Jersey Len

Sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing a beautiful story. May she rest in peace. Len

North Jersey’s 2014 bear hunt culls slightly more than last year's huntIn the end, the state’s 2014 black bear hunt went as expected. By sundown on Saturday, hunters had culled 272 bears from North Jersey’s forests during the state’s six-day firearm deer and bear hunting season. The total was 21 greater than that of the 2013 hunt, falling in line with predictions from state biologists of a similar harvest this year. The hunt started quickly, with 189 kills – the largest one-day cull since the first day of the 2011 hunt. However, last Tuesday’s nor’easter helped stymie the pace to below that of 2013’s by mid-week. Ultimately, though, the six-day total surpassed the 251 black bears killed by hunters last December. On Friday and Saturday, hunters registered a total of 83 kills. Just as the number of kills was reflective of 2013, so was the ongoing discord between state policies and protestor sensibilities that has become expected since the state started the now yearly hunting season in 2010. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), through its commissioner Bob Martin, has backed the hunt as a vital component of New Jersey’s Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy. The state’s hunters obliged by purchasing more than 8,000 bear hunting permits for the season, also topping 2013’s numbers. "The state’s overall goal is to reduce the number of bears to a more manageable number, while improving public safety by reducing bear encounters with people," Martin said. As much as the state has backed the plan as a sensible population control method, groups like the Protection League of New Jersey, Bear Education And Resource Program, and League of Humane Voters of New Jersey have derided it as an unwanted trophy hunt. On Dec. 13, members from the three groups converged on the bear check-in station at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Fredon to push for more non-lethal population control solutions and protest the hunt as well as the strategy of using bait to lure and shoot bears, which they say is complicating the relationship between humans and bears. "We’re opposed to the killing of bears, but the practice of baiting is especially odious," Jay Lassiter of the League of Humane Voters of New Jersey said in a press release. "Luring a bear to a bait site damages the environment, changes the foraging habits of bears, and increases their population, and it’s a surefire way of increasing unwanted human/bear encounters." Protestors also point to the hunt’s limited impact on known aggressive bears. Of the 1,599 bears killed in New Jersey during the prior four hunts, only 69 were known nuisance bears, according to DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese. Another 274 kills were tagged for research. Prior to the hunt, North Jersey’s bear population was pegged somewhere between 2,200 to 2,500 bears in the four bear hunting zones north of Route 78 and west of Interstate 287. According to Ragonese, the state is currently working with representatives from Penn State and East Stroudsburg universities to determine a more accurate estimate as the DEP works to develop a new five-year black bear management plan for 2015. That plan could recommend ending annual hunts or altering them in terms of hunt dates, duration, and zones – among other things – he said.

Hi Guys Here are some pictures of Black Bears on my farm I took in the last few years. The first two is a Boar,3rd. same boar two years earlyer, 4th. Sow with new Cubs and 5th. Same Sow with Cubs one year later.

Great story Ray. Thanks for sharing. The Buck is pretty nice , I would take him any time. Can't eat the horns anyway. Here's to good fishing in the keys . Maybe see you there. Jan. , Feb. , Mar. We will be at Knights Key. Len

Great Buck . Thanks for the story.

Nice Buck. Some times we try too hard and don't see or get anything. The older I get, I find by taking the pressure off and relaxing a little bit, works to our advantage. Stay awake Shoot strait Len

Congratulations a nice Buck does not happen like that every day. Thats what keeps us going. Enjoy Len