Now here is a real good indication of just how messed up some groups in the State of New Jersey are.

The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals levied four counts against Teri Daubner, a Jefferson Township woman who authorities said failed to provide proper care for her dog and caused the death of a bear cub, said Matt Stanton, NJSPCA spokesman.

 

Teri Daubner was charged with two counts of failure to provide shelter for her dog and two counts of causing the death of an animal. The first counts are criminal charges, and the second counts are civil charges filed on behalf of the animal, Stanton said.

The charges carry a term of up to six months in jail and a maximum fine of $2000.00. The charges were made after an investigation determined that the dog got out off its pen and attacked the cub.

 

Now before, I go any further lets get a few facts right out in the open, Daubners dog had a history of being aggressive and in fact it was recently disclosed that her Rottweiler had previously attacked a Husky and fatally killed the dog in front of her house, there have been rumors of other stories, hearsay on the rumors but true on the Husky attack. Daubner was fined $2000.00 after pleading guilty and authorities decided not to euthanize the dog, stating they believed the dog’s aggressive behavior could be treated with training. Daubner had an outdoor kennel and after the attack on the Husky walked the dog with a muzzle.

 

Just read this again, then again and think of this.

 

The dog attacks and kills another dog and Dauber rightfully is fined and a hefty fine, the people owning the Husky apparently did not press for Dauber to be jailed, the court did not even pass a death sentence on the dog.

 

Now enter the “poor black bear” the mammal that over the past years including this year, has attacked and killed domestic, horses, sheep, goats, dogs, ducks, chickens broke into houses, garages, attacked people and estimates are approximately (52) humans killed in the last 100 years.

 

What is alarming however; is the following:

 

·        May 2000: Glena Ann Bradley, killed and partially consumed by a (112) lb female and her (40) pound cub yearling. The attack occurred near the Goshen Prong/Little River trail junction 1.5 miles upstream from Elkmont, Great Smokey Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

·        July 2000: Mary-Beth Miller, 42, attacked and killed while on a training run in Quebec, Canada.

 

·        June 2001: Kyle Harry, 18, Attacked and killed at a rural campsite east of Yellowknife in the Northwest territories, Canada.

·        August 2001: Adelia Maestras Trujillo, 93, Bear breaks into house in New Mexico and is confronted by the elderly owner who dies during the attack.

·        August 2002: Ester Schwimmer, 5 month old infant, Bear grabs and kills (5) month old infant from stroller on the porch of home in Fallsburg, New York.

·        September 2002: Maurice Malenfant, Attacked and killed in his campsite in Gaspe’ region of Quebec.

·        September 2002: Christopher Bayduza, attacked and killed at a remote campsite in Gaspe region, Quebec.

·        April 2003: Denis Chretein, stalked, killed and partially consumed by large black bear, Waswanipi, Quebec.

·        June 2005: Merlyn Carter, 71, Found dead in the main cabin of his fishing camp located Northwest Territories, Canada.

·        August 2006: Harvey Robinson, 69, fatally mauled while picking plums, Winnipeg, Canada.

·        September 2005:  Jacqueline Perry, 30, killed in a predatory attack, Ontario, Canada, her husband seriously mauled trying to protect her.

·        April 2006: Elora Petrasek, 6 years old, Attacked and killed while mother and 2 year old brother seriously injured, Cheroke Forest, Tennessee.

·        June 2007: Samuel Evan, 11 years old, Taken from tent in American Fork Canyon, Utah and killed.

·        July 2007: Robin Kochorek, 31, killed by black bear, Panorama Mountain Resort, British Columbia.

·        May 2008: Cecile Lavoie, 70, killed by a black bear while fishing, La Sarre, Quebec.

 

Now what is important here, is that there are hunting seasons in many of these areas and the officials clearly state that the incidents would be much worse if there were no hunting. Why is this important? Because the anti-hunting/animal-rights groups attempt to turn this around in that hunting doesn’t prevent bear problems. Use simple common sense here; if black bears are attacking, mauling and killing, how could it be possible to control and reduce these incidents if the black bears are left to increase their population; IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.

These statistics clearly indicate a change in black bear behavior from shy and timid to aggressive. Sure it is the increase in human population and development of land that is adding to the black bear issues. So do we “punish” humans by subjecting them to mauling and death for population increases and land development?

 

 

Now back to Teri Daubner, she was fined accordingly for previous attack and resulting death of a domestic dog. The dog was given a chance to be rehabilitated, Daubner had an outside fenced kennel, and she walked the dog with a muzzle.

 

A black bear enters Daubners’ property, the dog as would most other domestic dogs, breaks out to defend its property as domestic dogs are in fact, territorial. It kills a “wild black bear” cub or adult doesn’t matter, the same species that has killed people, domestic pets, and livestock, broke into garages, houses infringes upon a humans right to enjoy tax paid for backyards and public parks.

 

So the great NJSPCA, Matt Stanton, now not only wants a fine but criminal charges and jail for Daubner.

 

Citizens of New Jersey, please look real hard at this non-sense, put a woman in jail because her dog killed a nuisance wild black bear and forget all of the “crimes” wild black bears have committed against humans.

 

Human Criminals that commit serious crimes are given more consideration than this. Let’s just fill up our already over crowded court calendars’ and jails with this type of crap.

 

Daubner should be paid and her dog given a medal for ridding us of one member of an overpopulated black bear that is a threat to our everyday lives, who have clearly demonstrated an “attitude change” to intrusive, aggressive, dangerous.

 

Jut recently in New Milford, a homeowner was deemed justified in shooting and killing a black bear with a shotgun, because it was shot 15 feet from his front door.

 

OK, I get it, lets fine Daubner and the dog for not properly estimating the distance between her front door and the dog kennel; sound silly? No more than Matt Stanton and the waste of time and taxpayers money he is creating under the guise of animal cruelty.

 

Any cruelty here is the “mean-spirited and cruel” behavior of this group and a spokesman like Matt Stanton. Perhaps the next time a black bear attacks, injures and/or kills we should bring him and his group up on charges with fines and jail time.

 

As we read these cases and read the rest of my blogs on this site which I have created to give the public factual information. Why? Because my daughter and 7 and 9 year old grandchildren are the victims of black bear sympathy created by these groups. So are thousands of others. We have a Governor and DEP Commissioner that are being misinformed and right or wrong politicians listen to the loudest voters.

The majority however, are not being heard because we are the “silent-majority” and these minority anti’s are organized to the point where they can give the Governor the wrong message.

 

Governor Corzine or Lisa Jackson are not hunters or may not even support hunting, but I believe they support human safety. Governor Corzine learned a very valuable lesson when his speeding vehicle crashed and by violating the states seat belt law he has brought injuries upon himself and fortunately did not cause injuries to any others. He got the message however; seat belts save lives and prevent injuries.

 

Now it is up to the silent majority to get him this message; “black bears are dangerous, they have killed and mauled humans, they are drastically infringing upon our freedoms, they are hunted in (26) other states wherein the Governors allow their wildlife biologists to perform their job responsibilities without being “handcuffed” by the political winds that throw-up potential negative voting.

 

I cannot believe that this Governor wants to be proven wrong again, by fielding the questions that will be raised from the death of a human by the New Jersey overpopulated black bear.

 

E-mail, call or write the Governor’s and DEP Commissioner Lisa Jacksons’ office : Tell them that you want our professional biologists and Fish & Wildlife “un-cuffed” so they can do what needs to be done to reduce the black bear population and with it the problems they have caused and serious dangers they pose when overpopulated. Tell them our votes count but our safety counts more.

 

Governor Corzine:

Office of The Governor

PO Box 001

Trenton, New Jersy 08625

(609) 292-6000

 

DEP Commissioners’ Office:

Lisa P. Jackson, Commissioner

401 E. State Street

7^th Floor, East Wing

P.O. Box 402

Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0402

Phone: 609-292-2885

Fax: 609-292-7695

 

Let them hear from those of us that live in Bear Country and face the threats and are waiting for the shoe to drop on the inevitable serious mauling and/or death of a human.

 

Mike D

 

"Sammy"

Don’t know why I am writing this guess I can figure out a way to work it into my Bear Blog so if you will indulge me for a spell you might just find some good here. Sammy was our American Bulldog, a stout 65 pound female brindle color. We bought her almost eight years ago when she was (8) weeks old. Although she appeared to be real healthy we found out sometime later that she had a half paralyzed tongue. Now what this means is that she could not fully lick her chops after eating or drinking and actually she had to eat and drink from one side of her mouth. Didn’t affect her much but made quite a mess of the floor after each meal and trip to the water dish. We kept these dishes in an elevated dog dish holder so it was easier for her. My wife purchased a Hoover Floor Mate and with its water cleaning system she just followed Sammy’s drool trail around the house. Loving Sammy as much as we did it was never a problem and we got to joke about it, we called her Sammy the Drool and that was that.

Sammy was never full of real energy oh, she would hop around when we came home from work or got up in the morning. When we played with her in the yard or house she would just hop off the ground with her front paws, first one then the other like a little dance, so another nick name’ Hoppy or Hopity Hop. She was as strong as an OX though, as her family members included some championship pulling American Bulls.

She once tangled with a ground hog didn’t want to kill it, we don’t think, well she didn’t but the ground hog managed to bite her lip and then came another nickname, Scarface. The ground hog lived under a shed in our backyard, Sammy never forgot that shed and each time she went into the yard she would run to that hole and peer in, the ground hog wanted no part of her so it kept out of sight.

Sammy played a game of “team-penning” with the backyard rabbits, she was never fast enough to catch them but she would go out on the deck, stare them down, then make her hop, skip and jump run at them weaving from side to side cutting them off at each turn, but never getting closer than 10 feet from them, the rabbits liked the game.

Sammy was the ultimate watch dog and intimidator, anyone coming near the house was quickly detected she would start out with a huffing sound then escalate into a bark. Someone said she looked like a “junkyard” dog, so then came another handle, nickname; JYD.

 

When we moved to Vernon on a cul-de-sac backing up to acres of land we knew this was bear country. Sammy knew too as whenever we were in the yard, Sammy was by the windows. One day while my wife was gardening she heard Sammy letting out that warning huff, she looked around and sure enough just across the street a black bear was entering a small pond about (25 yards) away. My wife had enough time to reach the house as the bear came out of the pond and destroyed two trees in our yard.

 

One day after eating Sammy was standing there with large food drools coming out of each side of her mouth, my wife snapped a picture and it looked really scary. Her son was in Iraq at the time, part of the Air Force EOD, a bomb squad that was responsible for locating and destroying IED’S, roadside bombs. So she blew up the photo of Sammy, framed it with a caption” I Eat Those That Plant IED’S. Her Son hung it in their desert barracks and all the members asked; does your mother really own that dog?

He left the photo there for the others that were assigned to that outpost. So Sammy is a kind of Mascot for our Air force troops in Iraq.  

 

We looked forward to coming home each night as Sammy would always be there to greet us, she would lean to the left or right from a laying down position then ever so slowly raise a paw, like a high-five, until we grabbed it and held it.

 

Last night Sammy left us. After a perfect physical 3 weeks ago, an undiscovered heart tumor, not the Vet’s fault, took her. Thankfully, she did not suffer. As we stood next to her, in tears she looked up and somehow she tried to comfort us, to show us she was going to be OK, and in the end as in the beginning she came through as the loyal wonderful companion she was.

 

As my wife and I drove home from the emergency hospital, we dreaded going home to that empty house. Oh God, how these animals become such a part of our lives.

 

I was once told by a very well known dog trainer; A dog is like no other pet, when you come home they are there to greet you, happy to see you, when you are tired they lay by you, when you are sick they stay by your side, when you want to play they play, when you sleep they sleep and when you need warning of danger and protection they step up to the plate.

 

There are stories abound about brave dogs, in California a few weeks ago two brave dogs jumped a black bear attacking it’s owner. The woman was being bitten about the head as the bear attacked without warning as she was walking her dogs. She stated that she was about to give up as her eye socket was crushed and bleeding badly, when the two dogs stepped in giving her  hope and the  realization that these dogs were willing to sacrifice their lives for her. She made it out of there and so did the dogs. This was her Sammy.

 

That’s it I guess, something about bears and more a tribute to Sammy and all of your Sammy’s. Guess we are hoping that there is a dog heaven and that Sammy is looking down giving us the chance to say, Thank You Sammy, for all the good and happiness you put into our lives, for protecting us, for loving us,  we love you.

 

Mike D. and Denise and the Family

 

 

I am an “omnivore” and my diet includes plants, meat, insects, bee’s wasps, yellow jackets and honey. I also like skunk cabbage, horsetail, tree bark and acorns. If I want I will dine on, small mammals, like rodents, Whitetail fawns, Elk or Moose calves, I vary my diet with salmon, suckers, crayfish and trout. For desert, apples, cherries, pears, peaches and plums will do. 

I am the “APEX” predator in North America and with the exception of Grizzly (Brown Bear) no other animal/mammal can touch me.

I prefer to “live” in forested and shrubby areas but I often like ridge tops, tidelands, burned areas, riparian areas, agricultural field’s hardwood and conifer swamps.

I usually, “hibernate” in the winter in hollowed-out dens, tree cavities’, under logs or rocks, caves, culverts and shallow depressions. Since my body temperature does not significantly drop during the winter, here’s a little secret; I never really totally sleep and remain somewhat alert and in fact active. I am some what exhausted from an active breeding summer and following food frenzy to prepare for the winter.

In the spring I come fully out of this “hibernated-state” and begin feeding all over again, feeding and getting ready for another “breeding-run” of course in New Jersey, where we have some sort of reproduction madness, competition is not like it used to be, all of those Ma Ma bears running around, 3-5 cubs to look after and still every two years, here we go again. Love it as once those female cubs reach 3-4 years old, “watch-out”.

I enjoy breeding or act thereof; in this area I guess I most resemble the Human Species’. In fact, those humans got the “rabbit-habit” and are spreading out all over my natural habitant.

Now I have a real problem here, at one time I feared the poachers, and then Fish &Wildlife stepped in to set traps and catch them. I was also worried about hunters but for the most part the Fish & Wildlife stepped in again and stopped hunting until we caught back up with a population that allowed us to remain where we wanted to be, back in the forests out of sight, out of mind.

But those humans, here in New Jersey, why they just kept it up, if you know what I mean. They reproduced more than us, and then started to move into my country, OH, many of them lived here for years, generations of them, but they had farms and large plots of property and we were less, they were less so, well, we “safely-co-existed”. Live and let live.

To make matters worst some of us bears started getting a little nosey and ventured into these new developments, at first it was scary because we knew that the human was the “APEX” when it came to us, but for some reason as we encountered them something strange happened, they moved away from us, heck they looked plain scared.

So we started to roam around a little more and on certain nights the raccoons told us you could find a good “leftover” meal in some large pail that the humans put outside. Now I would admit that this certainly wasn’t better than a good old fashioned, home grown skunk cabbage patch, bee hive or small fresh animal/mammal, but with many of us now crowded out of those food sources’, well it is better than starving.

Some of us even realized that domestic livestock, was no longer protected and that pets were an easy prey as well. So we moved in on them too.

 

In some areas it was pretty cool, why people, some tribes called, “anti-hunting/animal-right, tree huggers” even snuck us food in their backyards and all we had to do was look cute and let them snap a few pictures. We even got creative and sat on their children’s swing sets, laid in their hammocks; we used their swimming pools.

As Murphy’s’ law would have it just when we were bragging about our new found life some wise ass decided they had enough. The humans actually got mad because they had to pick-up their garbage from all over the place, so they put it in some silly looking yellow pails with large handles on top. Let me tell you, we could drag these away and irrigate them with tooth holes, but why bother? We just watched those houses with the silly yellow pails and found where they stored garbage before the “out-night”. Most put it in sheds or garages. Well, they didn’t realize that in addition to our jaws and teeth we have some “guns” in our legs, enough to rip open any shed or garage and that we did.

Others’ of us decided that domestic livestock and pets were in large supply and easier than some garbage to get. So we went heavy there as well.

Some humans decided to get in our way, maybe on purpose, maybe by accident, no matter we swiped a few, bit a few and some of our more rogue members well, they went further.

Back in 2003 we were surprised that when we encountered humans, during the month of December, we were being shot at and taken. They weren’t scared of us and their “smoke-sticks” carried powerful medicine, man we made way back to the forests a few less but actually we had more room now. In 2004, we were a little timid again but for some reason the humans were passive again, so we went back to our old ways trying to make up for those lost opportunities. I guess we went a little too far, because in December of 2005, the “smoke-sticks” were out again and again we retreated. Thankfully, those dumb humans came after us in December, in the cold and snow where many of us were already in partial hibernation.

We were a little wary in the beginning of 2006 but we soon realized that we were OK again, in 2007 we stepped it up a little more and so far in 2008 we are going bonkers. Heck; we are multiplying to numbers where nothing will stop us and any human getting in our way, we will take out. That goes for adults any age and especially kids, because unlike us two, three year young humans don’t have the smarts to cope with us. Maybe we were timid and shy once but for now our attitude is aggressive and dangerous.

One of our seniors picked out some oil soaked newspaper from the garbage, a relative of “ Smokey Bear” was he, who was able to read the news that our allies, the anti-hunting/animal-right party had somehow succeeded in convincing the “vote-minded” liberal politicians in New Jersey that we should be left alone, not to worry about us hurting anybody. That a few domestic animals, breaking into garages and houses and roughing up or worse on a few humans was no big deal. Listen to this; these groups even convinced the Governor’s office and DEP that we could just be left alone to multiply year after year and here’s the kicker; we can “safely-co-exist”. OK

  The only thing humans have to be made to do is give up:

·        freedom of their own, tax paid for, backyards and private property

·        look over your shoulder on any public parkland

·        take down bird feeders

·        give up backyard barbecues’

·        don’t cook with open windows

·        don’t leave fresh baked pies, cookies, etc in “your own” kitchen

·        take your kids to the bus stops, without peanut butter and jelly lunches

·        consider your domestic livestock and pets as expendable

·        dig up fruit and nut trees

·        pray every night that you do not get in our way 

·        learn that a wild bears’ life, is more important than human life

 

As Ray’s father the late actor Peter Boyle would say; “Holy Crap is that All”

 

Some mention was made of bringing back the hunting season and our allies countered with “sterilization”, to tell you the truth, they will never catch enough of us to sterilize and doubt if any chemical they use will work, we have a pretty strong constitution on breeding; we love it, DON’T MESS WITH THAT OR YOU MIGHT REALLY FIND SOME ANGRY BEARS.

We would go as far as saying when it comes to sterilization versus hunting, we bears “Support Hunting”. It’s a win, win for us. First you have to catch us, oh, it might be easy at first because dang-it, there are a few too many of us right now. But once we get thinned out a little and can get back to our own natural habitant, you will see how our shy and timid personality of the past takes over and makes us quite elusive.

Frankly speaking, we are tired of being relegated to the human “open-zoo” environment.

The human population triggered off this problem, developers made it worse, then the anti-hunter/animal-right, tree hugging photographers added to the problem.

All species have predators’, disease, accidents whatever this is life it will never change, Support, your wildlife biologists, Fish and Game and Black Bear hunting, it is part of life. Contact Governor Corzine and DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson let them see that the “real-majority” supports a controlled hunt.

Please Tree-Huggers no more help your lies are killing us more than the smoke sticks will.

 

Mike D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, Friday August 22, 2008 1:30 PM, my daughter who works for me received a call from her (9) year old son who along with her (7) year old daughter, my grandchildren, were being watched by their grandmother.

Mommy, there is a big bear and three cubs in the backyard, by the swing set, they are lying in the grass. Grandma is scared as they are coming near the deck.

My daughter immediately left for home while I called the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife where I received an answering machine message that if this was a black bear emergency to call the local police.

I immediately called the local police and spoke with a dispatcher who went through a scripted response; where are the bears, do you have a bird feeder and is your garbage out?

On the back deck, no and no I replied. Well the dispatcher said there is nothing we can do because they are just hanging out in your backyard, stay inside and don’t let them in.

Wow!! Another rocket scientist. I said well somebody better get there fast because there is a scared grandmother and two young children with a bear on the deck.

My daughter arrived and the bears were still there she took pictures from inside the house and as the police pulled up they left and descended into the backyard down into someone else’s’ backyard.

When everything was calm she returned to work and said, you know Dad what is really scary is that Grandma was about to take the kids outside to play on that swing set. Now I am really concerned since you really can’t even feel safe in your own backyard, in fact myself and some of the more intelligent neighbors, as there are some that think it is cute to have them wandering into your yard and garages, are afraid to even take a walk with the kids or the puppy.

We got rid of the bird feeder a long time ago; we put the garbage in the garage.

Well Daughter you are not alone as each day more and more families are finding that both anti-hunters and animal-rights groups have duped our politicians, into believing that we can just allow the bear population to continue growing without posing a danger to human life.

They have even duped some police departments, like yours where a dispatcher with absolute no real knowledge begins a lecture on how garbage causes the problems. Yes garbage is like a leaking condom, it produces babies.

Garbage, must be secured everyone now knows that, but that is no longer an answer to the dangerous black bear problem that we have in N.J. today. We have too many black bears because the political football is still being tossed about to prolong the only proven method of black bear population control; HUNTING.

When does this stop? When do the politicians back out and allow the F&G to do what they did in 2003 and 2005, hold a hunt that guess what? Really worked as black bear complaints went where? DOWN.

Any idiot can do this simple math, not enough natural habitant, more humans more bears, more problems.

Time and time again, those of us in the know sound like a broken record, (26) other states use hunting and have limited black bear problems while still maintaining an adequate number of black bears for the tree hugging thick heads.

Why do we have to wait for an already failed black bear management program to let everyone down, let them down to what? The serious injury or death to some innocent human, more than likely a child.

We have received the warning from the black bear, they are going past secured garbage and long ago discarded bird feeders to the next food source; kitchens, garages now inside our houses.

So some dispatcher makes a decision as to when the black bear is dangerous, only when they are trying to get into your house. Wrong. They are dangerous whenever you see them, whenever they are near you, they can break through any door or patio glass window quicker than a human thief. They are unpredictable and as we tighten up there food supply, garbage and birdfeeders, they will find our kitchens and garages.

This happened in Fredon last month and only disclosed last week, when a black bear attempting to enter a house for the third time, once chasing two children, was shot by the owner who was carrying a legally registered pistol, on his own property.

Just yesterday, a Vernon man going home on route 515, attempted to avoid a black bear running into the road and is now in critical condition with head injuries after hitting a utility pole. Good advice for the future, run the freakin bear over before you kill yourself or some other innocent person/person’s attempting to “save-a-bear”.

This has to end anyone reading this who values human life, your family or some other innocent family better write your congressman, senators, the Governor and DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson and ask that this non-sense, stop, because the black bear program in this state failed in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 that is (7) years of failure listening to politicians and (2) years of success 2003 and 2005, listening to our professional biologists and NJDF&W.

Need any more proof? If yes take a reality check.

 

Mike D.

 

 

Hungry Bear looking for food

 

It seemed like only years ago we were able to enjoy the freedom of owning a piece of property wherein we enjoyed such little pleasures as fruit trees and backyard barbecues. Guests conversing while watching some children running about with a puppy joining the festivities.  A variety of birds passing up the backyard feeders to steal at a piece of bread or potato chip left on the ground by some youngsters playing tag or moving about; or perhaps from some sloppy adult.

 

 

Adult conversations these days surround the economy, fuel prices, the election, and the war; serious concerns for all of us. Some gather in the backyard others drift off to the porch or garage wherever they can be out of children’s hearing.

The children somewhat shielded by age just enjoy the beauty of a day with family and friends.

Oh yes, those were the days as we heard our own parents say so many times.

 

Now lets’ fast forward to today, for a number of reasons that no longer matter, this once welcomed freedom has been infringed upon by the “overpopulated” black bear.  Why do we have an overpopulation problem? Because anti-hunters and animal-rights groups have infiltrated New Jersey and convinced vote hungry politicians that we should alter our lives to accommodate the wild black bear.

 

Let’s look at some of the changes:

 

Store garbage in bear-proof containers (they mean bear resistant as bear proof hardly exists), or store garbage in your garage.

Now this is reasonable only we need to advise the bear’s that garages are off limits and breaking into them is a crime. I guess the adults will have to stop using the garage for conversations or be willing to include the black bear in the discussions.

 

Keep food indoors or in airtight and order-free containers.

Sure either the guests can go inside each time they want to eat or sort through a variety of airtight lids and forget the appetizing order of food just close your eyes and swallow.

 

Put away picnic leftovers; clean BBQ grills.

Well don’t know of many that leave leftovers outside, clean the grill of course, and get the order of cooked food off the grill, it will never happen. Therefore, a new option should be offered, discard the grill and buy a new one for each BBQ.

 

Keep pet food inside, and bird feeders away.

OK, the pet food is easy, but climbing up trees to take in birdfeeders, don’t think so. Just imagine bird seed was the most popular and sold food for years as people enjoyed feeding these harmless birds and watching them scurry about feeder to feeder. Is there any concern for these creatures? Nah, that’s for the birds.

 

 

Remove cosmetic fragrances and other attractants.

Oh well! There goes Grandma and Aunt Millie kicked out of the BBQ for overdosing with Chantilly.

 

Pick-up any residual fruits or nuts from trees on your property.

Great, in addition to working, cleaning the house, taking care of children and figuring out how to make ends meet, we should go out each day and police residual droppings from fruit and nut trees; nuts to that.

 

Harvest gardens immediately as vegetables mature; keep vegetable gardens free of vegetable wastes.

Now this is good however, how do we convince the bears that eating vegetables before they ripen is wrong, might give them a bellyache. I don’t know about the second part never thought of a vegetables bathroom habits.

 

Locate compost piles, gardens and fruit orchards at least 50 yards or as far as possible from forest tree lines or other sources of cover for bears.

Well don’t know if the neighbors’ will like the location and if the bears will mind travelling so far from underneath decks.

 

Keep a close watch on children, and teach them what to do if they encounter a bear.

Now here is the best of all, our backyards were a place where children could play in the security of private property within earshot of the parents. Children, according to age were taught to deal with strangers, human strangers. Now we are supposed to take a small 50 pound child and somehow teach them how to deal with a wild black bear that weighs anywhere from 100 to 700 pounds and at any weight capable of catching a child and seriously mauling and killing them. On top of all this we are to explain to these tots that the bears are not dangerous, but timid and shy and they can share our space. Come-on now.

 

This is the non-sense we in New Jersey must go through because of all the issues created by misguided people that mislead innocent people, which really do enjoy wildlife, into placing this dangerous, carnivorous mammal in the same category as a deer or rabbit.

 

We will never, never be able to coexist with black bears unless they are hunted to a manageable population wherein they retreat to the remaining backwoods and return to there once shy personality.

 

It is not selfish on anyone’s part to expect to enjoy the freedom of their own backyards, to limit dangers to the lowest possible levels for themselves, family and friends. To expect our state biologists and Fish and Wildlife professionals to establish hunting regulations to control wildlife populations, especially dangerous game like the black bear.

 

 

 

Anti-hunters and animal-rights groups are constantly overstepping the boundaries when they really believe that a wild animal/mammal has more rights than a human being. These groups for the most part use politics to further a cause that in the case of the black bear puts human life in danger, they draw contributions from the rich and famous that live in the security of their castles, looking for a path to heaven through some cause, any cause.

Shame of this is that these same groups do good work on other animal issues that have merit, like “domestic” animal rights for horses, dogs, cat, etc. They are not needed in the “wild-kingdom” we have professional biologists all around the country and the endangered species laws they establish and monitor are successful, as with the New Jersey Black Bear.

 

We all need to look at this, a black bear being “culled” to a level that enables them to thrive in their own natural habitant or a child or adult being mauled or killed again, as is happening, because we put wild life before human life. What kind of sensible, caring human being would opt for the later?

 

Lastly, as for sure some anti-hunter will attempt to put “the-hunting-spin” on this issue, hunting is a legal right and heritage of this free country and in this free country one has the right to participate or not. Hunting is also a wildlife management tool, in fact, the only proven method.

Sterilization, is a failure and an anti’s smoke screen for stalling the inevitable, a hunt. Criticizing the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife and/or our professional biologists is just another flaw in the character of these groups. These professionals have had to listen to criticism not only from the anti’s but from the politicians that these groups have succeeded in influencing.

Here we have highly educated professionals that must attempt to perform the job assignments they were trained for while walking on egg shells to somehow create a balance with hostile anti-hunting and animal-rights groups.

Some of these groups are pushing to have members of there organizations take a seat on the F&G Council. Try reversing this and ask them to place a hunter on their boards; it will never happen.

 

Support the biologists and F&G that use science instead of politics and emotions to level the playing field and create the proper balance of wild game to humans.

Mike D

 

 

 

 

Many of the anti-hunting/animal-rights groups often refer to Dr. Lynn Rogers, Minnesota based so-called bearcourse/bearstudy workshop wherein people can learn to co-exist with black bears.

These courses generally run (4) days and cost approximately $1000.00 (of which $900.00 is listed as tax deductible) The fee goes to the nonprofit (501C) (3) Wildlife Research Center. The deductible $900.00 is the portion beyond actual expenses and is considered a donation to further their research and education program. The courses are coordinated by Sue Mansfield a recent graduate of Antioch University, New England where she completed her Master’s work. Mansfield has been conducting field work with Dr. Rogers since 2001.

Together Rogers and Mansfield monitor approximately (50+) bears in the study area learning the bears personalities. Many of these bears are monitored through radio-collars.

Courses are conducted at the Northwoods Research Center and surrounding forest west of Ely, Minneosta.

The course as noted; helps participants to realize the extent of the misconceptions held by the public and anyone who has not actually spent time with bears.

 

Rogers is noted as one of the world’s experts on black bear behavior and has shown that black bears can be lived with in peace. However, he cautions others severely that his techniques have taken long periods of time to learn to read animals signs.

 

Rogers further states “It took many years for me to overcome the brain-washing I grew up with about bears. Finally I began to interpret their body language and vocalizations in terms of their fears rather than my fears, and I found that I could build trusting relationships with these intelligent wild animals”

 

Whether intentionally or unintentionally the research of Lynn Rogers is serving the anti-hunters/animal-rights groups by creating the illusion that we can “get-close” to and “co-exist” with wild black bears. The buzz word here is “wild”.

Rogers and Mansfield are working with and studying black bears in an almost “open-zoo” environment.

As noted by Rogers; he built first and second story ledges where he places feed such as seeds, nuts and acorns, supplementary food to the bear’s diet. As the bears found the food, Rogers hung around and persuaded them to eat out of a large can.

 

This is simply an old “hunters” game plan. Prior to hunting season in states that allow bear baiting, the hunting outfitters will place (55) gallon drums in the forest and place rotten meat, bread, donuts and molasses inside. This will attract the bears to the area where they will then become accustomed to the feeding schedules. These “food-conditioned” bears will eventually appear as the guides drive into their areas to deposit more food. In fact, in the off-season the outfitters will place buckets of hard bacon or other meat fats, in these locations so any chance the bears get they can return to the baited areas for supplemental refills.

It is no secret that once a black bear or most wild game for that matter find a food source they eventually will become more comfortable with the surroundings. In places where people feed deer they can rattle a can, place the food next to them and have the deer come out of the nearby woods to practically eat out of their hands.

 

These study bears are conditioned by repetition and fed to accept human interaction and by no way are a reflection of the wild black bears that populate our states and for purposes of this report New Jersey.

 

There are two issues here:

 

First: The majority of humans do not want to create a condition wherein they are sharing backyards and public parks with wild black bears.

Second: In spite of Lynn Rogers’s “homey bears” the black bears that the majority of us must deal with are “wild”, “unpredictable”, “dangerous” and have exhibited a change in behavior from once shy and timid to aggressive.

 

There have been enough unprovoked black bear attacks over the past year alone that supports the “bad-news-bears”.

 

Just this month:

 

Caliente, California; a 56 year old mother was mauled by a bear while walking her dogs. Only through the sacrifice of her dogs did she somehow manage to escape though badly bitten and mauled. A nature lover with years of experience in the Sierras, the woman said she’s had countless encounters with bears, and always believed it wasn’t in their nature to attack. But her latest encounter has changed her mind for good.

 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park; an eight year old boy and his father were mauled by a black bear that pounced on the boy in a creek without provocation. No food was present the bear simply attacked the boy.

 

“This is so rare”, said Lynn Rogers, I don’t know if you would call a bear like that a demented bear, like some people, or a super bear that decides, ‘Hey, I can take a person” quite a remark from the so-called bear expert.

 

 

 

Well if Rogers would further his research to other areas in the U.S. and Canada places where black bears are “wild” and not fed and studied in the “open-zoo” he would find the answer.

Perhaps so best observed by another more practical bear expert; Stephen Herrero who recanted a Rogers like analogy Herrero had published in his 1985 book on black bears stating that “black bears were essentially benevolent”.

 

 Herrero stated under oath while giving a deposition in a black bear mauling lawsuit against Arizona in a 1996 mauling of a 16 year old girl by a relocated nuisance black bear that traveled back some 100 miles to the same location to attack and  permanently disfigure the teenager:

 

“I do think that there is more danger than I realized from food conditioned, habituated, and aggressive bears, the combination of the three. And if I were rewriting that chapter, I would emphasize that there are three ingredients, habituations, the food conditioning, and rewarding aggressive behavior over time that increased the chances of injury…I have learned since the publication of the book that there is more involvement in serious injuries by black bears than I knew of at the time that I wrote the book.”

 

Dr. Rogers has been compared some to Dr. Jane Goodall, who interestingly has been criticized by some for; “using feeding stations to attract Gombe chimpanzees” for research.

 

As for comparisons to Dian Fossey there are none as this very brave and talented woman was studying the vanishing Mountain Gorilla in dangerous, remote areas of Africa where the population, due mainly to poaching, was down to less than 200.

 

Here is the problem with today’s black bears; they are no longer shy and timid. The human population and development of land has created the need to control and maintain a specific number of black bears that can move about in their own natural habitant.

 

In essence, black bears do not need to be observed as in the Lynn Rogers open zoo environment, do not need to be fed to bring them into research areas, there is no need to reach out and touch them they should be left to the privacy of the woods and forests where they are born.

 

Bears are at the top of the food chain and in order to maintain a “healthy black bear population” and this will sound challenging to some, there must be hunting by their only real predator, man. Through, this proven wild game management tool the black bears can be controlled to a number wherein they have enough room to move about in their own natural environment.

 

In states where we have hunting and still have black bear problems this is an indication that the bear population is not consistent with available habitant. States like Pennsylvania recognize this and adjust their hunting seasons accordingly.

 

Just imagine what black bear problems we would have in our country today if not for the black bear hunting seasons of our (26) sister states that understand the need to separate politics and emotions from biologists’ input. Hundreds of thousands of black bears would be around today and with them triple the attacks, injuries, deaths and problems.

 

Lastly, sterilization and other proposed non-lethal remedies have failed and will continue to fail; this is not part of the wild game enviroement. There is no more time for the stall tactics of the anti-hunting/animal-rights groups, inexperienced politicians with personal agendas or the mislead public’s emotions. Non-lethal methods have never and will never work this has been proven in N.J. when black bear problems were down the year after each hunt and substantially increased the years after non-hunting. Wild game is taught to survive, the strong do for the most part to live and breed, others become part of our human food source and other products which is exactly why they were created. No different than domestic animals like cows, goats, chickens, etc a food source.

 

Mike D.

 

 

 

 

 

In a recent memo written by an anti-hunting/animal-rights group the following misleading out and out lies were posted:

·        The hunters and F&W create a fear factor to promote a bear hunt.

·        Hunters want the hunt to fuel their passion for killing.

·        Bears are killed by police simply for knocking over trash cans.

·        On “rare occasions” when homes or garages are entered by bears it is classified as a break-in and F&W ignores the real reason that homeowners did not “bear-proof” their property.

·        F&W set what they claim are non-lethal traps then arrive and shoot the bears.

·        F&W inflate the population statistics to enforce the necessity of a hunt.

·        F&W relocate bears to urban areas to incite fear among residents.

 

Let’s go over these points:

 

·        Hunters and F&W do not control the non-hunting public nor the newspapers that follow up with bear complaints and print the real facts as told by the victims. The public is scared as a direct result of overpopulated black bears infringing on their safety.

·        Hunters share a passion for the outdoors and recreation capped off by the legal right to hunt and cull legal wild game for food consumption either by themselves, family, friends or donation to food for the hungry.

·        Police have made every effort to use rubber buckshot to scare bears off for adverse conditioning; they shoot bears that continually demonstrate potential humans’ danger by returning to or breaking into homes and garages.

·        Black bear breaking into homes and garages is no longer a “rare-occasion” as homeowners are securing garbage by storing in shed and garages the black bear is following the scent into the homes and garages where they are now more dangerous than ever.

·        F&W rarely shoots a trapped black bear unless it was trapped exactly for demonstrating aggressive behavior or numerous break-ins.

·        F&W does not inflate statistics and in fact all statistics and reports are under inflated because the public does not report all black bear activity as they find it apparently does not impact the “political-web” that continues to ignore the dangers.

·        F&W relocates bears to urban areas to incite fear; herein lies the proof that these groups are warped people that have no common sense, no respect for human safety and no respect for themselves as they will concoct any story they can to drawn in gullible, innocent people that really have a love for animals, into misleading lies and information to support their cause. 

 

 

 

It is extremely important for the public to understand these facts, to separate the lies of anti-hunters/animal-rights groups from the truth. New Jersey is not unlike (26) other states that have thriving black bear populations. New Jersey politicians’, unlike the politicians in (26) other states however, have allowed these groups to feed lies to the public keeping this an unresolved issue.

We had a N.J. State Supreme Court review of this matter and they agreed with facts supporting a (5) year black bar management plan to include hunting as a primary tool for managing the black bear population to a level that allows for “safe” co-existence with the human population.

Then we had a change in Governors and DEP Commissioner, both with an anti-hunting philosophy that served to inflate the issue one more time resulting in the cancellation of the hunt and scrapping of the (5) year management program. Yes, after wasting several months of the N.J.State Supreme Courts’ time and taxpayer’s money N.J. politics entered the picture once again interfering in an area in which they have absolutely no experience.

The public opinion on this black bear issue has continued to lean to support of a hunt, a hunt that (26) other states, wherein politics and emotions are not allowed to figure into the equation, have been successful in controlling wild black bears to a number that allows safe co-existence with humans.

N.J. Government, to date, has not yet figured this out instead they are swayed by personal beliefs and the minority voices of radical anti-hunting/animal-rights groups that have more at stake than the actual hunting of black bears in N.J.

At stake for these groups is protecting the only battleground wherein they have succeeded in promoting their anti-hunting platform under the guise of protecting the black bear.

This is not rocket science; there is only so much land to support safe human and black bear population, we either have humans move out or reduce the number of black bears. Black bears do not pay taxes, contribute to industrial growth or create jobs and in spite of the emotional issue the anti’s have created it will not be humans that will move to make room.

Recently, at the N.J. State Fair, hundreds of domestic livestock was on display. Amazing championship cows, pigs, lambs, goats, chickens, ducks, etc. Groomed and competing for ribbons based on confirmation and looks. Just imagine that the offspring of these creatures wind up on the supermarket shelves as food. These very same farmers and the fair visitors that admire these majestic animals eat them as well. They may not do the actual killing but they do consume the food, this includes hordes of anti-hunting/animal-rights people.

A hunter has the legal right to hunt, kill, butcher and consume wild game and that same hunter is no more barbaric than those that travel to stores to purchase and consume domestic animals.

There is one main difference, wild game has a chance to escape and the hunter’s success rate clearly shows that many do, the domestic animal has no escape route..

So basically, all of us that consume meat and poultry and that is 95% of us, are not much different, nor wrong for doing so. Animals are on this earth as part of the food chain; lets’ not forget that nor criticize the method of how we obtain it.

Let’s not blame the professionals’ of our N.J. Fish and Wildlife, they do their job well and the proof is in the now healthy black bear population.

Let’s not blame the black bear for development of land and extraordinary birth rate and if a black bear could talk, they would more-than-likely love to be left alone in their natural habitant, unseen by humans with cameras and/or guns using their skills to outwit predators’.

Let’s not blame hunters’ for following the heritage of our free country pursuing the legal right to hunt and cull wild game for a healthy food source.

 

 – Mike D

 

In the past the Black Bear has only two predators to fear the Brown Bear and the hunter. However, over the past (10) years the black bear has faced a new threat; the tree-hugging human community.  

 

Anti-hunting and animal-rights groups have joined forces to use the black bear as a platform for their core existence. Although, having lost battles around the country they found a home in New Jersey where they succeeded in 2000 by successfully turning the black bear overpopulation problem into a political football. Governor Christie Whitman was the first causality as she gave into the pressure; casting aside the New Jersey Fish and Game professionals decision to hold a 2000 black bear hunt in order to reduce and balance the black bear population to a level that would allow the safe co-existence between bears and humans.

We know that in 1970 the black bear hunting seasons were eliminated as the estimated population was at one hundred (100). The cause for this decline was listed as development of land coupled with hunting.

Bear roams near a residential area in New Jersey

 

The New Jersey Fish and Game and hunters have been targeted by anti-hunting and animal rights groups and used to create a situation wherein the real problem of “black bear overpopulation” was masked by putting the emphasis on the “Fish&Game Council’s looking to protect their jobs” and “hunter’s looking to trophy hunt black bears”.

 

Nothing can be further from the truth or so irrelevant to the overpopulation problem. If not for the efforts of the NJF&G whose conservation efforts brought the black bear back from the estimated 100 to numbers between 2000 to 3000 and hunters that respected the F&G biologists decisions and participated in the non-hunting laws and regulations then we would not be having this black bear overpopulation issue today.

 

However, while the hunting community was observing the rules many tree-huggers were behind the scenes feeding and baiting bears into areas for the purpose of observing and photographing the once timid and shy black bear creating a “Zoo” atmosphere within the boundaries of their homes and land. This situation has contributed to the food conditioned bears that lead to aggressive behavior.

 

As the human population continued to increase so did the development of land to accommodate both housing and commercial building. In areas where black bears may have been fed new houses cropped up and with the increased housing a new food source; garbage. This coupled with black bear population growth is where we began to experience the change in black bear activity and behavior.

This is best explained by the testimony of a known bear expert Stephen Herrero who recanted a conclusion stated in his 1985 book to the effect that black bears were essentially benevolent. Herrero was called for a deposition involving the 1996 lawsuit against the state of Arizona wherein a captured, tagged and relocated black bear returned to it’s place of origin, nearly 100 miles, mauling and disfiguring a (16) year old girl participating in a 4H outing. The state settled for 2.5 million dollars and you can believe that the girl and her family would gladly have given that up to have stopped that life altering attack.

 

Herrero stated under oath; I do think that there is more danger than I realized from food conditioned, habituated, and aggressive bears, the combination of the three. And if I were rewriting that chapter, I would emphasize that there are three ingredients, habituations, the food conditioning, and rewarding aggressive behavior over time that increased the chances of injury… I have learned since the publication of the book that there is more involvement in serious injuries by black bears than I knew of at the time that I wrote the book. (Knochel v. State, Arizona Superior Court, Civ. No. 98-09396, Deposition of Stephen Herrero, January 6, 1999, at pp. 218-219)

 

So we know that the development of land is pushing the black bear out of their natural habitant. We also know that the population of both humans and the black bear is increasing. We know that garbage has become a food source and efforts are clearly in place as people are making every effort to secure garbage, including stronger shed and garage doors as bear have progressed beyond garbage pail and bear resistant containers.

 

We know that birds can no longer be fed, as the harmless and safe feeding of birds now attracts the black bear to our homes. Backyard barbecues’ require a people watch both during and after cooking as bears seek out the smell of food. Home baked pies and cookies now must be secured in smell proof containers less we have black bear visitors in our kitchens. Schoolyards now have watch posts and black bear drills, parents wait at bus stops protecting their children from “lunch-bag” seeking bears. Developments near forests have parents leaving car doors unlocked so children may reach the safety of a vehicle should a bear wander into the area. Small children must be kept inside along with domestic pets; livestock requires flock guards such as dogs or Llamas and all of these precautions will still do nothing to stem the growth of the black bear population or the inevitable tragedies we have already seen and are still to come.

 

All of this at a time when the economy and conditions in the US created the need for people use and enjoy the privacy of their own backyards and state and public parklands.

 

We have to face the issue now and that is there is simply no way whatsoever to allow the black bear population to continue to grow. There is only so much land to be safely shared by humans and a wild black bear and that safety zone has been surpassed. There is “absolutely” no other way to reduce the black bear population and maintain the proper balance than hunting. This is no longer about hunting, although this is a legal right of our citizens, it is about “population-control”.

 

All of the so-called bear-education bear resistant garbage cans, adverse conditioning will have no effect on the problem; “There is not enough land to support the current black bear population”. Sterilization is a proven failure and has no place in the population control equation.

 

The education we need is that “never” should politics, emotions or personal preferences of our leaders be allowed to interfere with the decisions of educated and successful professional biologists. No other state allows this to happen, both the former and current Governors of Maryland simply stated to all; we understand and respect the emotions regarding the hunting of black bears in Maryland but as recommended by the F&G the hunt will go on; and it did.

 

Our New Jersey F&G professionals calculated and brought back the black bear, now we must allow them to maintain this great mammal to a level where they can roam in their own habitant. Neither the F&G nor hunters would allow the black bear to be hunted to extinction or anywhere near it. Need proof? Look at the successful work both have done to bring the black bear to the current levels.

 

In the final analysis, do we gamble with human life for the sake of an anti-hunting/animal-rights movement? Do we allow inexperienced politicians to override trained, educated and experienced wildlife biologists? Is any family out there or any person willing to chance the life of a human being over that of a wild mammal?

 

This is just plain common sense, let the F&G professionals perform their job, let the hunters do the work and at the same time make good use of the game through consumption as a healthy food source. Let the black bear population be managed to a safe co-existing level and stay that way.

Save Human Life; Support the Hunt.

 – Mike D 

 

 

 

I have conducted research on Black Bears since 2000 when New Jersey began to experience the first signs of a fast growing bear population. I have provided factual reports, met with DEP representatives for fact gathering prior to the 2003 black bear hunt and corresponded with NJF&G, Governors, Whitman, McGreevey, acting Governor Cody and current Governor Corzine, as well as, former DEP Commissioners’ Bradely Campbell and current Commissioner Lisa Jackson.

A bear enjoys bird seed from the comfort of someone's deck

In addition, I have written OP-EDS for local newspapers and responded to over 100 letters to the editors regarding this issue.

This year, New Jersey residents are on the brink of experiencing the most dangerous black bear threat to date. New Jersey is among (27) other states that have a thriving black bear population (26) of those states allow the Fish and Game, Wildlife Biologists to determine the methods for maintaining a black bear population that allows for a “safe” co-existence with human beings.

In New Jersey, the anti-hunting and animal rights groups, of which many are not even located or living in New Jersey, have succeeded in using emotional tactics and hunting to mask the black bear overpopulation and problems and turn it into a political issue.

There isn’t much science needed however, when black bear activity has risen to the current levels and where complaints, garage and house break-in’s have reached an all time high. Domestic animals have been killed, people attacked and the right to enjoy the privacy of our own backyards, public parks and state lands infringed upon by the overpopulated black bear.

Making matters worse is the overpopulation now flowing into every county in N.J. in towns like Upper Saddle River, Paramus, South Brunswick, Trenton, Paterson to name a few.

The anti-hunting/animal-rights groups have thrown every excuse possible to the political winds; testing of bear resistant garbage cans, contraception, hunters wanting “trophy-hunts”, Fish and Game needing a black bear hunt to support their salaries, inaccurate count of the current black bear population.

Garbage control which is important, as it was years ago for overpopulated raccoons, will not solve the actual problem, overpopulation, and the remainder are simply excuses set forth as delay tactics.

New Jersey has too many black bears and not enough natural habitant to support the population. Development of woods and forest lands and increases in human population require that the black bear population be maintained to a specific number of bears per square mile as determined by geographical locations.

In addition, in counties like Sussex, Passaic, Morris and Warren and towns like Blairstown, Branchville, Stillwater, Vernon, Wantage, West Milford, Oak Ridge, Bloomingdale, Butler and Kinnelon among them, we need a hunt this year (2008).

We know that in 2003 and 2005 after each year of those hunts the complaints and sightings went down, we need this down trend again and now.

The black bear problem in N.J. is not a hunting issue;

hunting is the only safe and proven method of Wildlife Management Control and is used throughout the United States. In fact, the more liberal California is logical enough to conduct an annual black bear hunting season that extends for weeks and allows bow hunters, long-gun hunters and even pistol hunters to participate in culling (1700) black bears annually to maintain that “safe-co-existence” level of black bears.

Our neighboring states of New York and Pennsylvania have conducted black bear hunts for decades and have successfully managed to maintain a healthy black bear population. These states have both recently seen an increase in bear complaints around developed areas and they increased the hunting season lengths to further reduce the population. This strategy will allow the bears to return to their natural habitant where they have the room to move about the woods and forests.

Anti’s site this increased activity as a failure of hunting when in fact the opposite has never been more proven. If these states did not hold hunting seasons, culling approximately 4000 + black bears annually, just imagine the problems that would exist today with thousands of black bears from non-hunting and prorogation exceeding a 100,000 bears more over the last ten years alone, roaming those states and venturing into New Jersey as well.

Stay tuned as more information on this subject will appear each week

– Mike D.