The Need for a New Jersey Bear Hunt, Now

 http://www.nrahuntersrights.org

By Ed Cartier

New Jersey last had a black bear hunting season in 2005. At that time, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) estimated the state’s black bear population to be 1,600 animals. During the six-day season that year, hunters harvested 298 bears, down from the 328 bears taken during the 2003 hunt. Since that last hunting season, New Jersey’s bear population has grown, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)—parent agency of the DFW—now reports that bears are present in every county in the state.

The range of New Jersey’s black bears has grown from a concentration in the northwest section of the state in the late 1990’s, predominantly in Sussex and Warren counties, to a distribution that now includes all but the state’s most densely populated urban areas. Bear populations have expanded to the point that they are encroaching upon suburban areas, and the state DEP reports having received 1,262 bear-related damage and nuisance complaints from Jan. 1 to July 20 of this year. The number of complaints has increased about 20 percent from the same time period in 2008.

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