Bear Hunt Should be Cancelled: NJDEP Must Cancel December Session

The NJDEP has extended the bear hunt, it will reopen between December 4th and 9^th. The firearm-only bear hunt will be held alongside the six-day firearm deer season; there is the option for the season to be extended the following week if harvest objectives are not met. The New Jersey Sierra Club believes the hunt is a poor excuse for an actual bear management plan because unless it deals with protection of habitats, garbage, and educating people in bear country, the hunt is meaningless. Additionally, it will put people and property in harm’s way.

“The NJDEP must cancel the December session bear hunt. The record low numbers of this year’s hunt show that the NJDEP must cancel the December portion of the hunt. This shows that there are fewer bears in the woods and the hunt was completely unneeded and unnecessary for controlling the population. This hunt is not sustainable, and the methodology used is flawed. We challenged their methodology when they started the hunt, and this year shows how wrong their tagging methods are. Whether there is a hunt or not, there’s no real management plan in place”, said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

If the season harvest rate of black bears is less than 20 percent at the conclusion of the last day of Segment B, the season shall be extended for four additional consecutive days. The dates of a Segment B season extension, if announced, will be Wednesday, December 13 through Saturday, December 16, 2017.

“Instead of more hunting, we need a real management plan, one that includes strong education and uses warning signs in the region, education materials at trail heads, enforcing not feeding bears, and garbage management. There needs to be warning signs in bear country with post at all trail heads with Do’s and Don’ts in bear country. We also need to teach people how to bear-proof their property, including the importance of having no garbage at night and bear proof containers. These will do a lot more in managing the bear population than having an unnecessary hunt,” said Tittel.

In 2016, the NJDEP extended the area and time period of the hunt and 636 bears were killed overall. This year’s fall hunt allowed archery for three days, followed by three days of additional muzzleloaders from October 9^th through 14^th where 243 bears were killed.

“The black bear is a symbol that we still have wild places left in the state and that we haven’t completely given over to sprawl. Instead of having a real bear management plan with non-lethal options and education, Christie keeps expanding on his failed plan. The bear population has been so depleted that there aren’t many left to hunt. We may go back to the days where there’s only 50 bears left in the state. This is merely a trophy hunt without any real management. The New Jersey Sierra Club agrees with Phil Murphy and his plan to put a moratorium on the hunt. Until we can come up with a real management plan, this expanded hunt is too dangerous. We may not have any bears left in New Jersey if we keep killing them without real management,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.