permits for the same property; a person may be awarded only one permit across all properties in the lottery (with the possibility of obtaining additional available permits after the lottery), and a permittee who harvests at least two deer on a single permit (including at least one doe) is offered first refusal to purchase a permit for the same property and season in 2025–2026.
The Committee adopted the resolution unanimously at the public meeting.
