Politics & Government
Final Bear Tally Comes in at 589
Hunt slowed considerably as week went on, sources say.
A total of 589 bears have been harvested New Jersey's first bear hunt in 5 years, according to data released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The hunt has slowed considerably over the period from Monday to Saturday—with 264 bears harvested on Monday, and 77 on Saturday. There were four officially designated bear hunt zones, all north of Route 78 and west of Route 287.
Black Bear Harvest by Bear Hunting Area
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Area 1 included portions of Warren and Sussex counties; Area 2 included portions of Sussex, Warren and Morris counties; Area 3 included portions of Sussex, Passaic, Morris and Bergen counties; and Area 4 included portions of Sussex, Warren, Morris, Somerset and Hunterdon counties.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife issued 6,680 permits for the week-long hunt, the state DEP said. The hunt was designed to reduce an overpopulation of black bears in the northwestern part of New Jersey, which had experienced a rising number of public complaints due to bear-human encounters.
Find out what's happening in Morris Township-Morris Plainswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
However, on the last day of the hunt, more than 100 protestors gathered at the Newton weigh station, according to dailyrecord.com.
Most New Jersey residents approve of the upcoming bear hunt—at least if wildlife experts say the state has a bear population problem—according to the latest Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll. .
A properly licensed hunter who harvested a black bear was required by the DEP to take it to a designated check station by 7 p.m. on the day of the kill. The check stations were:
Morris County:
Black River Wildlife Management Area, 275 North Road, Chester (Open only Monday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 11)
Sussex County:
Former Forest Maintenance Building, 20 Rt. 23 North, Franklin
Flatbrook-Roy Wildlife Management Area, Route 615, Layton (Sandyston Township)
Whittingham Wildlife Management Area, 148 Fredon-Springdale Road, Newton (Fredon Township)
Warren County
Pequest Wildlife Management Area, 605 Pequest Road (main entrance on Rt. 46), Oxford
Bear Harvest by Check-in Station:
Flatbrook Whittingham Franklin Pequest Black River Total 12/6 65 59 92 30 18 264 12/7 22 28 46 26 Closed 122 12/8 17 13 18 7 Closed 55 12/9 8 6 20 2 Closed 36 12/10 11 5 14 5 Closed 35 12/11 17 11 33 15 1 77 Totals 140 122 223 85 19 589Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
