sports

outdoors with Lou Rodia Jersey Hunters Do Well Right Here

Each year there is a ritual in thousands , of homes in New Jersey. A segment of the New Jersey deer hunting population cranks up its travelling urge Plans are made to travel to the surrounding states which are labelled as big game states Prominent are Maine. Vermont. New York. Pennsylvania and New Hampshire Friends and relatives of ours hit one or more of these One of their reasons for travelling is that the deer hunting is better in those states In some cases it may be I travel to Pennsylvania each year "Bet ter'' hunting is not the main reason I am able to hunt deer prior to Jersey's December season and I get a second chance at Pennsylvania hunting with a

flintlock after Jersey's black powder season is over. 1 HAVE NEVER reallay been that wrapped up in Maine Some of my family does get there One of my nephews killed a huge 14pointer which was big enough to qualify for Maine's club for deer which top the 200-pound mark I have never even seen a 200-pound deer in either Jersey or Penn sylvania in 40 years of deer hunting While I might in Pennsylvania. for sure I won't in New Jersey Reams of publicity cranked out by professional writers for the glamor magazines and by freelancers who report on the "trophy of a lifetime'' have glamorized what is referred to as the "ultimate hunting ex-

perience in the so called big game states. A look at the maps confirms that there are millions of acres of undeveloped land, relatively little development (Pennsylvania is less than 7 per cent developed) and fewer people per square mile— visitors or residents WANT TO WIN a fewbucks on a little bet? Ask your friends, hunters or otherwise, to rank Maine. Vermont and New Jersey in order of the highest deer kill in 1984 Most place Maine first in our tests A few put New Jersey ahead of Vermont for second place All we asked ranked Maine above Jersey and Vermont, and almost all put New Jersey dead last Here are the true figures; In 1984. New Jersey hunters bagged 25.-201 deer (reported as required by law) during the past seasons This is an increase of over 2.000 from the previous year Maine totalled 19.434 for all of its seasons Vermont hunters bagged 13.045 deer Surprised? THAT'S NOT the whole story Maine's 1984 kill was down by over 4,000 from the previous year. In all of the vastness of Maine, only 134 deer were bagged with bow and arrow New Jersey ar- , chers harvested 7.183 deer - and that does not include the totals from the Winter Bow season which ended Jan 20 There are an estimated 125.000 licensed deer hunters in New Jersey Basing the harvest against the total, that means that the number of deer taken is

one for each five hunters. That is less than an accurate figure, since under New Jersey's liberal hunting seasons, some hunters bagged more than one deer. More about that later. PENNSYLVANIA, long noted as a big whitetail deer state, has over 1 million deer hunters. They take an estimated 125.000 deer a year for a hunter success ratio of 12 1/2 percent. Don't forget, however, that no matter how it is harvested. Pennsylvania hunters are done once they bag a deer. If you are lucky enough to score on the first day of the archery season, you are done for the balance of the season with a bow, and you are ruled out of the firearms and flintlock seasons automatically As for multiple harvest, New Jersey has liberal laws. You can legally harvest as many as six deer if you hunt all of the seasons In Pennsylvania, which reports more road killed deer than are harvested by New Jersey hunters, you are permitted only one deer per season And one out of every six deer killed in that state is victim of a collision on one of Pennsylvania's highways with a truck, bus. car or other vehicle A GLANCE at New Jersey's map indicates that there are large population masses which rule out sensible deer hunting. In Hudson County, no deer were killed and in nearby Union County one deer was harvested during the fall bow season Densely populated

Bergen County produced 37 deer during the four seasons in 1984. Essex County, also densely populated, saw a total of 27 deer taken in the fall bow and six-day firearm seasons. Camden Countyhunters produced 158 deer For Jersey Cape activity, one has to note that 67 deer were bagged during the fall bow season. 141 were harvested in the six-day firearms season. 31 were bagged during the special shotgun permit season and 11 Jersey Cape hunters swelled the Cape MayCounty total to 250 by scoring during the muzzleloader (black powder) season. WHAT DOES all of this mean? It means that 125.000 hunters totalled a million man-days of hunting activity and returned $50 million or more to the state's economy. The state's sensible deer management programs have allowed hunting quality to spiral upward while incidents of deer&motor vehicle collisions and deer damage to crops and gardens have declined While the state's Division of Fish. Game and Wildlife people estimate that we are maintaining a deer herd of about 135.000 animals, the herds are in healthy condition The deer are bigger, antler development is bet ter and there are sufficient young born each year to provide quality hunting THE STATE'S sound deer management program is enabling New Jersey's deer hunting population to enjoy long seasons, a plentiful supply of deer and a liberal harvest All of this combines to pay tribute to New Jersey's fine deer mapagement program

While the hunters can enjoy top quality action, the deer also serve another purpose There is no handle on the number of people who spend time in the woods observing and photographing the deer These are part of the nonconsumptive user group which prefers to use the camera or binoculars rather than the gun. I never have been able to put together the time it takes to trek off to Maine for some part of that state's deer season I may never have the time in the future But. now I have the perfect excuse to slay home When my son and my nephews start planning their fall trip to Maine, or when some of my buddies start to bug me about their upcoming trip to their lodge in Maine. I can point to the figures listed above and back up my inability to go because of work pressure. I CAN NOW say that for all of these years I didn't go it was because I always knew the hunting was no much better here And the figures have to be accurate. After all. they did appear in this column. The comparison between Jersey and Maine is not unlike the story of a friend of mine. He and I both were shopping for trucks at the same time. I bought one locally He travelled all the way out to Williamsport, Pa . on an eight-hour jaunt to buy the same make and model truck Aside from a pleasant trip through beautiful scenery, he got the same things I got. Except that my truck was actually $100 cheaper I guess the moral here is that it really does pay to shop at home- be it for quality deer hunting or for trucks

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Undefeated VFW, Dellas Lead Loops

CAPE MAY — In Junior Hockey League action, the Cape May Fire Company defeated Sol Needles Agency 6-3 The Fire Companywas led by its leading scorer. Joe Rozanski. who had three goals Scott Quachenbush also chipped in with a goal Tom Wallace ded Sol Needles with two goals, while Jorey Higman scored one goal The Fire Company came back later to beat the CView Inn 4-0. It was again led by Rozanski. who had two goals and one assist. Quachenbush and Scott Dille also scored a goal apiece to lead the winners V.F.W. POST 386 remained undefeated as it beat Sol Needles 8-3. V.F.W. team was led by Lee Pierce and Matt Notch, who both had hat tricks Bill Mulligan contributed heavily to the offense with two goals Sol Needles was led by Tom Wallace, who had two goals and Joey Higman. w ho had one goal In Senior League action, the Cape May Fire Co. defeated the C-View Inn 6-5 in a very entertaining contest The First Companywas led by the hustling Joe Hawthorne, who scored the hat trick Player coach Charlie Hickman contributed with two goals Ron Nelson scored the game-winning goal in the

third period C-View was led by Todd Shoffler, who had three goals, while Kurt Hughes and Craig Oreo had one goal apiece in fine efforts Dellas Stores defeated Axelsson and Johnson 5-4 in overtime Dellas was again led by Jim Hawthorne who had the hat trick and scored the overtime goal for the second game in a row David Farina and Jim Cavannaugh had a goal apiece for the winners. Axelsson and Johnson were led by Charles Temple and George McFeab. who had two goals apiece. Axelsson and Johnson played verywell in the third play as they scored three goals in spite of playing six minutes of the period shorthanded STANDINGS Juniors V F W Post 386 2-0 Cape May Eire Co 2- 1 C View Inn 0-1 Sol Needles Agency O-2 Dellas Stores 2-0 Axelsson & Johnson 1-1 Cape May Fire Co 1-1 C View Inn 0-2

Cape May County ALMANAC FEBRUARY

MOON PHASES/ POSITIONS The Moon's affect on the TIde is greatest when closest to Earth alignment with Sun & Earth (full & new moon phases) On and (depending upon direction) may result in flooding, and extremely Moon Phases Full Moon 5 Last Quarter 12 New Moon 19 First Quarter 27 Apogee 23 Perigee 7 TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May City beachfront . for other areas, see Correction Times DATE HIGH LOW a.m. p.m. a.m. p.m. 6 W ed 8 10- 8 42 1 48- 2 28 7 Thu 8 56- 9 28 2 35- 3 11 8 Fri 9 45-10 30 3 23- 3 55 9 Sat 10 35-11 12 4 11- 4 39 10 Sun 11 28- 5 04 5 28 II Mon 12 05— 12 24 6 05- 6 26 12 Tue 1 02- 1 22 7 13 — 7 30 13 W ed 2 02 2 30 8 23 8 35 14 Thu 3 09- 3 41 9 28 9 38 15 Fri 4 16- 4 50 10 27-10 36 16 Sat 5 16- 5 48 11 23-11 32 17 Sun 6 09- 6 36 -12 14 18 Mon 6 53—47 18 12 24- 1 00 19 Tue 7 34-7 56 I 12- 1 42 20 Wed 6 13 8 32 1 53- 2 20 21 Thu 8 50 9 08 2 33 2 55 22 Fri 9 27 9 4513 10- 3 26 23 Sat 10 01 - 10 20 3 45 3 56 24 Sun 10 38-10 57 4 19- 4 27 25 Mon 11 16- 11 34 4 54- 4 59 26 Tue 11-57- 5 39- 5 36 27 Wed 12 19- 12 44 6 34 6 26 28 Thu 1 10 1 42 7 47 - 7 40

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate times of high & low water for your area by adding or subtracting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in the Tide Table LOW HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Plus 12 plus l0 Ocean City (9th St Bridge) plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet (bridge) plus 21 plus 7 Sea Isle City (Ludlam Thoro Brindge) plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus 15 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bridge) plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet (Anglesea) plus 19 0 Wildwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wildwood (Grassy Channel bndge ) plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus 1 minus 4 Five Falhom Bank plus 11 plus 1 Cape May Point plus 46 plus 34 McCrie- Shoal plus 28 plus 22 Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel (Bay -Canal Junction) plus 47 plus 36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 61 Dennis Creek Entrance plus 114 plus 97 Brandy-wine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52