In 1984 they were combined into the present refuge named after Edwin B. Forsythe, a late Garden State conservation-minded congressman. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) administers the refuge.

Almost 90 percent of the refuge is tidal salt meadow and marsh, interspersed with shallow coves and bays. These areas provide important resting and feeding habitat for waterfowl.

Its tidal waters serve as nurseries for shellfish, and spawning and feeding grounds for fish, all of which are important in the diets of many wildlife species. More than 6,000 acres of the refuge are designated as a Wilderness Area, of which 3,000 acres are woodlands dominated by pitch pine, oaks, and white cedar.

As with the wildlife refuge mentioned earlier, Forsythe began to have problems in the 1980s with its growing deer populations in the Wilderness Area.

That’s when the USFWS first opened the refuge area to hunting.

The Forsythe NWR consists of three DMZs: 56, 57 and 58. Though all are regulated by lottery, the hunting is managed differently in each of the three zones.

DMZ 56 is open to hunters during the shotgun season only.

DMZ 57 is open during the permit bow, muzzleloader and shotgun seasons.

DMZ 58 is open during the fall bow, permit bow, muzzleloader and shotgun seasons.

During the 2007 season, DMZ 56 produced a total of 16 deer during the one-day shotgun season. DMZ 57 served up 26 deer, three during the permit bow season, four taken by muzzleloaders and 19 deer taken by shotgun hunters. Hunters in DMZ 58 accounted for 16 deer, one during fall bow season, four during the permit bow season, one during muzzleloader season and 10 during shotgun season.

While these numbers of deer taken might seem small when compared to other zones, you must remember that only a limited number of hunters can participate in the hunt. Also, only a limited number are allowed to hunt at any one time, making for a quality hunting experience.

Another parcel of federal land that’s open to deer hunters on a limited basis is the Fort Dix Reservation -- a sprawling military reservation within Burlington and Ocean counties in the South Jersey Pine Barrens.

At one time, Dix was a major facility for Army basic training. However, the base is no longer used for basic training. In the last decade or more, Dix has seen a renovation of sorts and is now used for a variety of military activities. Because of its closeness to McGuire Air Force Base, a good portion of these activities involves the staging of equipment and supplies for overseas use.

Because it is a military reservation, only a portion of it is open to hunting. Likewise, due to security reasons such as a heightened state of terror alert, a hunt can be cancelled or shut down without notice.

The hunting terrain is typical Pine Barrens land and is filled with scrub pine, underbrush and sandy soil. Since the area contains mostly small trees in a lowland type of terrain, most hunting is done by foot and not from tree stands.

A hunt did take place in 2007, and sportsmen accounted for 248 deer -- 62 during the fall bow season, 54 during the permit bow season, 19 during the six-day firearms season and 90 by muzzleloaders, one during the one-day shotgun season and 22 deer by winter bowhunters.