NJ Bear Hunt, Part 4

The 2005 bear hunt is over in NJ and the preliminary numbers are in. As of 8:30 Saturday night 297 bear had been killed, a slight drop from the 2003 numbers. The decline is understandable given the near foot of snow that fell in the northwest corner of the state on Thursday night and the drop in permits issued this time round.

2005 Black Bear Hunting Season Information

The Star Ledger reports that six protesters were arrested at Wawayanda State Park when they left the area they were permitted to protest. Those against the hunt still think you can control the bears if you control the garbage.

"Unless you take care of the garbage, you can kill half the bears in this park and the other half would still get in our garbage," said Lynda Smith of the Bear Education and Resource Group, one of two anti-hunt organizations that failed to stop the hunt with a lawsuit last month.

They contend people, particularly those who do not secure household trash that attracts bears to human habitat, are to blame. Six of the marchers were arrested after they moved beyond an area of the park where they held a permit to demonstrate.

I’ve been witness to two bear break-ins up in the Adirondacks. Both took pace in the spring when the bears were coming out of hibernation and neither had anything to do with garbage. The first bear broke a window to enter the cabin of a neighbor before rampaging through the pantry and spilling canned goods all over. There was no garbage outside or inside the cabin. The second time, I interrupted a bear that had just broken a window to enter the same cabin. When I shouted and beeped my horn (I stayed in my vehicle not wanting to be injured and not having a rifle handy) the bear took off into the woods. Several cabins nearby have had to install electric fencing around the building and/or “bear welcome mats” (sheets of plywood with 16 penny nails point up) at the doors and windows.

I also know of at least one Boy Scout who was dragged, in his sleeping bag, from the lean-to in which he was sleeping in Sussex Co. No food or garbage there either. Luckily he had sense enough (and the size) to punch the bear in the nose and then radio for help when the bear backed off.

I’ve seen, in either the Ledger or the Daily Record, quotes from the protesters saying that no one eats bear meat, this is just a trophy hunt. This is plain wrong as every hunter the press has talked to has said he will be eating the meat and/or donating it to a food bank. Yeah, it is a “trophy” hunt in that you don’t get many chances to take a bear in NJ. This is only the second hunt in 35 years and being one of the less than 8% of permitted hunters to succeed in taking a bear is pretty special.

As for the two guys who shot bears but either 1-didn’t report the kill as required even though he had a permit and 2-didn’t have a permit, here’s hoping they get the maximum penalty the law allows including loss of all hunting privileges in NJ for life.