CHAPTER 424

 

An Act concerning hunting with bait, and supplementing Title 23 of the Revised Statutes.


      Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:


C.23:4-24.4 Hunting deer with bait; "baited area" defined.

      1. a. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1 and section 2 of P.L.1970, c.180 (C.23:4-24.2 and C.23:4-24.3), a person may: (1) use bait to attract, entice, or lure a deer; and (2) kill, destroy, injure, shoot, shoot at, take, wound, or attempt to take, kill, or wound, a deer, or have in possession or control any firearm or other weapon of any kind for such purposes, within any distance of a baited area. A person may be elevated in a standing tree or in a structure of any kind when using a baited area for hunting deer, and the baited area may be within any distance of the standing tree or structure.

      The provisions of this subsection shall not apply in counties of the first class except in such game management zones therein as may be designated therefor by the Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife and approved by the Fish and Game Council. The provisions of this subsection shall expire within eighteen months from the effective date of this act.

      b.   For the purposes of this section, "baited area" means the presence of placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, or scattered agricultural products, salt, or other edible lure whatsoever capable of attracting, enticing, or luring deer.


      2.   This act shall take effect immediately.


      Approved January 19, 1998.