Essex County has let us know that, because of the snow, it has canceled hunting at Eagle Rock Reservation and the Hilltop Reservation today as part of its program to reduce the deer population at both parks.
This means that Fairview Avenue will be open to traffic as usual and that the parks will be open to recreation. As we’ve told you before, the West Essex Trail that skirts the eastern edge of the Hilltop is an excellent place for cross-country skiing.
The deer cull program at Eagle Rock and Hilltop resumes on Tuesday, February 16.
I hiked through Hilltop Reservation today and was dismayed to run across a severely wounded deer. It is sad that these hunters are not more professional.If you shoot a deer with an arrow it can’t be that difficult to track its foot prints in the snow and kill it humanely so there is no needles suffering.
The hunt on the Hilltop, as at Eagle Rock and South Mountain, is rifle, not bow and arrow. We have a call in to Essex County to confirm this report.
Essex County has confirmed that a wounded deer was found early on Friday morning. According to a spokesman, it was removed from the reservation before 9 a.m.