New Jersey Bear Hunt

“And I tested my idea, that a HK Mark 23 could go through a bears scull. It did”

“I just heard on the news that 53 bears were killed today with the largest being a female around 250 pounds.”

“I heard 53, the largest being 425... BTW I lied”

“An 800 plus pound black is frickin enormous! In Mich we see a few that break 400 and that is one big animal. Of course when I was fortunate enough to draw a tag I saw squat but a fun hunt nonetheless.

Lumberzac, I would assume that if a bear were hunted waaayyyy off of roads necessitating a long walk the hunter would cape and quarter the animal.

This gets me thinking that I may need to ask my buddy to bear hunt his land again...”

“They are saying at least 70 were taken yesterday. A wildlife official pointed out that with a foot or so of snow on the ground, these bears weren’t living on nuts and berries. These were garbage bears. It seems the snow storm helped ensure that the problem bears are shot while the others are denned up.”

“I just read about an update on the largest bear taken. It was 498 pounds.”

“...(M)orning rush-hour commuters on Route 23 in West Milford got a front-row view of the hunt, when a mortally wounded cub staggered out of the woods, lay down with his head resting on the road, and died.

"It just broke my heart, sitting there in traffic watching him die," said Kari Casper, a fourth-grade teacher from Vernon who was on her way to work in Lincoln Park.

"He was just a little guy and looked so lonely, lying there with snow on his paws," said Casper, who said she cried as she watched the bear for about 20 minutes as she sat in traffic.

West Milford police said they received at least 25 calls around 7:30 a.m. about the injured cub.

"When we got there, he was dead and there were all these cars pulled on the side of the road and people crying," police dispatcher Lorraine Steins said. "I feel like we should apologize to the bears."

Steins said a hunter showed up some time later, identified the cub as his kill and took it away. The hunter was not cited because he had the proper state permit and had tracked the wounded bear out of the woods. There is no way to control where a wounded bear will go to die.

Full Story”

“A little bit of Arkansas in New Jersey:



Car, not hunter, killed bear cub, authorities find

Husband cited in hoax

BY JUDY PEET
Star-Ledger Staff

It was a poignant footnote to New Jersey's first bear hunt in 33 years.

A cub, barely 65 pounds and mortally wounded by a hunter, lay on the snow on the side of Route 23 in West Milford, and died in front of a captive audience of rush-hour commuters on the second day of the hunt

It was heartbreaking. It was graphic. It was a rallying image for animal activists.

It wasn't true, according to state wildlife officials.

Yesterday, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced that, after a 10-day investigation carried out with the West Milford police, it has determined that the bear cub was not a victim of the hunt, but of a bizarre attempt by a Highland Lakes man to pass off roadkill as a hunting trophy.

The saga began at 5:45 a.m. Dec. 9, when Steven Meyer found a road-killed cub. He dragged it to the side of the road and posted his wife there to tell anyone who asked that he had shot the bear and would be returning for it, according to DEP spokeswoman Amy Cradic, who gave the following, revised account of the case: Meyer went home, picked up his bear hunter's permit and truck and came back for the bear. He took it home, where he shot the corpse in the chest with the proper gun and ammunition dictated by hunt regulations. He then drove the carcass to a state check station, and had the bear registered as a legitimate kill, presumably so he could have it stuffed and mounted, according to investigators.

Meyer has been issued a summons for "taking a bear by other than legal methods," Cradic said, a charge that carries a $100 penalty.

The charge capped off an investigation noteworthy for its intensity and vigor.

Investigators found Meyer by reviewing police incident reports, dispatcher calls and police cruiser video cameras and re-creating the incident.

They discovered that a West Milford police officer first reported a bear, killed by a car, at 4:58 a.m. on Dec. 9.

As rush hour approached, police began getting calls about a bleeding bear and a woman on the side of the road, said West Milford Police Chief James Dykstra. One patrol officer, on his way to a motor vehicle accident, stopped to asked if the woman needed help. She said her husband shot the bear and she was waiting for him to return and retrieve it.

She told the story to at least one officer and a road crew dispatched by the township to pick up the bear. No one thought to question her story, authorities said.

In the meantime, traffic on Route 23 slowed to its usual rush-hour crawl, giving commuters ample opportunity to watch the bloody bear and to imagine -- incorrectly it turned out -- that the cub had staggered out of the nearby woods and collapsed on the side of the road.

"There were lots of people stopping and looking," Dykstra said. "We were getting reports of this bear suffering on the road." Meyer returned at about 7:30 a.m. and picked up the bear. He took it home and later contacted wildlife officials to say he had hunted and recovered a bear late in the day and wouldn't bring it to a mandatory check station until the next day.

Field biologists, who only checked to make sure the bear was not killed with buckshot -- which is illegal -- noticed nothing unusual about Meyer's bear.

Wildlife officials said they began the investigation after the story was reported in The Star-Ledger and they heard conflicting versions about the dead bear. DEP conservation officers contacted West Milford and identified the woman because the officer who stopped to offer help had routinely videotaped her license plate.

They then tracked down Meyer, recovered the bear and did an autopsy. The state pathologist found that the bear was shot post-mortem and also found "damage and injuries consistent with an animal that had been struck by a motor vehicle," Cradic said.

Meyer, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, admitted he found the bear after it had been hit by a car and that he shot it, Cradic said. He did not say why he went through the elaborate charade.”

“It's creeps like that who give hunters a bad name.”

“Easy.


BECAUSE HE'S AN IDIOT!”

“2003 Garden State Black Bear Hunting Season Results Are In


HSUS Denounces NJ Fish & Game For Approving 2004 Bear Hunt”

“Sounds like it was an unqualified success.”

“to bad we cant shot people for being morons!

lets just kill them all and get it over with already”

“Why kill them all/stop hunt?”

“Maybe Greenpeace will climb the High Point monument.”

“UPPER FREEHOLD, New Jersey (AP) -- New Jersey's Fish and Game Council gave final approval Tuesday to plans for a 2004 bear hunt, drawing immediate opposition from the state environmental commissioner, who said he would instruct wildlife officials not to issue the hunting permits.

The council, which sets the game code and determines the dates of the hunting seasons, voted in support of a December hunt, one year after New Jersey's first bear hunt in more than three decades. The hunts are intended to decrease New Jersey's growing black bear population, estimated last year at 3,200.

New Jersey council authorizes bear hunt”

“from everything I've seen or been told about NJ, it's hard to believe that there a place for 3200 bears to live!

much less anywhere to shoot a rifle safely!”

“Are you kidding me? The bears thrive in the suburbs -- With local parks and forests to live in, they can just come down off the mountains to eat from people's trash cans, etc., etc., at night and what not.

The suburbs are like a bear paradise...”

“MD just approved a limited Bear Hunt. The approval came from The Dept of Natural Resources which is apparently composed of Hunters.”

“Besides the state hasn't approved anything yet...

While I have to admit we've seen more bears in NJ of late than ever before, and it's a bit nerve-wrecking -- and for those of you who don't agree, try telling that to someone trying to raise their 1st-grade kids in the Northwest suburbs (Morris, Passaic, Warren Counties). Just recently, Middlesex County Animal Control captured and removed a bear from North Brunswick Township, which is actually a very densely populated suburb right next to New Brunswick, a major urban center. I'm not sure where the bear was moved to, though, but I know it wasn't killed.

That being said, I don't think hunting the bears is the right answer. While it might have been if the state's population wasn't so dense, I just can't bring myself to think that it's safe to actually hunt anything in New Jersey anymore, not to mention 500-lb bears. I realize that this frustrates many hunters and people of the like around here (myself included), but fact of the matter is that even just owning or possessing a firearm of any type in NJ is more of a liability than anything else; there's just way too many people around here in too small of an area. People are going to have to learn that if they want to build their McMansions with multi-acre properties, they're going to have to deal with the local wildlife, especially bears, as the outer suburbs seem to be their optimal type of habitat.

As for the suburban wildlife spinning out of control, that's one of the costs of suburban sprawl. It seems like the only thing controlling the deer population around here is roadkill, which is actually pretty costly, considering hitting a deer at only about 35 mph will most likely total your car. But what's one to do? You can't hunt deer with firearms in a neighborhood where all your neighbors are less than 1/2 and acre away from you...”

“...but this is sort of a hot local issue around here now and I just had to vent...”

“I like hiking where bears are hunted a bit.
Hunted bears learn to fear people and stay away from them.”

“I couldn't agree with you more. But that still doesn't change the fact that hunting in New Jersey is way too much of a liability.

There's got to be another way to get the suburbanites/hikers and bears to play nice...”

“Just shoot 'em and be done with it.”

“A little thing about relocation of bears. Most of the hiking community of the Northeast understands the bear problems faced in the Marcy Dam / Lake Colden area in the Adirondack High Peaks. About once or twice a year the state will go in and remove and relocate problem bears form the area. But where do these bears go? I have family and friends that live in the town of Edinburgh in the southern Adirondack Park. About once a year (around August) they start a problem with bears getting into garbage and peoples camps. My thought is a lot of these bears are some of the ones removed from the High Peaks. How else can you explain a 500lb black bear just all of a sudden appearing in the area? They aren’t born and then grow to that size in one year. Anyways most of these bears end up being shot. My question is why is the state spending so much money on relocating problem bears and then moving them to areas where they end up causing just as much if not more problems?

End of rant”

“That's the same thing I was saying. How can it be safe to have any hunt in NJ?

But go hike in the smokies - no hunting - idiots think it's cute to feed the bears.

and then go hike on National Forest land in NC - hunting season (with dogs) in force every year.

The difference in bear behavior is astounding.

In the Smokies, the bears will stand up and check you out and then act like they don't give a chit that your there. They may even approach (looking for a handout) they'll tear through your gear if you give them the opportunity.

In the National Forest, you'll be luck to see more than the backend of the bear as it RUNS away.

Being aroun bears that get shot at now and then is good for us hiker folks.”

“People living in close contact with the beas should learn to act responsibly.

Things like special garbage containers can go a long way. Not putting garbage out till the morning of trash pickup day helps too.

Folks living in Fairbanks Alaska deal with it quite well, as do people living in Gatlinburg, TN and elsewhere in the NC Mountains.

You can't go live in those places and act like your still in urban city USA.

People move out to the "country" and then complain when the "country" shows up in their yards.”

“People living in close contact with the beas should learn to act responsibly.

I agree 100%. The real problem is when the bears start breaking into houses because they no longer fear people.”

“"People move out to the "country" and then complain when the "country" shows up in their yards" - Roam Around


Well said, Roam.”

“LZ & SS -

I believe bears are hunted in the Dacks, no?”

“Yes, but they are not hunted in the areas that have the worse problems such as Marcy Dam. Hunting is allowed in this area, but with all the hikes in the area it isn't safe. There is the fact that Marcy Dam is about 4 miles away from the closest road, which is a long ways to drag a 300+lb animal.”

“Interesting. So your hypothesizing that these bears don't know/fear hunters and are therefore not affected?

I assumed that hunting might not be a deterrent to habituated bears in the 'dacks?”

“If the bears are habituated then the hunting would be pretty easy (and very non-sporting) for a couple of years. At least thats my "guess", i'm not really a hunter, but if the bears don't have much fear of people they'd seem to be easy targets.

After a few seasons though, I bet the bears would "wise up" and hide from people more.”

“Some of my neighbors have those Rubbermaid bins to put the garbage cans in. You should see what a bear can do to one of those.”

“Roam you are correct. For hunting to be effective it is something that would take a few years time. You can't change behavior over night. The bears will need to relearn that man is something to be feared, not the bringer of food.

With that hunting is only one part of a solution to the problem. The real cause of the problem is people. We have to stop making it so easy for the bears to get at our food and garbage. We also need to be more respectful of their environment. A lot of the conflicts in suburban neighborhoods are that the bears have no other place to go. Our living space continues to grow while that of bears and other wild things shrink.”

“"Some of my neighbors have those Rubbermaid bins to put the garbage cans in. You should see what a bear can do to one of those."
fullmoon
10:55:16 AM
07/28/04
ignore this user

Bear's call those lunch boxes.”

“This is a great opportunity for NJ businessmen! Now they can take their ‘associates’ out bear hunting, shoot them in the back of the head and tell the authorities,

Rocko: I ‘tink he tripped on a stick or sump tin and ‘is gun went off. Ain’t dat right Angelino?.
Angelino: Dat’s right boss, I mean Rocko.
Officer: So you guys go bear hunting in $1,200 Italian suites and alligator shoes often?

This will be a lot better for the state’s fisheries and rivers as it will cut down on the number of bodies dumped in their rivers.”

“Mine stay in the garage until I get the shed built.”

“Look, those of you talking about McMansions and bears being there first need to see a different point of view. These 3200 bears were only 1200 bears three years ago. They were quite happy in the state forests. However as the populations of bears have grown, they are moving into populated areas. We have had problem bears removed from neighborhoods of small post-War housing developments and the local county college which has been there for fifty years. A bear in my neighborhood went after three little girls playing on a swingset. I live right behind Route 10, a major highway. So lets have a little reality check here. The bears and the deer are out of control and something needs to be done. If bears are hunted in the state forests and game lands, fewer bears will move into suburbia and urban areas. They will also fear human contact and dogs a lot more than they do right now.

I wish that they could harvest the deer and rabbits to use to feed the poor and hungry. That would be preferable to having them become roadkill and would cut down on the gardening frustration that I deal with each year.

Hunting in suburbia does present safety problems. Our kids have to stay inside for recess at times due to hunting in the woods near the school. But compromises can be worked out. Bows and arrows can be used much more safely than rifles. Many people like the archery due to the increased skill level required.

Personally I am more concerned with the toll that pollution takes on this state, rather than on the rights of wildlife to proliferate uncontrollably. These protesters should be raging about huge SUVs used for everyday driving rather than complaining about bear hunts.”

“let's just shoot them all and build a house every 10 feet.



oh sorry they are already doing that.”

“If you want to see some bears just head over my way.”

“The house building fight is pretty intense with the polititians trying to give the builders what they want without giving the voters the impression that this is what they are doing. There have been many times when we thought that a new law protecting streams or the Highlands would cut back on building, only to find that there are loopholes for the rich and powerful. So all you do is screw over the small landowners and make the rich even richer.”

“Lyndy I’t s like the farm land assessment program that they say is to help farmers keep their land, but what it does is allow developers to sit on large tracts of land and pay almost nothing in taxes until the time is right to develop it.”

“Yeah Must Hike, that is the stuff that burns me up big time. This country was settled by the small farmer, and they are being completely abused. I've seen people with a small stream running through their personal property getting clobbered by the EPA for upwards of $100,000 in expensive studies or work, and yet the builders seem to abuse any land they come in contact with or even adjacent with, with impunity.”

“What do bears consider backpacking tents to be?
















































cellophane”

“Why do polar bears like igloos?















Crunchy shell, chewy center.”

“I have a friend who was astonished that a bear actually ripped open her tent to get to food she had stashed there. No people in it, thank God. I had to pretend to have something in my eye so as not to say something smartmouthed. But this was a very intelligent person. Who can figure.”

“Bit I thought that was an Eskimo Pie.”

“You guys are making me hungry! Can't you talk about cantaloupe or something lite?”

“But I don't like cantaloupe....”