WHERE TO HUNT?
There’ve been times when I have sat in front of a piece of land and simply stared at it, wondering where in this area I should start hunting. The answers don’t come through osmosis, nor do they come to you in the middle of the night in some random dream. They will come through experience and doing your homework.

At times, I have been so unsuccessful that I feel I can speak with great authority about what not to do! Over the past seven years or so, however, I finally stopped assuming I had all the answers and started listening to what others had to say.

With this reality check came success. And only now do I feel comfortable passing on my own wisdom on where to hunt in the Jersey Pines.

Probably one of my favorite techniques is hunting edges between the really dense pine thickets and the less-dense oak groves. In the Pines, edges are everywhere. When deer are forced to live in tremendously thick cover that butts up to cover that’s significantly less dense, they’ll use edges very frequently.

Just last year, in fact, while hunting during muzzleloader season, I saw three nice does come tearing through an oak grove behind me, obviously spooked by something. They were headed straight for the large, dense cedar swamp that I was facing. Once they came to it, they stopped and stood completely still. Had it not been broad daylight, I would have sworn they dissolved into the swamp.

After a few minutes passed, they began to move in my direction, hugging that swamp edge all the while. Nose to tail, they passed in front of me. I raised my trusty Thompson Center Encore 209x50 muzzleloader and harvested one of the smaller does with a 30-yard shot.

The above scenario is very common. In my two decades of hunting the Pine Barrens, I have harvested more deer along edges than anywhere else. But don’t be fooled: Edges are not always so straightforward. Within the Pines are neat little edges formed when small groves of oaks (whites, reds, blacks and others) sprout up in various places.

I can’t tell you how many times I have hunted these edges, where the underbrush is just as thick on either side, and watched deer travel around them. Simply stated, edges are everywhere in the Pines. If you find an area with only a few of them, and the edges are very harsh -- such as from dense pine to open oaks -- then that’s like finding gold. Those are the spots you want to find!

CEDAR SWAMPS
In the Pines, swamp hunting is somewhat of an art. I’ve hunted whitetails in several states, none of which have come close to having swamps like those found in the Pine Barrens, which have some of the thickest, most briar-filled swamps that exist!

Many hunters will focus their hunting on cedar swamps with great success. Sadly, I’m not one of those who can claim such a title. However, I’ve done my share of hunting in, around, and among many swampy areas throughout the Greenwood WMA and the Wharton State Forest.

Hunters who enjoy great success in cedar swamps often report that deer are active throughout the day. In addition, the dark canopy of the cedar trees provide temperatures that can be upwards of 10 degrees warmer during the winter months and 10 degrees cooler in summer.