New Jersey Bear Hunt Approved

NJ Department of Environmental Protection ^ | 11-15-05 | NJ DEP News Release

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On November 14, 2005, DEP Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell approved the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy for New Jersey. The document was drafted by the NJ Fish and Game Council and subsequently revised after extensive public comments and a public hearing. The policy meets the mandate and requirements established by the NJ Supreme Court in its most recent opinion on black bear management.

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The bear hunt goes forward in New Jersey December 5 through 10th.

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NJ bump

[clee1]

I can bearly tolerate this! :)

[steveo]

Where? Highway rest stops?

[ZULU]

So how are they going to do this after Corzine bans all firearms?

Maybe they will open the season to out-of-staters.

[cripplecreek]

I would hunt bare but It's just too cold this time of year.

[d-back]

Steveo, please!

We've got gorgeous hardwoods in New Jersey. I saw a huge black bear in the wilds of New Jersey while out for turkeys ten days ago. That bear had no fear of me at all. But he'd make a nice rug.

Hey NJF, I wonder if I'll see that bear in December?

[steveo]

Sorry, just joking. My brother-in-law just moved to Windsor a week or so ago. Sold his bay area house and got outta dodge. He was very happy about his new place.

[The_Republican]

Corzine is a Cuddly Bear.

[Clemenza]

Hunting call in New Jersey:

GRRRRR!

Woof!

[jjm2111]

GUNS ARE EVIL BAN THEM NOW!!!!! YOU CAN'T KILL CUDDLY BEARS!!!!!!!

[Coleus]

Looks like NJ Commissioner Bradley Campbell was persuaded by his counterpart in NY.  Denise must have knocked some sense in his thick head.  We were much better off in NJ when we only had 50 bears.   The problem is that bears do not know state line barriers and entered NY State which caused an outcry from many NY residents who lived near NJ.  It took a women with some common sense who wasn't afraid of the animal rights pagans.

 

NY wildlife chief urges Garden State to hold bear hunt

 

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey' neighbor to the north is urging it to hold a bear hunt this winter to help control the growing number of black bears that range between the Empire and Garden states.

 

Denise Sheehan, New York's environmental conservation commissioner, called for a hunt in a letter to New Jersey Environmental Commissioner Bradley Campbell.

 

"Managed, successful hunting seasons in both New York and New Jersey, coupled with educational programs and nuisance abatement protocols, are the keys to the sound management of this magnificent resource," Sheehan wrote in the July 14 letter.

 

The letter comes a month after Campbell said he would consider a hunt for this December and perhaps annually.

 

"Wildlife management is a community effort that crosses state lines," Campbell's spokeswoman, Elaine Makatura, said Wednesday.

 

Last year, Campbell blocked a hunt, resulting in a court clash with the independent state panel that sets the state's hunting seasons.

 

Under a subsequent state Supreme Court decision, Campbell and the game panel were told to develop a management plan that outlined an acceptable size for the bear population and the methods to control it.

 

Campbell is now reviewing a draft policy that proposes a hunt this year. If he approves it, the game panel will be relatively free to set annual bear hunts.

 

New York and Pennsylvania have held regulated, annual bear hunts for some time. New Jersey's last hunt was in December 2003, the first since 1970, when annual bear seasons were stopped because the animals had become scarce.

 

Hunters in New Jersey killed 328 bears in 2003.

[neverdem]

NJ bumps & pings

[Malsua]

Fantastic.

I didn't have any NBEs this year(near bear experiences, i.e. less than 10 feet), but I did have bears in my yard at least half a dozen times and on my back deck once. That's higher than my average.

It's sorta scary when I walk out to my car at 5:50AM and I creep up to the corner of the house so I don't suprise a bear that's just hanging out. Hasn't caused an NBE, but I've had them 50 feet away which is enough to make me cautious.

I don't want them all gone, I just want them thinned out.

[jjmcgo]

Wildlife MISmanagement has resulted in bears being spotted this year in every county of New Jersey.
Bears walking through the backstretch of Monmouth Park and then jumping in the Atlantic Ocean was one egregious example.
Relocating them to areas where public officials said there were never bears before was another.
Telling local officials to distribute bearproof trash containers to residents when the officials and residents wanted the bears off the suburban streets was another.
Campbell has been a disaster and his policies have affected residents of Pennsylvania and New York.
This would have been a good campaign issue for Forrester. EPA mismanagement. Campbell went to court to wrest authority for bear hunts away from fish and game officials.
Forrester should have campaigned on "listen to the experts."

[NJ Freeper]

I can bearly handle all these corny bear jokes on this thread.

Seriously, this management tool is needed. There are WAY too many bears. I don't want them all gone, but in such a densly populated state you can't have too many of them in close proximity to people.

I mean, you wouldn't reintroduce bears and wolves to central park just because they were once native to that region.

Oh, and did I mention that they're fun to hunt too?

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Oh, and did I mention that they're fun to hunt too?

Yes they are. I'll be in the woods of Morris County, ready for a deer or bear, in December. Venison or a nice rug? I'll take the rug if it wanders by. . .