Sunday Is the Day Without Bow Hunters on Harding's Preserves, While the Great Swamp Draws Its Line by Trail

In Harding Township, Sunday is the one day of the week when no bow hunter can legally be on township-owned land. The Harding Land Trust uses the same Monday-through-Saturday schedule on its own hunted properties. A mile or two away, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge sets its hunting limits by trail. The Great Swamp Watershed Association's woods off Tiger Lily Lane go by the hour once shotgun season starts. All of these rules overlap around New Vernon, and from now through February, each walk depends on whose land you're on.

The season is already running. The refuge's fall bow deer season opened September 12 and runs through October 30, 2026. A permit bow season follows from October 31 to December 24, then picks up again December 26 through December 31.

Harding's preserves follow the day of the week

Harding Township's hunting policy is short. Bow hunting is the only kind allowed on municipal property, firearm hunting is not authorized, and "Sunday bow hunting for deer is not legal on township owned property." Hunters need a township registration, a New Jersey license, a Harding bow permit and proof of liability insurance. They also have to stay at least 50 feet from walking trails and recreational facilities and 300 feet from any building, driveway or road. That policy has been in effect since 2022, and the township keeps the right to change permitted dates and properties.

The Harding Land Trust posts a matching schedule for its own land. Bow hunting for deer only may be happening at these five properties, Monday through Saturday, from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset:

• Koven
• Frelinghuysen Fields
• Frelinghuysen Marsh
• Waterman Meadow
• The Gatehouse

The Land Trust's notice prints the season as September 12, 2026, through "February 20, 2026." That end date falls before the start date and looks like a typo, so the trust and its posted signs are the better guide to when the season ends.

Primrose Farm has its own, shorter window. The trust lists a limited hunting period there starting Monday, October 12, and ending Saturday, November 21. The notice doesn't list days of the week or daily hours for Primrose, only that six-week window.

So on these properties the hunting season follows the calendar more than the map. A Saturday walk at Frelinghuysen Fields shares the woods with permitted archers, and the same walk on Sunday does not.

The Great Swamp refuge draws its line by trail

The federal refuge works differently. Its 2026-2027 notice says that "hiking trails remain open in areas that are open to hunting." It then divides the refuge into two groups.

Shared by hunters and non-hunters:

• White Oak Trail
• Wilderness Area trails
• Pleasant Plains Road
• Bluebird Parking Lot
• Wildlife Observation Center

Non-hunters only:

• Visitor Center lawn
• Bockoven Trail
• Nature Detective Trail

The shared group includes the refuge's biggest spaces. The Wilderness Area covers the eastern half of the refuge and has about 8½ miles of foot trails. It was the first Wilderness Area designated on Department of the Interior lands, in 1968. The Wildlife Observation Center at 220 Long Hill Road has about 1½ miles of boardwalks and trails, wildlife blinds and restrooms. A refuge map published by the Friends of Great Swamp places it in Harding Township. For many New Vernon households, the closest boardwalk in the swamp is also a hunting area this fall.

The hunter-free choices are smaller and all sit at the Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center, 32 Pleasant Plains Road in Basking Ridge. The half-mile Bockoven Trail leads to views of a vernal pool and the Passaic River. The Nature Detective Trail is a short, self-guided woodland loop built for children. The visitor center is open Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For the shared areas, the refuge advises walkers to stay on designated trails and wear blaze orange. Its guidance is at least 200 square inches of fluorescent orange across head, chest and back combined, or a fluorescent orange hat, visible from every direction. The refuge notice doesn't say whether Sundays are different there, so Harding's Sunday rule shouldn't be assumed to cover federal land.

GSWA's woods go by the hour in shotgun season

The Great Swamp Watershed Association's Conservation Management Area is a wooded 73-acre preserve in Harding Township. It has 3.5 miles of boardwalk and mulched trails. Both trailheads are on Tiger Lily Lane, one at the end of the cul-de-sac and one about halfway down, joined by the Yellow Trail. Leashed dogs are welcome, and trails are open dawn to dusk except as noted during hunting season.

GSWA allows herd reduction by hunting with written permission. From mid-September to late February, trails stay open but bow hunting may be going on, and the association asks visitors to "proceed with caution." From late November to mid-February, shotgun season changes things. Trails close Monday through Friday from dusk to noon, which leaves weekday afternoons open. The trails are typically closed for the whole first week of December during firearms season. GSWA's page links to an older annual hunting sign for exact dates, so the notices posted at the trailhead are the best guide for this season.

Morris County Park Commission land runs on a broader rule. Parks and trails close to the public on scheduled firearm-hunt dates, which fall on weekdays, and normally stay open on bow-hunt dates. Signs at each park give the local dates.

The nearby woods where nobody hunts

The 2026 Superintendent's Compendium for Morristown National Historical Park prohibits hunting and trapping in the park, which includes Jockey Hollow. Of all the places in this post, it is the only one where the fall season doesn't change the rules for walkers.

How the three schedules line up between now and December

Put on one calendar, the season looks like this:

1. Friday, October 9. Friends of Great Swamp begins a run of Friday walks that meet at the Visitor Center and use Pleasant Plains Road. More follow on October 16, 23 and 30, and November 6. Pleasant Plains Road is on the refuge's shared list.
2. Saturday, October 10. The 23rd annual Lenape Day runs noon to 4 p.m. at the county's Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center, 247 Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township, with Ramapough Lenape cultural activities. Parking is at 240 Southern Boulevard, with shuttle service.
3. Sunday, October 11. Friends hosts "Backyard Bears" at the Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center, in person or on Zoom. Registration is required.
4. Monday, October 12. The limited hunt at Primrose Farm begins.
5. Saturday, October 17. A Friends fungi walk runs 1:30 to 3 p.m. on White Oak Trail, one of the refuge trails open to hunters during the bow season.
6. Tuesday, October 27. GSWA's Hunter's Moon Hike covers an easy 2 to 3 miles of boardwalk and flat trail at the Tiger Lily Lane preserve, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
7. Saturday, October 31. The refuge's fall bow season ends the day before, and its permit bow season starts.
8. Saturday, November 14. GSWA's Community Cleanup Day runs 10 a.m. to noon at the same preserve. Planned tasks include trail work and hauling out old boardwalk lumber.
9. Thursday, November 19. GSWA's breakfast briefing on preparing for climate-related events runs 8 to 9:30 a.m. in Kemmerer Library's Meadow Room, 19 Blue Mill Road. Speakers include former New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson.
10. Saturday, November 21. The Primrose Farm hunt ends, and the refuge holds its youth firearm day.
11. December 7 through 12. The refuge's six-day firearm deer season runs. GSWA usually closes its trails for the first full week of December.

October and November are also the months the refuge was set up for. The Fish and Wildlife Service describes fall as migratory-bird season, when waterfowl stop to rest and feed. The species it names include black ducks, teal, American wigeon, pintail, gadwall, shoveler and bufflehead. The Overlook Parking Area on Pleasant Plains Road has two viewing scopes for birders. A late-October morning at the Wildlife Observation Center blinds falls in the refuge's best birding stretch and its archery season at once. Bring an orange hat.

Harding's land-use rules shape more than fall weekends. They also show up in how properties here are valued, marketed and bought. Ryan Dawson follows those details across New Vernon and Morris County. If you'd like to talk through how the township's open space and preserve rules affect a home you own or are considering, schedule a free consultation.