THE NEW JERSEY bear hunt was anticipated to be protested and reviled. It was framed by anti-hunting teams as a massacre ready to occur and the worst sort of trophy hunt. But when it was lastly underway, the New Jersey bear season, which is the primary the state has hosted since 2020, turned out to be a quiet little hunt by which just a few thousand licensed hunters killed 93 black bears in an space that’s recognized to have one of many densest bear populations in America.
So far, 6,268 bear permits have been issued. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection estimates there are greater than 3,000 black bears within the state, of which 184 have been captured, tagged, and launched by wildlife officers. The DEP hopes hunters harvest 20 % of those tagged bruins. The harvest fee is presently simply 6 %, nonetheless, and the state reopens bear searching Wednesday to present bear hunters one other 4 days to tag a bruin. New Jersey hunters can’t use hounds to chase bears they usually can’t hunt over bait. Most hunters look ahead to bears from tree stands or blinds, still-hunt via the woods, or run small bear drives within the timber.
Even although the hunt was initially delayed due to a lawsuit filed by anti-hunting teams, the protests at examine stations and common outrage seen in earlier bear seasons have been principally absent this yr.
“It seems like most of the battle was in the court,” says Adam Paladini, the New Jersey Backcountry Hunters and Anglers chapter chair. “Maybe the anti-hunting groups weren’t able to mobilize. Or maybe the impartial public has just gotten used to the idea of the bear hunt by now.”
Paladini lives in northwest New Jersey, the core space for the state’s bears and bear searching. The area is a mixture of wooded neighborhoods, subdivisions, farmland, and forested foothills. It’s lower than 50 miles from New York City. The residents right here dwell alongside a thriving bear inhabitants.
Paladini has had his shed doorways ripped open by a bruin in the hunt for rubbish. He and his neighbors are always capturing bears on their residence safety cameras. The New Jersey Fish and Game Council mentioned in November that residents had been in “imminent peril,” they usually reported a 237 % enhance in bear complaints over the past yr.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who’s answerable for ending bear searching within the state, modified his place and endorsed the 2022 season, framing it as a difficulty of public security.
“From the data we have analyzed to the stories we have heard from families across the state, it is clear that New Jersey’s black bear population is growing significantly, and nonlethal bear management strategies alone are not enough to mitigate this trend,” Murphy mentioned in an announcement. “Every New Jerseyan deserves to live in communities in which their children, families, and property are protected from harm, and while I committed to ending the bear hunt, the data demands that we act now to prevent tragic bear-human interactions.”
True black bear assaults on this area are extraordinarily uncommon, however they aren’t unparalleled. In 2014 a Rutgers University scholar mountain climbing within the northern a part of the state was killed by a bear. In October, a 10-year-old boy was mauled by a black bear in Connecticut whereas enjoying in his grandparents’ yard.
“We were very happily surprised when the governor changed his mind,” says Wade Stein, the president of New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, which represents 150,000 members.
Stein and Paladini are each wanting ahead to a listening to set for Jan. 18 by which the general public will be capable of touch upon a proposed 2023 bear hunt. They’re hoping that hunters present up and that this once-controversial hunt turns into not so controversial in any case.
Natalie Krebs contributed reporting. Read extra OL+ tales.