Will the trails be closed? Plenty of people who walk Silas Condict before work, or take the dog up toward Pyramid Mountain on a Saturday, ask that in late October, once the orange hunting signs go up at the trailheads. For the 2026–27 season, the Morris County Park Commission's own paperwork gives a fairly clear answer. Neither park is set up for the kind of hunt that shuts the gates.
The trails mostly stay open. The details below cover the parts of the season that do change, which tend to sit just outside the places people check.
Two Parks, One Kind of Map
Each season the Park Commission posts hunt maps for every property in its deer management program, with a separate map for each type of hunt. The 2026–27 list includes a "Silas Condict County Park Bow Hunt Map" and a "Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Area Bow Hunt Map." Both maps are labeled for the 2026–2027 White-tailed Deer Management Program and dated 8/13/2026. Neither park has a firearm map this season. The only firearm hunt maps on the list are for Black River Facilities and Willowwood Arboretum.
On its deer management page, the commission says parks and trails close to the public on days when firearm hunting is scheduled. It also says that, "unless otherwise specified," parks and trails stay open on bow-hunting dates. A bow-only park keeps its trails open on hunt days, with hunters working in mapped areas away from the paths.
Silas Condict is a lot of ground to keep open. The park sits at 100 Kinnelon Road and covers 1,513 acres with about 10 miles of trail, according to the commission's park page. The stone Casino building there is listed as open all year. Pyramid Mountain spans the borders of Kinnelon, Montville, and Boonton Township, so it is part of the deer program for several towns at once.
The phrase "unless otherwise specified" matters. The bow-hunt days, times, and any park-specific exceptions are in the commission's 2026–27 hunt schedule. Anyone planning a regular weekday walk should check that document directly instead of going by memory or by what happened last year. The commission makes the same point: the list of parks in the program can change every year, so the schedule is worth checking every year.
What a Real Closure Day Looks Like
Under the commission's program, firearm hunts run over five to ten days between December and February, and closure dates always fall on weekdays to cause less disruption for other park visitors.
Last winter showed how that works. TAPinto reported that Cooper Gristmill, the Kay Environmental Center, Bamboo Brook, and Willowwood Arboretum were closed on Thursday, January 29, for a permit-only firearm hunt. That was one weekday at a group of sites, announced ahead of time.
That was the 2025–26 season and is no guide to this year's dates. It does show what Kinnelon's two parks are not set up for this season. Willowwood is again among the properties with a firearm map. If you plan a winter weekday trip to the arboretum, or to the Black River Facilities, look for closure dates before you drive.
The Calendar That Does Shift Around Kinnelon
Outside the county parks, state hunting seasons run on their own dates, and county rules do not apply. The state's deer management zone descriptions put this stretch of Morris County, with Route 23 at Riverdale as one boundary marker, in Zone 3. Farny State Park and Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area, both close to Kinnelon's northern and western edges, are listed as public deer-hunting land in Zone 6. Zone lines matter, and nearby parcels can sit in different zones.
The 2026–27 New Jersey hunting digest puts Zone 3 in Regulation Set Low and lists these dates:
| Season | 2026–27 dates |
|---|---|
| Fall Bow, Regulation Set Low | Oct. 3–30, 2026 |
| Permit Bow, Regulation Set Low | Oct. 31–Nov. 29, 2026 |
| Six-Day Firearm, statewide | Dec. 7–12, 2026 |
The commission builds its own park schedule inside the dates the state allows. The state dates show when deer hunting is legal somewhere nearby. They don't show when a particular county trail is affected.
Statewide, legal hunting hours run from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. Silas Condict is open from sunrise to sunset every day. The hunting window extends past the park's hours at both ends of the day, but only where hunting is permitted at all.
Sundays work differently on each kind of land. The commission says state law bars hunting in county parks on Sundays. The state allows Sunday deer hunting only in archery seasons and only on wildlife management areas and private property. Sunday deer hunting is not allowed in state parks and forests. So on a Sunday morning, Silas Condict, Pyramid Mountain, and Farny are under one set of rules, and Wildcat Ridge's management area land is under another.
Wildcat Ridge also has a separate posted restriction. The state's wildlife management area notices, last updated October 14, 2026, list a limited closure of the Splitrock Reservoir area known as "The Cliffs."
The Sign at the Trailhead, and the Path Without One
The commission posts signs in parking areas and at major trailheads that list the type of hunting scheduled and any closure dates. If you start at the Kinnelon Road entrance to Silas Condict or at a main Pyramid Mountain lot, you will see the notice.
Signs go up only on the commission's official blazed trails, and the commission itself says people who enter a park on non-designated paths may never see them. That matters in Kinnelon, where homes border county parkland in many places. The commission advises residents next to a county park to check its website or call the commission to find out whether hunting is scheduled there.
Two other program rules affect how a walk feels in a bow-hunt park. Visitors are asked to stay on trails, and hunters are required to keep enough distance from trails to avoid encounters. Hunters must also stay at least 450 feet from occupied buildings and school playgrounds while carrying a loaded firearm or nocked arrow. The commission calls this a safety zone and accounts for it on the hunt maps. For reports of hunting on unscheduled dates or inside safety zones, the commission directs people to the Morris County Sheriff's Office Patrol Division at 973.285.2900.
During the six-day firearm season, the state requires bowhunters to wear hunter orange. That rule covers hunters, not hikers, but it explains the rise in orange in the woods around Kinnelon during the second week of December.
Three November Dates on Open Trails
With both parks open on bow-hunt days, November has a few scheduled reasons to get out on Kinnelon's trails. All three are close to home.
- Saturday, November 7, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Kinnelon's borough calendar lists the Veterans Day Celebration for that morning.
- Saturday, November 7, 1 to 3 p.m.: The Park Commission's Active 50+ Hiking Series covers the Pyramid and Turkey Mountains trails, so you can go from the borough event to the hike the same day.
- Friday, November 20, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: "Hiking through History – Autumn" is a ranger-guided Pyramid Mountain hike on a weekday, during the Zone 3 permit bow season, on trails that stay open.
The commission's events calendar is updated as programs change, so check registration details and times before you go.
This post reports on hunting rules and park policies as general information. It is not legal advice. Confirm current dates and restrictions with the Morris County Park Commission or the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife before relying on them.
Much of what makes a Kinnelon property distinctive is the land next door: county parkland, trail connections, and wooded edges that change with the seasons. Questions about park access, trail connections, and wooded lot lines come up with buyers and sellers here every fall, and The Weiss Group is glad to talk them through for your street. Schedule a Free Consultation whenever it's useful.
