Bears

[whaler1]

Anyone shot any? Passed on any? With the bear numbers at a long time high and restrictions at an all time low I'm surprised nobody has posted pics and stories yet.

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[Legacy]

I did see that someone shot one in Orleans county for the first time

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/columnist/roth/2014/11/01/big-barre-black-bear-first-orleans-county/18353327/

[Guppy35]

I passed on a smaller one during bow season, but haven't seen any since then.

[skipper19]

Many bears over in Delaware County. My daughter lives at the foot of Mount Utsayantha near Stamford. Early bear season in September, four were taken on the first day on the farm next to her. She has rabbits, and the bears smash the cages and eat the rabbits inside out...skin lays there. I'm going next year.

Cent frum my notso smart fone

[ray koziatek]

none here................

[skipper19]

Ohhhh!....look! Teddy is having a bald headed cub!

Cent frum my notso smart fone

[Iron Duke]

Had a mother and two cubs near me during archery season for about 2.5 hours... They where AWESOME to watch. . Have some great video of them too..

Mike

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[Gill-T]

Ray bear-assing it again!

[whaler1]

Had a mother and two cubs near me during archery season for about 2.5 hours... They where AWESOME to watch. . Have some great video of them too..

Mike

Great pics, she looks big. Must have been really neat.

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[Sk8man]

  Mark's accurate observation of Ray I think the father had just about as much hair on his back as Ray too...

Edited December 2, 2014 by Sk8man

[Dylan585]

A friend saw one big one down near Danville during bow season... Hasn't seen it sense

[Jersey Len]

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.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Jersey Len

[Big Water]

I found this one at my back door.

[Jersey Len]

North Jersey’s 2014 bear hunt culls slightly more than last year's hunt

In 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.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2014 by Jersey Len

[dawsonscreek]

I saw some sign this year. A few other guys that hunt my lease saw them, and one guy shot one. I didn't see any this year, nor would I shoot one if I did. I am not against the taking of bears, but personally would not want to kill one myself. I have had some cool experiences over the years with them though, including a bruin laying down 30 yards from me in archery season and just eating cob after cob of corn.

[Miss em]

Did just get my aging data back from one I shot in 2013.  My boar was 13.75 years old.  Oldest reported boar taken in 2013 was in St. Lawrence county and was 15.75 years old.  Oldest reported sow was taken in ADK1's backyard (Edinburg, Saratoga Co.) and was 20.75 years old.

[JakeyBaby]

Did just get my aging data back from one I shot in 2013. My boar was 13.75 years old. Oldest reported boar taken in 2013 was in St. Lawrence county and was 15.75 years old. Oldest reported sow was taken in ADK1's backyard (Edinburg, Saratoga Co.) and was 20.75 years old.

Wow I didn't realize that they could live that long! Pretty cool

[ray koziatek]

wow musta been big mine was 270lbs and only 3 years ,,a friend of mine shot a 675 lbr and it was 6yrs...but the fews days i hunted didnt see any poop,tracks or bears...and i agree 1 is enuf unless it geet a chanch at a monster with my bow.... I know of one taken at the base of harris hill (chemung cty)..

[Miss em]

Was 328# dressed.  Taken in Saratoga County near Edinburg.

 

[EsoxAC3]

I saw a black bear in my stand the last day of muzzle in the southern tier, Stuben County. First time I have seen one in the woods. It was probably 90-110 lbs. watched it for about 2 min then it must have winded me and bolted. I cant believe how fast they run! Very cool.

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