No NJ Bear Hunt this year...
 

And maybe no bear hunt until someone gets killed...

Monday, October 30, 2006

By TOM HESTER Jr.
ASSOCIATED PRESS



TRENTON - Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Monday rejected a bear hunt for this year and ordered state environmental officials to control bears without killing them.

Corzine had until Monday to readopt regulations authorizing a bear hunt from Dec. 4-9 in the state's northwestern region, but he declined to take action, arguing the state hasn't given enough consideration to other bear control methods.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?...ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==

Seems like King John has made his ruling and was also overheard telling Lisa Jackson (head of NJ Fish and Wildlife) that he doesn't want to hear about this issue ever again.

The Governor is welcome to stay at my home any time, maybe that will help him in his decision. Maybe he can tell us what to do about the bears in our garbage, our yard and garage if we leave it open too long. I'd like to see his face and see what he can calmly come up with for a solution, because when you are face to face with one.....no other thought than - get the gun!

I wrote to the Gov and Lisa inquiring that since the bear season was stopped by the governor, did that action infer that they now assume reponsibility for any and all human or property danage done by the bears they feel are no danger to the population. No answer.

Vote him out and he wont have to hear it again

I feel badly for the animals that have to be destroyed or worse yet get shot at for the sport of hunting. to kill animals for the joy of sport.......is really unspiritual to me, and taking nature for granted. I dont mean to offend anyone here, I understand wanting to be safe in your own home. Can't the bears be relocated every hunting season instead?

Sure just like the anti death row folks. You and those that believe like you should fund and execute programs that do not harrass hunters or folks killin critters. You should trap and keep the critters you love in your facilities etc totally funded by private donations. Same with the death row folks ya should pay for them if ya want them as pets, maybe even have them stay in your homes- even in suitable cages with guards funded by individuals that are anti death penalty. I bet there would be a whole lot fewer of ya all if that stuff happened :) and you should have to pay for the protection of and the repayment of all individuals who have been harmed by the critters you love including property damage etc. And be held criminally accountable for death and injury of those you fail to protect.

If you can do all that then sure your plan is ok ;)

Besides IMP if this stuff bothers you why are you in the outdoors forum- ya know we be supporting the other/right PETA here... People Eating Tasty Animals ;) why upset yourself? Truthfully most hunters use what they kill. It is not just a sport or for the kill for most. Like anything else there are a few idiots every where in every sport etc.

Several years ago a small child in a stroller was killed,bitten in the face,by a small bear.This occurred at Bear Mountain on a well travled trail.The child had lollipop candy on its' face.

NJ is one of the most densly populated states in the nation & given it is the 3rd smallest state,please tell me WHERE you will relocate these bears,especially since their natural habitats are disappearing at a hemorrhagic rate down there. No food in the wild??? Just hit the neighborhoods . Did you read some of the horror stories harassed people spelled out several years ago? I used to live there. Now bears have been sited DOWN THE SHORE !

I believe you're way off on this. Hunters are, in reality, natures stewards. We create laws and regulations to optimize the habitat that these animals live in. Have you ever seen a starving herd of deer waste away in agony because there are too many deer for the habitat to handle? Heck, most of the state parks and wildlife management areas wouldn't be there without hunters. Bear meat is also a very tasty treat, if cooked correctly. Most hunters don't let anything on a harvested animal go to waste. As far as animals being destroyed for the "sport of hunting," the state has taken it upon itself to destroy any bear found to be in a certain "zone" in the state. After the bears killed they are then either incinerated, or dumped in one of our state parks to rot. And in terms of relocation, there's no place to put them, the bears are so overpopulated in this state that they have sighted bears in EVERY county, including the urban ones.

There is no place to relocate the bears to. Up in northwest NJ, where I'm originaly from (Sussex County) bears have gone after people, broken into houses and garages to get at garbage, killed more than a few dogs, killed a miniature horse, killed numerous goats, and even killed a full sized hourse. Nevermind my multiple run-ins with bears while hunting (that's to be expected, being out in the woods and such). The problem is that the state refuses to use the only reliable tool in it's arsenal, which is hunting. The anti-hunter sentiment in this state is out of control. Our stupid governor shut down the state govt. in July to get a tax hike passed, and now he wants to use state money to try and find "alternative methods" to hunting. With what money? He's ignored all the scientific evidence, wildlife biologists and common sense. Just business as usual in this hell hole.

I wonder who is taking what for granted when a statement is made to relocate bears to someplace else. Someplace else has it's share of animal population problems, except for those creatures who have succumbed to habitat loss or reconstruction. Hunting is not a sport. It is a practice of predation where we take the place of those alpha predators removed long ago so folks and livestock would be safe. If every bear could be located, then they would have all been killed during the last bear hunt. That didn't happen since a bear's home range can exceed 60 square miles, only a small percentage were killed. Also it is not during hunting season when bears cause the most problems, but during the non hunting periods such as spring when young male bears are forced to seek new territory. Incase one hasn't looked, there isn't a lot of new territory left in New Jersey. You post shows the naivete' most animal rights people have, putting their feelings and emotions ahead of the welfare of animals. You could also tell our Native Americans your feelings about the unspirituality of killing for food. You want a spiritual experience? Sit from dawn to dusk in a deer or bear stand and see what God has given to us for our use and stewardship..

I"m glad to see I'm not the only one who feels like hunting is a great part of my life.

I know of a few ways that Native Americans used to use the brains to tan the hide of deer and make it into leather. There are a few companies that do this, and also sell books and materials so you can learn to do it.

Please don't misunderstand me!!!!!...........I believe we all have a right to hunt. What I meant by the word "sport" is killing an animal with no intention of using it for food or any purpose. It seems awfully wrong to just start shooting them. I realize there are no easy answers. I honor Mother Nature, she is truly majestic, beyond words, filling my heart with wonderful feelings when I look around in this fall weather. Such beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've killed very many 100's of 100's of animals, with guns, with arrows, and with traps, and I never took joy in any of it. I've always hunted and killed for food or for fur to sell and buy food, clothing, and shelter, but that being said, I can clearly see how some folks out there, lots of folks out there would never want ot see a human or animal harmed; ever, or for any reason.

Herself tells me all the time that I love foxes too much to trap them or kill them, and truly they are an delightful, enchanting, and intelligent creature, but I kill them none the less. Should a law be passed tomorrow protecting them from human harm, I would feel a loss for my lifelong practice of trapping and shooting them, but at the same time I would have to smile for the foxes.

Ancient peoples used to pray to, or for, the spirit of the animal when they had to kill it for their own survival, and I have no reason to believe that that would be such a bad habit for many modern day hunters to pick up. I seriously doubt that anyone who cannot feel empathy toward the animals they kill should be allowed to take the animals' life.

Anti hunters are not so far removed from some of us as they think.

I hunt as well, it is a rule in our family if you are not willing to eat it then you may not shoot it, the only exception is nuisssance animals, when I have to take one of those I find it very distasteful and makes for a very bad day. About the only animal I have no problem with shooting on site are yotes, they are truely natures plague on turkey,deer, rabbits,squirrels, heck pretty much everything.

read this
 

How political pressure cancelled Ontario's Spring Bear hunt:

click to read article

Reply
 

Moonwolf, what the article doesn't mention is that when the anti-hunt group made their video of orphaned cubs they couldn't find any cubs orphaned by hunting. They had to wait until a trucker in Northern Ontario hit a sow with his truck and killed her. When he got out to check for damage he found the two cubs in the ditch and put them in his sleeper and took them to a "humane" society. A while later the anti-hunters heard about it and used them for their video.
The orphaned cubs weren't pathetic enough for the video so they took them outside at night when it was still down around freezing and hosed them down with cold water to make them look pitiful.

they tried that at one of the military bases we lived on, till three boys in remote bush were killed by a bear that had been moved. once they lose there fear of man they are a time bomb ticking. don't be fooled that they are teddy bears, they have sharp teeth and bad tempers!

The NC Wildlife Commission closed bear hunting in parts of the state's national forests about 30 years ago. The private lands around these bear sanctuaries have seen a great increase in houses and residents over those 30 years. This season, some of those closed areas were opened to bear hunting because of what some consider to be to many bears.

Its a big problem with no easy solution. One partial solution is for the public to purchase as much wildlife habitat, in the remaining areas where bears are, as can be reasonably and legally obtained.

In the Town of Fallsburg, NY in the month of August, 2002 a black bear came into a very densely populated Jewish Retreat Camp. The bear went onto the porch of one cabin went to the baby carriage and grabbed a 5 month old infant out by her head. Ester Schwimmer was killed despite the heroic effort of her father and the men in the camp.

The news article can still be found in the Daily News archives dated August 22, 2002.
www.nydailynews.com/front/story/12362p-11648c.html

The best thing we can do to protect the bears and people is to instill fear into the bear population. In states that allow bear hunting, you must usually be a good hunter to fill out your bear tag.

I go to a Boy Scout summer camp not far from where this attack happened. We have had a lot of bears come into the camp. The Ranger of the camp has a NY State permit to shoot bears with non-lethal rubber buckshot. This is done to make the bears afraid of people and stay away. It hasn't worked very well so far. I had bears next to my tent and a cub climb a tree 20 feet from me. I don't have any thing in my tent that would attrack a bear. I keep all smellibles stored in my car a hundred feet away.

I wonder how the PETA anti's and our Govenor will feel when a child dies here. The bears are only a few miles away from my house now. If a bear comes into my yard when my grandchildren are outside BEAR SEASON IS OPEN!!

In NJ it is illegal to waste harvested fish or animals. No responsible hunter shoots an animal and wastes it.

I also wonder why someone with opposing views visits this site. They won't change our way of life.

God put the animals here "for man's use".

That's simple....they'll blame the person who was attacked and say they did something to provoke the bear. Or they'll say that one attack doesn't really mean anything. Typical garbage from this state. The majority of the antis are from the more urban part of NJ and they don't deal with the day-to-day encounters with bears like those in the NW section of the state do. My fiance's parents have already lost more than a dozen chickens to bears in the past year. Just our lovely state playing politics with a serious issue (remember the whole McGreevy thing?)