Photo by BillKinney.com.

Most folks who are either non-hunters -- or perhaps, are merely unfamiliar with New Jersey -- often view the Garden State by what they see when landing at Newark International Airport. Unfortunately, such views are probably responsible for all the state-specific jokes, such as, You’re from New Jersey? What exit?

It’s often difficult to convince resident and non-resident hunters alike that such a demure state has a wealth of public land available to hunters, and deer hunters especially. Many of these lands often comprise literally thousands of acres.

To top off such large parcels of land, the deer hunting found in the state’s forests is just a shade short of fantastic. That’s not to say the state’s wildlife management areas (WMAs) are second-best.

That’s not the case at all. In fact, we’ll cover one such WMA that offers prime deer hunting as well. Nonetheless, you’d have to travel a long way to find deer and deer habitat to beat state-forest deer hunting during the late-winter season.

To show you a few examples of just how great it can be, let’s take Wharton State Forest for starters.

Of the 500,000 acres of public land on which deer hunters may tread in the Garden State, Wharton SF comprises a whopping 115,111 acres. This fantastic parcel is located in what New Jersey deer hunters know as Deer Management Zone 23.

That places it squarely in the heart of South Jersey where its vast acreage covers two counties -- namely, Burlington and Camden.

Back in the old days, state parks were just public lands that allowed camping, fishing, hunting, canoeing and a host of other outdoors endeavors, but did not allow timbering. But things have changed and now, especially in New Jersey, the term “state forest” is nearly synonymous with “state park.”

If you check out New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Web site at www.NJfishandwildlife.com, you’ll see that Wharton State Forest is, indeed, listed as a state forest. But it is also listed as one of many tracts of land in the state’s park system.

Why is this important, especially considering that little, if any, commercial timbering is conducted in New Jersey? One reason, and one reason only: If a state forest is contained within the boundaries of a particular Deer Management Zone, the rules and regulations of that DMZ apply equally to the state forestland.

There are no extra, or special, rules and regulations other than those proscribed in the DFW’s hunting edition of the Wildlife Digest that applies to the specific DMZ in which a state forest may be located.

Conversely, some state parks are also bound by the regulations of the DMZ in which they exist, but some are not. Some state parks allow only permitted hunting (permit required) and have their own special regulations as to when that particular state park may be hunted and where.

Consequently, you must factor in the same tired old admonishment: Carefully check the regulations contained in the current edition of the DFW’s Wildlife Digest, especially those that deal with hunting in state parks.

Wharton State Forest is the largest, single tract of land within the state’s system of parks and forests. This tract supports large numbers of wildlife from wild turkeys to eagles, squirrels and much more. It is known for its large herds of white-tailed deer, many of which are either large-bodied does, or wall-hanger racked bucks.

In addition, Wharton SF is one of those “borderline” areas where rich, dark soils of agricultural inland New Jersey mix with the loamy, sandy soils commonly attributed to the state’s shoreline areas. It’s here, within this so-called soil borderline, that bucks have a tendency to grow exceptionally big headgear.