Across most of New Jersey, a bowhunter can legally hunt deer on a Sunday. The state's 2026–27 hunting digest allows Sunday deer hunting during archery seasons, but only on Wildlife Management Areas and private property. Six Mile Run Reservoir Site falls in neither category. It is state park land, run by Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, and the park's own page says it plainly: "NO HUNTING PERMITTED ON SUNDAYS within lands managed by New Jersey State Parks."
That rule matters for anyone who walks, rides or bikes the 13.5 miles of marked trail off Canal Road and Route 27. The NJ State Parks page for Six Mile Run warns that hunting areas "may have trails open to the public during the hunting season." The trails don't close for deer season. They run alongside a hunting calendar with clear limits. It has one fixed day off each week, a firearm area limited to one marked section, and a requirement that hunters learn the same official trail system that hikers and riders use.
One Fixed Day, Every Week Until February 20
Bowhunting at Six Mile Run is already underway. The site sits in Deer Management Zone 14. Under the 2026–27 NJ Fish & Wildlife hunting digest, Zone 14's Permit Bow season opened October 31 and runs through December 24, picks up again December 26 through 31, and then becomes Winter Bow from January 1 to February 20, 2027.
Across those three and a half months, almost no day is off-limits by default. Christmas Day falls in a gap, and every Sunday is closed at Six Mile Run because of the State Parks rule. The bowhunting agreement that permit holders sign for this park repeats the ban in its own words: "Hunting is NOT permitted on Sundays."
So at Six Mile Run, every Sunday from now through late February is a day with no hunting on the property. The Saturday walk with the dog, the weekday ride on the Creek Trail and the Sunday morning loop all use the same trails. Only the Sunday loop happens with no permitted hunting anywhere on the land.
Bows Cover Most of the Land. Firearms Get One Marked Area.
Six Mile Run covers 3,037 acres. NJ State Parks issues permits for deer bowhunters on "over 2,000 acres" of it, roughly two-thirds of the site. The firearm program is much smaller. The park's Zone 14 hunting map restricts firearm hunting to designated areas and caps it at 15 firearm permits. Turkey hunting, in both fall and spring, is bow only.
Every hunter needs a park permit, and the map says that permit is free for all deer seasons. The park has also added a rule for the houses along its edge. Stands are prohibited "directly on Six Mile Run Reservoir property lines or in the view-shed of residents residing directly adjacent" to the site. The bowhunting agreement puts it more simply: "No stands/blinds should be visible from residential buildings."
This difference between bow and firearm hunting also explains the gun dates below. They are Zone 14 dates set by the state, and they cover far more ground than Six Mile Run. Inside the park, firearm hunting stays within the marked firearm area.
The Zone 14 Calendar From Publish Day to February
From the week of November 19, here is how the Zone 14 dates line up by day of the week, taken from the state digest.
| Dates | Days of the week | Zone 14 season |
|---|---|---|
| Now through Dec. 24 | Daily, Sundays excluded at Six Mile Run | Permit Bow |
| Nov. 21 | Saturday | Youth Firearm Day |
| Nov. 23–25 and 27 | Monday to Wednesday, plus the Friday after Thanksgiving | Permit Shotgun and Permit Muzzleloader, antlerless only |
| Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 | Monday and Tuesday | Permit Muzzleloader, either sex |
| Dec. 7–12 | Monday to Saturday | Six-Day Firearm, plus Permit Shotgun and Muzzleloader antlerless dates |
| Dec. 14–18 | Monday to Friday | Permit Shotgun, either sex |
| Dec. 14–24 and 26–31 | Daily, Sundays excluded at Six Mile Run | Permit Muzzleloader, either sex |
| Dec. 26–31 | Daily, Sundays excluded at Six Mile Run | Permit Bow resumes |
| Jan. 1–Feb. 20, 2027 | Daily, Sundays excluded at Six Mile Run | Winter Bow, Permit Shotgun and Permit Muzzleloader, either sex |
Two dates are close to publish day. Youth Firearm Day falls this Saturday, November 21, and the first Permit Shotgun and Muzzleloader days follow on the Monday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The heaviest firearm week is December 7 through 12, when the Six-Day Firearm season overlaps with the antlerless shotgun and muzzleloader dates. Thanksgiving Day itself, November 26, is not on the shotgun or muzzleloader list. Bow season stays open that day.
The Official Trail Map Matters More in Deer Season
The bowhunting agreement includes one rule that links the hunting season to the trails directly. Hunters "must become familiar with the official trail system within Six Mile Run Reservoir Site and shall not aim in the direction of any trail whenever they are located within 150 feet of the trail."
Six Mile Run also has paths that are not part of that official system. The park's standing advisory, posted May 6, 2024 and still shown on the park page, says social trails "have popped up over the years." It asks visitors to stay on marked trails and specifically to avoid the area "south of the Six Mile Run and west of the Creek Trail (Red Trail)," where no authorized trail network has been established.
During hunting season, the official trail system is the one every permitted hunter has agreed to learn. The general trail guide linked from the park page shows the four marked trails.
Parking follows the same logic. Hunters must keep vehicles on authorized roads and in designated state park lots, and they must display a permit in Hunter Only lots. Trail users have three public access points:
- 625 Canal Road, Somerset, the park's listed physical address
- Jacques Lane
- 2186 Route 27, New Brunswick, a lot shared with NJ Knights Soccer Club
Mud Season Overlaps With Winter Bow
Winter Bow runs from January 1 to February 20, which is also the stretch when freeze-thaw cycles turn farm-field soil to mud. The park asks for one thing that has nothing to do with hunting: "The soil here is easily eroded; please do not use the trails in muddy conditions." The trails are multiuse, shared by hikers, cyclists, birders and horseback riders. The Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association, a nonprofit founded in 1999, maintains them with the State Park Service, and volunteers can sign up through JORBA.
Some of that maintenance has already happened this fall. At the D&R Canal Commission's September 16, 2026 meeting, the superintendent reported that State Park Service maintenance staff had "repaired key boardwalk sections within the Six Mile Run site and the Turning Basin area," according to the Commission's minutes. Those boardwalk sections are the parts of the trail built over low, wet ground, so the repairs help most in a wet winter.
When the Season Ends, the Planning Picks Up
Winter Bow ends February 20, 2027. The same month, the D&R Canal Commission is scheduled to release a draft of its D&R Canal State Park Master Plan Update. Six Mile Run is administered by D&R Canal State Park, and the master plan is being updated for the first time since 1989. According to the Commission's project page, five public sessions ran in July, August and September. More than 170 people also submitted comments online or through QR codes posted along the 70-mile park, and a final plan is due in September 2027.
Closer to home, Franklin Township's Open Space Advisory Committee meets on the third Tuesday of every month. That puts its next meetings on December 15, January 19 and February 16, the last one four days before the final day of Winter Bow.
The land has been through larger changes before. The state bought it in the 1960s for a reservoir, shelved the reservoir in 1993, and turned the farm fields over to parks. The site is now listed on the National Register as a historic agricultural district, with 18th- and 19th-century farmhouses, Dutch-framed barns, windmills and silos along the trails. Those fields are where the 2,000-plus bowhunting acres and the 13.5 miles of trail overlap this winter, every day except Sunday.
At Joe DeVizio, our team tracks central New Jersey down to the trailhead, including which Franklin Township streets back onto Six Mile Run and how that open space figures into a home's value. If your house borders the preserve or sits a few minutes from Canal Road, call 959-Call-Joe or ask us, "What's My Home Worth?"
