New Jersey Black Bear Kills May Increase in October and December 2016

Summary: In New Jersey black bear kills may rise with three bow-hunt and three bow and muzzle-loaded gun days in October and six to ten-day hunts in December 2016.

a watchful black bear cub; closeup of young black bear standing with front legs grasping tree trunk: Public Domain, via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library

In New Jersey black bear kills are considered effective and necessary by government officials, who intend to expand the allowable deaths and the hunting season, despite opposition from animal and ecosystem activists.

In New Jersey black bear kills bring attention to bear country population management policies north of Interstate 80 and Route 78 and west of Route 287. It concerns the end in 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 to bans of more than 30 years against state government-regulated black bear hunting. It also derives from the expansion of the black bear hunts from one to two allowable kills and from one to two hunting seasons for 2016.

Activists and officials expect different ecosystem outcomes.

State governmental officials furnish estimates of black bear populations about 3,500 strong in the upper one-eighth of the third state constitutionally admitted to the United States. The Department of Environmental Protection gives 489 kills from six scheduled hunt days and 21 kills from four extended days, for a kill total of 510. The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife has responsibility for announcing extended schedules of Dec. 7 to 12, 2015, to Dec. 16 to 19, 2015. Bob Martin, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner, indicates as the rationale: “The harvest numbers recorded this week have fallen short of our six-day wildlife management goal.”

Additional kills purportedly juggle black bear sustainability and reduced animal and human conflicts.

Black bear populations generally keep to life cycles and natural histories within Bergen, Hunterdon, Mercer, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties in northwestern New Jersey.

The Division of Fish and Wildlife list kills of 328, 298, 592, 469, 287, 251 and 272 for 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. It mentions Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Warren counties for most kills; Bergen for one or two yearly; Hunterdon for 5 in 2014 and 9 in 2015.

Chris Christie, fifty-fifth Governor of New Jersey, notes the need to continue and expand black bear kills since “They’re coming into neighborhoods. They’re coming into homes.”

October 2016 additionally offers three bow-and-arrow and muzzle-loading gun and three bow-hunting days.

State-sanctioned bow-and-arrow and muzzle-loading gun kills prompt animal and ecosystem activists to predict a proliferation of kills in December and of maims and wounds in October.

Jeff Tittel, director of New Jersey’s Sierra Club, questions the efficacy since six consecutive hunts yield “the same number of aggressive bears and more bear-related problems.”

Ecosystem activists recognize as more effective and humane population controls anthropophobia (fear of people) therapy; anti-feeding laws; birth-controlling implants, surgery, and vaccines; and garbage management policies.  They stress the keystone obligate species roles that black bears play in dispersing seeds, in promoting plant diversity and in trimming vegetation for natural plant progression.

In New Jersey black bear kills touch the northwest’s animals, people and plants.

Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, the first day of annual black bear hunt, Kim Tinnes, wildlife service technician, takes measurements of 658.5-pound black bear at Whittingham Wildlife Management Area (WMA) bear check-in station, Fredon Township, Sussex County, northwestern New Jersey: North Jersey News @NorthJerseybrk via Twitter Jan. 4, 2016orth Jersey News @NorthJerseybrk via Twitter Jan. 4, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

watchful black bear cub: Public Domain, via U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library @ http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/natdiglib/id/8847/rec/8

Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, the first day of annual black bear hunt, Kim Tinnes, wildlife service technician, takes measurements of 658.5-pound black bear at Whittingham Wildlife Management Area (WMA)  bear check-in station, Fredon Township, Sussex County, northwestern New Jersey: North Jersey News @NorthJerseybrk via Twitter Jan. 4, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/NorthJerseybrk/status/684070711036657667

For further information:

“Bear Hunting.” New Jersey Hunting & Trapping Digest.
Available @ http://www.eregulations.com/newjersey/hunting/bear-hunting/

CBS New York. 7 December 2015. "New Jersey Bear Hunt." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3ENmV8peBA

“Know the Bear Facts: Black Bears in New Jersey.” State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish & Wildlife.
Available @ http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/bearfacts.htm

New Jersey Hunting & Trapping Associated Press. 3 January 2016. “Chris Christie, N.J. Governor and Presidential Candidate Stands His Ground on Bear Hunting.” Newsday > Region/State News.
Available @ http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/chris-christie-n-j-governor-and-presidential-candidate-stands-his-ground-on-bear-hunting-1.11287993

"New Jersey’s Black Bear Hunting Season.” State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Divison of Fish & Wildlife.
Available @ http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/bearseason_info.htm

North Jersey News @NorthJerseybrk. 4 January 2016. "Anti bear hunt activists vow fight will go on, call New Jersey's policy ineffective." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NorthJerseybrk/status/684070711036657667

Shipkowski, Bruce. 3 January 2016. “Anti Bear Hunt Activists Vow Fight Will Go on, Call NJ’s Policy Ineffective.” North Jersey > News.
Available @ http://www.northjersey.com/news/anti-bear-hunt-activists-vow-fight-will-go-on-call-nj-s-policy-ineffective-1.1484421

Shipkowski, Bruce. 3 January 2016. “New Jersey, Activists Still Arguing over Bear Hunting Issues.” The Washington Times.
Available @ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/3/state-activists-still-arguing-over-bear-hunting-is/