Ice Fishing Seminar Register by November 2

Personally, I hope it's too early for ice to be forming on lakes, ponds, or even on puddles near my home, but it's not too early to join NJDEP Fish & Wildlife's R3 Fishing Program for an introductory Ice Fishing Seminar. 

This free seminar, scheduled early in November, is designed to provide an informative and welcoming environment to prepare you for ice fishing. This program is open to experienced anglers, 18 years and older, who will be introduced to the sport of ice fishing by outdoor and ice fishing enthusiast David Alexander. David is a lifelong educator, naturalist, and conservation biologist. This seminar will cover ice safety, staying warm and dry, targeting specific fish species, depth maps, ice fishing equipment, knots, bait selection, and techniques. Through lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on components, you'll leave the workshop prepared to hit safe ice - if and when New Jersey gets any this winter.

Sunday, November 16, 2025 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
at the Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery
Deadline to apply November 2, 2025.

Information & Register

Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge

The Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge is a large waterfowl habitat (7500 acres) located along a 9-mile section of the Wallkill River.

Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge was established to conserve and enhance populations of wildlife and their habitats, to protect and enhance water quality, and to provide opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreation and research. The refuge conserves the biological diversity of the Wallkill Valley by protecting and managing land, with a special emphasis on forest-dwelling and grassland birds, migrating waterfowl, wintering raptors, and endangered species. 

The North American Waterfowl Management Plan identifies the Wallkill River bottomlands as a priority focus area for waterfowl management within New Jersey.

The Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge headquarters is located at 1547 County Route 565 (Glenwood Road), Sussex, NJ 07461. The Refuge is near Sussex and Unionville. Follow Rt. 23 to Rt. 565 for 1.4 miles to the Refuge office.

The Dagmar Dale Nature Trail is located at the Headquarters, where there are also public bathrooms, which are open daily year-round. Various environmental educational programs are conducted in and around the refuge headquarters throughout the year.

Please note that dogs are only allowed on the Liberty Loop Trail, utilizing the parking lots at Oil City Road or Owens Station Road. All dogs must be controlled on a leash at all times. Service dogs are allowed on all refuge trails and facilities. 

The Refuge is located in Sussex County, New Jersey, and Orange County, New York. Congress established the refuge in 1990 to preserve and enhance lands and waters in a manner that conserves the natural diversity of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for present and future generations. The management emphasis is on Federally-listed endangered and threatened species, migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, nesting and wintering grassland birds, and forest-dwelling birds.

There are three nature trails on the refuge. Each nature trail provides an excellent wildlife viewing opportunity. In winter months, with proper snow conditions, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are allowed on these trails.

225 species of birds have been see,n including 24 raptor species. The occasional black bear & bobcat are also seen. There is a wildlife observation deck, Wood Duck Trail and hundreds of acres of upland grassland.

Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Friends of Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge

Guide to Watchable Wildlife Areas

In 2009, I posted here about the original New Jersey Wildlife Viewing Guide (shown above). Since then it has been updated. There are lots of places to see wildlife in New Jersey, and the New Jersey Wildlife Viewing Guide is a good directory to some of those places, which are great family field trips.

The guide lists 99 viewing sites for wildlife in NJ and was a joint effort of the ENSP and Defenders of Wildlife. It contains eight eco-region tours for ecology-minded tourists.

Here are two viewing areas that we suggest for watching wildlife.

One well-known place is the Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area. This long, slender peninsula goes 6.5 miles into NY Harbor and has 1665 acres. Popular as a swimming beach in summer and a fishing area year-round, it is also a major beach nesting area.

The visitors center (2 miles in from the entrance) can guide you to trails & observation areas, and warn you of nesting areas for piping plovers (at right), black skimmers, least terns and many shorebird species.

On the bay side, the Horseshoe Cove Salt Marsh is a good place to look for great blue herons, green herons and egrets. Offshore viewing from the beaches in summer may allow you a view of passing whales (hence the naming of the Spermaceti Cove Visitor Center)

From the Garden State Parkway, take exit 117 from the North or 105 from the south and follow the signs on Route 36 for 12 miles. Admission is charged during the summer season.

 

Some areas are less well-known, such as the Walkill National Wildlife Refuge. This large waterfowl habitat (7500 acres) is located along a 9-mile section of the Walkill River.

The Wallkill River NWR is located in Sussex County, New Jersey, and Orange County, New York. Congress established the refuge in 1990 to preserve and enhance lands and waters in a manner that conserves the natural diversity of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for present and future generations. The management emphasis is on Federally-listed endangered and threatened species, migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, nesting and wintering grassland birds, and forest-dwelling birds.

There are three nature trails on the refuge. Each nature trail provides an excellent wildlife viewing opportunity. In winter months, with proper snow conditions, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are allowed on these trails.

225 species of birds have been seen, including 24 raptor species. The occasional black bear & bobcat are also seen. There is a wildlife observation deck, Wood Duck Trail & hundreds of acres of upland grassland.

The Refuge is near Sussex & Unionville. Follow Rt. 23 to Rt. 565 for 1.4 miles to the Refuge office.

The NJ viewing guide is available on Amazon, along with a set of Field Guides to Wildlife, Birds, Trees & Wildflowers of New Jersey that would be useful to bring along on any trip out into nature.

Is That a Mountain Lion I See Wandering New Jersey?

I have received inquiries over the years of writing this blog about sightings in New Jersey of moose, elk, reindeer, and wolves. None of them inhabit our state. But the most common sighting of a species that, according to state wildlife officials, does not exist in NJ is the mountain lion. 

This post has been updated multiple times and remains one of the most popular and the most commented-on post on the site. 

There have been several articles online about "sightings" of a "large cat." One in Camden County, near the Winslow Hammonton border by Route 73 was reported to be a mountain lion. In Morris County, a family in Montville Township claimed to have seen a mountain lion twice in their backyard. The witness described the animal as large, tan, with a long tail and muscular build. Although he reported the sighting to the police, there's no concrete evidence to support the claim.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the state's Fish and Wildlife Division have not confirmed any mountain lion sightings. They suggest that reports are often due to mistaken identity, with bobcats or coyotes being mistaken for mountain lions. Wildlife experts believe that while it's possible for a mountain lion to wander into New Jersey from other states, it's extremely rare. The nearest known mountain lion population is hundreds of miles away, making it unlikely for them to be present in the state.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife sometimes receives evidence and investigates, and their verdict has always been that these big cats are NOT mountain lions.

New Jersey's largest cat is officially the bobcat, but these reports to animal control officers are saying this is not a bobcat but a mountain lion (AKA cougar or puma). There is a significant difference between a domestic cat, a bobcat, and a mountain lion, and they really shouldn't be confused. The evidence so far is just some grainy video and a fuzzy photograph taken with a hunter's game camera.

Bobcat - Photo: Public Domain, via commons.wikimedia.org

Bobcats live in New Jersey and are considered endangered by the NJDEP. A bobcat is a medium-sized cat, about two feet tall. Though they are larger than a house cat, they are much smaller than a mountain lion. Adult bobcat females in NJ generally weigh between 18 and 25 lbs., and adult males can weigh as much as 35 lbs.

A camera trap image of a cougar in Saguaro National Park - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Link

Although cougars somewhat resemble the domestic cat, they are much larger - about the same size as an adult human. Their size and their long, smooth tail are the obvious identifiers.

Did mountain lions ever live in our state? According to mountainlion.org, "Before European settlement, mountain lions once occurred throughout New Jersey and moved between New Jersey and neighboring states. Ideal habitat would have occurred in the forests, hills, and along the timbered streams, but mountain lions could have persisted anywhere there was ample prey. Direct persecution, conversion of wildlands to agriculture and human development, roads and highways, and other forms of habitat loss all contributed to the decline and ultimate extirpation of mountain lions in New Jersey."

In other words - No Mountain Lions in NJ. And yet, reports keep coming in. There was a report of one in Ewing Township back in 2018 that inspired the original version of this post.  Check the comments on this post below, and you'll see that since it was originally posted, regular sightings continue to come in. 

Mountain lions, which once lived in this area, are believed to have been extirpated long ago. The Eastern cougar or eastern puma (Puma concolor couguar) is the name given to the extirpated cougars that once lived in northeastern North America. They were part of the subspecies of the North American cougar that is considered gone from the east coast by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) evaluation in 2011.

We are still waiting for good video footage, physical evidence, and confirmation from NJ Fish & Wildlife. For now, the cougar's status in New Jersey is still just a notch above the existence of the Jersey Devil.

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Press Coverage in NJ of Sightings
pressofatlanticcity.com
nj.com/camden

About Reported Cougar Sightings in the East
wsj.com/articles/eastern-mountain-lions-may-be-extinct-but-locals-still-see-them
nationalgeographic.com/
blueridgeoutdoors.com/go-outside/eastern-mountain-lion-mystery/