Deer week was kicked off Sunday night with a 21 gun salute to Wallace "Wally" E. Fortney, a 42 year club member who responsible for the current format of the deer hunt.  His ashes were spread around the club house and grounds.  The new deer pole will be dedicated in his memory and was appropriately filled this year with 15 bucks.

       Then the cook never showed up.  But thanks to the Luybers we secured the services of Jimmy-the-Cook for our dinners. Jimmy served up some great chow that was enjoyed by all.  All's well that ends well, so well in fact that Jimmy was given the "second verse" Thursday evening!

       The Sunday dinner was cooked by Mikey Cannon and the committee.  Great meal guys!  After dinner on the way home, the first buck was killed by Tim Bliz with his beautiful new Dodge truck!  Of course we don't know how many points were on the road kill since Timmy knocked the rack off!  Your not supposed to hurt the rack Timmy!  Oh well we won't count that one!

       The 2002 Deer Hunt started off with a good first day.  Team 2 lost the toss and drove Bordentown first.  Bill Riebe (prospective member) killed a 7 pointer and Bob (Cat Meat) Libensperger killed an 8 pointer.  Both were on stand as were Jim "Slug" Szeliga and Bill Roland who each had a miss.  The next drive produced nothing.  Then on to the Civil War piece where Mike Cannon killed a 9 point buck.  Chairman Rob Kelly also shot at the deer and missed.  Will Fiordland killed a nice 10 pointer on the next drive across the road while on stand, while wearing his father's hat for good luck.  Who says good luck charms don't work.  No one else shot on the drive.  Get in the trucks and off to Hamilton for the fifth drive of the day.  Werner Nitschmann Sr. and Jeff Kramarz each killed a 4 pointer.  Werner Sr. had a miss while on flatliner duty, but refused to disclose any details.  Ray "Half Day" Mikulewicz also had a miss and likewise refused comment.  Six bucks for the first day, let's go eat!

       Tuesday morning the Dog Hill Road drive produced one buck running to Flatliner Cat Meat.  Too bad he missed!  The next drive was in Turkey Swamp.  Lots of deer running and stander Ed Barron killed a 4 pointer.  The drivers had some shooting too. "Half Day" Ray and Jim Slug threw lead and came up empty handed.  Standers Ben Ridolfi and Jon "Sonny Boy" Scheid also missed.  The buck Jon shot at was tagged by a potty.  Perhaps you need something bigger than that 10 gauge Jon!  The next drive came up empty across the swamp looking for Ray and Jim's miss.  The fourth drive on the back of Freehold produced a buck first shot by stander Dick Green and finished off by drivers Werner Jr. and Mikey.  Good team effort!  Too bad Tom Riggs thought it was a rock or maybe he could have shot it!  Nah!  Off to the briar side and no luck there!  For the last drive it was off to the point.  Gene Stravinsky killed a 6 pointer on Wurmbrandts and Boozer killed a 5 pointer on the back corner of The Point.  Ray assisted Boozer with the coup de grace.  You can do it! (if they are laying down!)  Dinner time already?

       Wednesday morning it was off to Logan with prospects of hanging more deer.  It started to rain as we left the club and was smoking down rain as we exited the trucks in Logan.  Team 1 lined the reeds and Team 2 drove.  No bucks exited the reeds but one ran into the standers from behind.  Andy Rapos fired 3 shots and sent the buck packing the mail.  Team 2 thought they were driving deer out of the reeds and cheered.  Of course we were only starting the "Drive From HELL"!  Half way through I was relishing the thought of Team 1 driving the next section of reeds.  At about three quarters the way through, half covered in mud and only able to see the sky, I couldn't wait to get out.  Most of us teamed up with someone to get through the mess and none of us are going back!  We even forbid Team 1 from driving Carmen's bus through the next section!  With everyone soaked, muddy, sweating or freezing, the decision to quit was easy and it was back to the club without deer.  A few brave souls went out in the afternoon near the club.  Lee farm, briars, and YMH.  Werner Jr. was busy lighting a cigarette or he might have shot the big buck running 30 - 40 yards from him near the junk cars!  The rest of the drives produced does.  There's always one bad day!

        Thursday took us back to Bordentown and Team 1 drove the woods.  Will Fiordland missed a buck when his gun jammed on the second shot and Mike Deluca killed it.  Very interesting that Will neglected to clean his Benelli after hunting in the rain Wednesday.  In fact he stated that wasn't necessary!  Wouldn't you agree that the second verse seems appropriate?  (Note to Will: Use ONLY extra virgin olive oil on the Benelli!)  The next drive in from Rt. 130 produced no deer, but Bob Kelly Sr. did manage to get stuck on a log crossing the creek!  After his pal John Stutz snapped a few pictures, Bob was rescued from the log.  John owes the webmaster at least one picture for all to enjoy!  Let's try the Civil War piece again.  One buck broke the corner running toward the picnic grounds.  Down low and packing the mail!  Four shots from Tom "Tastycake" Davey and Jon "Sonny Boy" Scheid (him again?).  A little blood and a couple of drives produced zip.  Kirk took a quick swim up to his chest driving in from Rt. 130!  At least John Stutz didn't get my picture!  Team 2 sure has their problems with this drive!  The good news is Bob Kelly Sr. sucessfully negotiated the log and is willling to give lessons to Kirk on crossing a creek!  Kirk is offering swimming lessons!  Another drive across the street and started nothing.  Hey it's Thursday!  Let's get ready for dinner and court!

        The food was great and Thursday night court was attended by over 60 men and few youngsters.  Court was preceded by a great dinner with open seafood bar, prime rib and all the trimmings prepared by Jimmy.  Great food! All clients lost their case and had their shirts cut as well as their lawyers, with one exception.  Joe Punk talked the jury into cutting Bob Scraver's shirt for the "Flatliners" as he is the newest member.  Good line Joe!  Although Bill Roland missed a deer Monday morning, he was unable to attend the festivities on Thursday evening.  As a result, his sponsor, an unsuspecting Joe Demuth, was required to fill in for Bill on the podium and have his shirt cut.   Other "Shirt Tails" include Jon Scheid (3 times), Werner Nitschmann Sr., Rob Kelly (4 times), Jim Szeliga (2 times), Bill Roland, Ray Mikulewicz, Cat Meat, Ben Ridolfi, Dick Green, Mike Cannon, Andy Rapos, Will Fiordland, Tom Davey, John Luyber, Jim (Joe Rhett's son-in-law lawyer).  The card game started early and went into the early morning hours. A good time was had by all!

        Friday morning was 20 plus hunters and an early start!  Maturity?  Nah!  First drive in Hamilton Mike Cannon killed an 6 pointer and Bob Dill killed a 9 pointer.  Fred Waropay, Rob Kelly, Ed Kokocinski and Mike Restuccia all missed shots at the two bucks.  Then we drove the farm in from 130.  Team 1 cried about walking through the cornstalks!  Now I think they can push the reeds after all!  Anyway they started two bucks and Tom Davey, Rob Kelly, Tom Riggs and Jon Scheid all missed the bucks!  So after the 10 minute Team 1 push, Team 2 pushed the big woods AGAIN.  Something wrong with this picture!  Oh well, we found the two bucks and got them running down the line of drivers going right to left.  Ben Ridolfi and Rob Kelly missed them, but watch out because the Barron Boys were down the line.  Ed Barron killed the 6 pointer and Boozer Barron killed the 4 pointer!  Boozer used on shot.  "One Shot Eddie" didn't live up to his name and shot 7 times!  Ed responded, "That's OK, mines bigger!"  Back for a late lunch and a small gang went out to push Wurmbrants.  Nothing started, back to the truck.  Where's Riggs?  A quick look in the woods and Tommy was just starting the drive when everyone else was done!  Perhaps he sat in the bus too long!  Duhh!

Stay tuned to this site for a link to the images for the 2002 Deer Hunt. We are waiting for some digital pics or copies to scan.  They take some time to prepare for the web site. I will try to e-mail some pictures that may include you.

So save some vacation time for next year. The week is open to guests, however they MUST have New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs insurance, provided the Federation has success renewing the policy.  Stay tuned for more information on the insurance requirements for next year.

This copy certified correct by Bob Kelly Sr.