Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 23:4-43

  • Code: means the State Fish and Game Code. See New Jersey Statutes 23:1-1
  • Conservation police officer: means any sworn, salaried member of the Bureau of Law Enforcement in the division holding the titles of Conservation Police Officer I, II, or III, and includes the titles of Supervising Conservation Police Officer and Chief of the Bureau of Law Enforcement. See New Jersey Statutes 23:1-1
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Hunting: means the possession of an instrument used to take wildlife in a condition that makes the instrument readily usable, while in a place or in proximity thereto where wildlife may be found. See New Jersey Statutes 23:1-1
  • Open season: means the date and time of year when wildlife may be captured, taken, killed, or had in possession. See New Jersey Statutes 23:1-1
  • person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
  • State: extends to and includes any State, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Canal Zone. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
23:4-43. Except as provided by this section, no person shall have in possession in this State any wild deer other than during the open season for hunting deer as established in the State Fish and Game Code and such deer in possession must have been killed in the manner prescribed by the State Fish and Game Code for that particular open season. A legally killed deer and parts of a legally killed deer may be possessed until June 1 immediately following the season in which it was killed, provided the deer was properly registered and bears the possession tag affixed at the deer checking station, and any parts that have been separated from legally killed deer are clearly marked as prescribed in R.S. 23:4-47 A person desiring to retain a legally killed deer or parts thereof after June 1 may do so by contacting the nearest conservation police officer, who may authorize such retention in a manner prescribed by the division. No person shall have in possession any deer of any description, except as provided in the State Fish and Game Code or as provided in this section.

Except as herein provided, the having in possession of any wild deer or parts thereof during the time and periods prohibited in the State Fish and Game Code, or the having in possession of any deer of any description, except during such time and periods and of such description as permitted by the State Fish and Game Code, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts that such wild deer is in possession unlawfully.

This article shall not apply to a deer killed on game preserves, the owners or lessees of which are licensed by the division, or to deer coming from another state, which is properly tagged, showing where the same was killed, or to the disposal, by State or municipal police officers, or by personnel authorized thereby, of deer found dead on or along any public highway or on any private property, upon request of the owner thereof, provided that any such disposal is undertaken in conformance with procedures prescribed by the division.

amended 1947, c.239, s.2; 1948, c.448, s.58; 1957, c.193, s.2; 1971, c.251, s.1; 1979, c.304, s.1; 2019, c.407, s.12.