Township Officials to Rethink Deer Hunt After Arrest

Millburn officials may need to rethink how they approach the township's annual deer culling after a member of United Bow Hunters was arrested in Passaic County.

Marc Weiss, of United Bow Hunters New Jersey, is facing two counts of forgery and three counts of possession of deer without having them inspected at a deer check station, according to a report in The Record. He is accused of running an illegal deer check station. Weiss also ran Millburn and Livingston's deer hunt last winter.

But Larry Ragonese, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, said there are no pending charges related to the township's hunt.

Township Administrator Tim Gordon, though, said township officials will have to rethink how to approach the winter's annual culling activities at the Oakey Tract and the East Orange Water Company property. "In light of this, we're going to have to figure out what to do," he said.

Millburn has used United Bow Hunters for its annual deer hunt the last two winters. The organization offered its services at no cost. Instead, the hunters were allowed to take a certain amount of deer meat. The remaining venison was donated to the Community Food Bank.

Weiss appeared at a Millburn Township Committee meeting in January when concern was raised over the use of bows and arrows instead of shotguns, which had been used in previous hunts. The committee told the hunters to switch to shotguns, but Gordon said they didn't complete the hunt because it was late in the season.

Gordon said there is no local deer check station during the Millburn hunt, but the hunters do take the deer somewhere to be checked. They also are only allowed to take two deer at a time.

Township officials hadn't started their discussions on how to proceed with the next hunt, he said, but the question was more on bows versus shotguns. There hadn't been a question on who would do it because of the cost. The township previously had participated in the state's formal deer management program, but switched to using the United Bow Hunters service because of the budget situation.

For the 2009-10 deer hunt, the United Bow Hunters Association took 18 deer at the two properties, the majority coming at the East Orange Water Company property. A year ago, hunters took 50 deer from both properties. The 18 deer this year represent 494 pounds of ground venison donated to the Community Food Bank and 1,976 meals.