The first and most important bit of “factual” information any New Jersey resident needs to know is;

 

 “THERE ARE MORE BLACK BEARS THAN THE STATE’S HUMAN POPULATION CAN BEAR.”

 

The second most important bit of “factual” information is that some Animal-Right and Anti-Hunting groups have preyed upon New Jersey politicians by providing them with false and misleading information regarding hunting black bears. They have shifted the focus to politics and created the illusion that a black bear hunt is unpopular among voters.

 

The third most important bit of “factual” information is that serious black bear incidents went down the following years of the (2003) and (2005) hunt and drastically increased beginning in 2007 and more than doubled in the next (12) months of 2008 all because of canceled hunts.

Category (1) – Black Bears that are a threat to public safety and property; these are the most serious bear-human interactions and include livestock kills, pet kills, vehicle entries, home entries, attacks on humans, unprovoked dog attacks, and similar events.

Category (1) Incidents increased (+ 146%) with (112) incidents in 2007 to (276) incidents in 2008.

In all Categories 1, 2 and 3 the state’s black bear unit received (2814) calls from January 1, 2008 through December 20, 2008 an increase of (102%) from 2007 where (1395) calls were received for the same time period.

 

The fourth most important bit of “factual” information is that currently (27) states have a large enough black bear population to create a public safety concern. Of those (27) states (26) include hunting as the primary method of population control. Only New Jersey has political leaders challenging the professional biologists of the New Jersey Fish &Wildlife and Fish & Game by postponing and blocking recommended hunts required to reduce the black bear population to a safe level of co-existence between humans and the bears.

The Governors of these (26) other states are both Democratic and Republican. They all acknowledge and understand the emotions of those sincere people that have a problem with hunting in general; however, they trust and support the professional biologists of their Fish & Wildlife departments; they brush aside those animal-right and anti-hunting groups that use issues like black bear hunting as an agenda targeting hunting in general; they are not willing to jeopardize human safety in order to secure votes.

 

Wildlife management is a specializied profession and the experts in this field including certified biologists, have an obligation to “protect” wildlife while at the same time establishing legal limits and methods of population control through recreational hunting. Their job is not an easy one in New Jersey where the animal-right/anti-hunting groups have been able to use deceptive information to get the ears of vote hungry politicians.

 

Here is an example of just one of the recent typical misleading articles published by The Humane Society of the United States:

(1)

Hunting May Increase, Not Decrease, Human-Bear Conflicts

New Jersey hunting proponents claim that reducing the number of black bears will reduce human-bear conflicts. But a growing bear population doesn’t necessarily lead to more problems. Between 1985 and 2002, the estimated Minnesota bear population increased from 8,000 to 21,000 but complaints dropped from 2,859 to 625. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources suggested a link between the drop in complaints and residents learning to live with bears and prevent more conflicts.

 

The Truth

Minnesota holds annual black bear hunting seasons to include; rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader and bow/arrow. The following is the states reported numbers black bears harvested by hunters:

First line is the year, second line is the number of bears harvested, and third line is the number of recorded nuisance complaints received. From 1987 to 1995 these were complaints examined on site while from 1996 to 2008 these were complaints handled by phone and other received.

 

1987    1988  1989  1990  1991 1992  1993 1994 1995 1996  1997 1998 1999 2000

1577  1509  1930  2381  2143 3175  3003 2329 4956 1874  3212 4110 3620 3898

 789    771   1117  1890   935  1562  1010  696  1568 1296  2857  743   987   723

 

2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008

      4936  1915  3598  3391  3340  3290  3172  2135

        782    625   505    582    512     483   443     551

 

The number of harvested bears varies based upon established quotas with weather conditions affecting harvest numbers in certain years.

 

The Humane Society then fails to mention that in (22) years Minnesota has allowed hunters to harvest 65,494 black bears while still maintaining a black bear population to a safe co-existing number. Nuisance complaints have been high in some years but from 2000 through 2008 they have been at a steady low.

 

Land development and housing as in every state has an impact on the number of complaints received, there will never be a time when any state that allows hunting will have no nuisance complaints.

 

Common sense should also enlighten us to two facts:

 

·        What would the complaints be if 65,494 black bears were not harvested, plus newborns that would have drastically increased this number?

·        With 65,494 black bears harvested Minnesota still maintains a healthy black bear population.

(2) New Jersey’s hunt targets the bears that are least likely to come into conflict with humans, because the hunt takes place far from inhabited areas.

 

Another misleading and false statement;  Truth: New Jersey has more than 750,000 acres of public hunting lands of which thousands of acres border problem black bear areas. West Milford and Vernon and several other towns in Sussex and Warren counties have developments surrounded by these state lands. In addition, private hunting properties abound throughout the state also surrounding problem areas. A hunt would definitely include harvesting of substantial numbers of black bears that are causing damage and threats to human safety.

 

(3) The hunt may actually increase conflicts, since hunters are allowed to lure bears on non-federal lands with bait such as pastries and cooking grease. Habituating bears to human food sources teaches them to seek out homes, campgrounds and other human-related food sources.

 

Here we go again another false statement: Truth: The N.J. hunting regulations make it unlawful to bait bear and in fact since the bear season ran in conjunction with the whitetail deer season, it was illegal to even hunt over the remains of a field dressed deer as well as F&G considered this bear bait..

 

(4) New Jersey Hunters want a Trophy Hunt:

 

Truth: New Jersey would not be considered a “Trophy Hunting State” although there is no doubt there are some large black bears in N.J. the majority are not in a trophy class, there are just too many bears and size is not the common denominator for culling the population.

 

There are only two issues that the animal-right/anti-hunting groups are correct in stating and it should be pointed out that the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife had pointed out these same rules long before the anti’s plagiarized them from the F&W pamphlets and website:

 

·        Secure Garbage in some form of bear-resistant garbage can.

·        If possible, keep garbage in until garbage day.

 

(We would also suggest drilling a one inch hole in the top of the garbage can lid and line the top of the garbage with a few paper towels, then soak the towels with ammonia when putting the garbage out for pick-up. It is important to use the paper towels as they will contain the ammonia longer and prevent the garbage pick-up people from being sprayed with ammonia.)

 

As for adverse conditioning, once the black bear is hunted annually they will very quickly become ADVERSELY conditioned to avoid humans.

 

The harvesting of bears will open up their own natural habitant giving them more room to roam in the environment they prefer.

No matter what anyone feels about hunting, it is legal, it is effective and it the only proven way to reduce and maintain a safe, co-existing number of black bears to humans.

 

With all do respect to the sincere people that simply do not like the killing of any animal you have to look at the facts and the need to protect human life before wildlife. Harvesting and consuming wild game is a right and choice of a free society and whether an individual prefers to shop the super market for slaughtered meat or hunt their own, in fact more healthy, non-processed meat, is not wrong, it is a right for those who wish to do so.

 

New Jersey, like the rest of the world is going through a financial crisis, we do not need to waste money on “stall tactics” for stopping a black bear hunt while asking state workers to work less hours and cutting jobs as well.

If we do what is right, what (26) other states do successfully, we can reduce the danger to humans from overpopulated black bears and instead of wasting money earn some through black bear hunting permit fees.

 

We need a hunt this year the black bear population cannot be allowed to continue growing as this will keep forcing the expansion of their travel and need for food. All the warning signs are here, and we will be in for some serious danger if we allow non-sense to override common-sense and politics to overrule the professional biologists we have in place to perform the task.

 

It is not only hunters that support a black bear hunt it is millions of non-hunting citizens that recognize and respect the right to hunt and the proven effect of hunting on controlling wild game populations.

Let’s face it (26) other states cannot be wrong and New Jersey the only one right.

New Jersey is a battleground state for animal-right/anti-hunting groups they are pouring money and time into this fight with no regard at all for human safety.

Governor Corzine, must hear from the other side, we must get his attention so he can take the time to research this further. The Governor speaks to the hard decisions to be made regarding budget cuts and worker time reductions and layoffs, he understands this perfectly clear. Once he fully understands the problem and remedy through hunting, he will be able to suck it up and make the right decision; allow the F&G experienced professionals to handle the problem they are paid to do.  

·        Contact the Governor (609) 292-6000 or e-mail through the Governors state website.

·        Contact Acting DEP Commissioner Mark Mauriello (609) 292-2994

 

“Simply state that you support a hunt to reduce the states black bear population and oppose the misleading tactics of the animal-right/anti-hunting groups that try to keep this a political issue rather than professional wildlife management as is practiced successfully in (26) other states.”

 

Mike D

 

 

 

Roaming Black Bear

Let’s start off with the word “Dilemma” “any situation in which one must choose between unpleasant alternatives”, any serious problem. 

A few days ago Governor Corzine visted Sussex at the Grand Cascades Lodge at Crystal Springs. According to Brad Abelow, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Corzine attended the function, “From the Governor’s perspective, he’s looking for every opportunity to talk with people and hear from people now about what’s going on. What impact the economy is having. He said that that included things the state can do to help and where government can get out of the way”. Wow imagine if that were true? 

When reminded that he was about (6) miles from New Jersey’s major black bear problem area and why he was personally opposed to a bear hunt, he responded, “Well I think that I have read that a lot of this problem, if you would call it that, is something that can be resolved by better game management, waste management and education. And there is a real argument about whether the bear hunt will be effective”. 

The Governor was also asked if his stance would change in the event a young Halloween trick-or-treater were attacked or even killed by a bear. He responded by saying that the question was hypothetical. 

As he was leaving the press conference, Corzine also said that questions about the state’s black bears are best answered by the DEP Commissioner, Lisa Jackson, who was also at the meeting. Corzine said he would check on her availability to speak with reporters. After (20) minutes, Jackson did not come to meet with reporters and the press conference ended. 

Dilemma: any situation in which one must choose between unpleasant alternatives. Solution: stick to inaccurate information, discount “hypothetical” situations, avoid any further questions by passing the now famous, “Wilson Black Bear Political Football” to the DEP Commissioner, who was told to “go-long” and ran out of the end zone into the waiting limo to disappear. 

Many citizens of this black bear area are just amazed that a Governor can actually travel to any area to see how things are going then simply dismiss a “Dilemma”: any serious problem, like the black bear Dilemma, with a record year of intrusive activity capped off by (56) house break-ins and over 1400, complaints including property damage, garage and shed break-ins, domestic pets and livestock being killed and “tax paid for property and taxpayers/voters being threatened and losing the “human-right” to live in a safety zone of their own property and houses. 

The question regarding the Halloween trick or treater may not have been the proper question to kick off a discussion, the real question is; “Governor Corzine you traveled to our area to find out how things were going; not good Governor where we are living in an economically tested time like every other part of the country, but we have one additional “Dilemma”, we have houses being broken into (in case you haven’t had the time to read (56) , domestic pets and livestock being killed, complaints have tripled since 2005 the last year of a hunt in which complaints and intrusive activity went down. 
 

Our families, mothers and children are living in fear each day as the “overpopulated”, not “overfed” black bear has totally disrupted our right to human rights and safety. 

Now Governor can you tell us why when you have acknowledged you are not an expert in Wildlife Management and your new DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson, has no track record or experience at all in Wildlife Management, you are listening to animal-rights/anti-hunting groups rather than the experienced, N.J. Fish &Wildlife professional biologists who successfully brought back the black bear in N.J.”? More importantly, why do two inexperienced people, yourself and Lisa Jackson, not only go against the F&W but go against (26) other states, including our bordering states o N.Y. and PA. whose Governors and DEP have listened to and allowed the successful management of black bears by their F&W. for decades? 

Governor, this is not a “Trophy Hunting” issue as you and Lisa Jackson have been mislead to believe, it is not a “garbage control and/or education issue, it is an “overpopulation” issue and their is only one proven, successful remedy; a legal controlled hunt like took place in N.J. 2003 and 2005.

Reduce the number of bears, continue to do so annually and the population will drift back to the forests where they belong and want to be. Why? Because they will have more room to roam their own natural habitant and the hunting will also serve as conditioning AS THE MAJORITY OF PROBLEM AREAS BORDER STATE AND PUBLIC FORESTS. 

Only then Governor, will “trophy photo takers” be the losers because it is these groups that have been feeding bears and encouraging them to get closer to humans. 

Want some proof? Ask to see a rerun of the so-called, ‘Bear Whisperer” Susan Kehoe, aired on Inside Edition’s 10/02/08, who actually is accused of and being fined for feeding black bears in her backyard, for why? To take pictures of bears in her yard and actually near her seeking some sort of “lame” recognition as the “Bear Whisperer”. When her real handle should be, “the bear nut”. 

Read the review from experts saying what she was doing was “extremely dangerous” and not only to her self but by misleading any watchers into believing that the black bear can be “played-with”. 

Dilemma; Governor and it is yours and Lisa Jacksons, you can own up to the current situation created by inexperienced, emotional, head cases turning wild game management into politics and then allow the F&G to do their jobs and engage legal hunting that has proven successful in N.J. in 2003 and 2005. Or you can continue to ‘dance” as you and Lisa Jackson done in Sussex until one day the “hypothetical” becomes the “inevitable truth” and someone is seriously mauled and/or killed by the states current and growing overpopulated black bear.

Dilemma: black bears, True, proven and only nationwide solution: Legal, controlled hunting, regulated by the states’ F&W professionals. 

Anyone reading this contact your Senators, Congressman, Governor and DEP. The Governor and DEP do not have the facts they only have the animal-rights/anti-hunting voices to go on and although a minority, they are louder at this time.

Mike D

Apparently Pennsylvania and New York are prepared to issue arrest warrants for black bears that are crossing over to New Jersey because of “food-attractants”. Problem is they are sneaking back and forth without paying road tolls at Dingmans’ Ferry, Delaware Water Gap and New York Thruway. (A joke of course as is the statement below being taken seriously unfortunately)

Do you believe this; apparently Governor Corzine made a statement on NJ Network, a known biased news station that “bears were coming from PA. and N.Y. because of N.J.’S “food-attractants”.

 

So you see as the animal-rights/anti-hunters see every excuse they give to postpone a black bear hunt fall short of truth and fact, they dream up yet another bogus explanation. Unfortunately, Governor Corzine buys into this non-sense in an attempt to refrain from admitting that the decision to postpone or outright ban a black bear hunt was “wrong”.

 

Both PA. and NY have successfully held black bear hunting for decades harvesting anywhere from 2000 to 4000 black bears annually. If it were true that black bears were abandoning those states, other than in isolated cases as New Jersey bears have also visited both PA and NY to no real numbers, then we definitely have a need to reduce our population by hunting.

Why? Because without hunting in these two bordering states can you imagine how many black bears may in fact enter New Jersey.

It is PA that believes New Jersey black bears are crossing over into PA forcing them to increase their own hunting seasons.

 

Janet Piszar, known anti-hunter, was at it again at last Tuesdays’ Fish and Game Council meeting when she showed pictures of dumpsters around Branchville, saying that was the reason we had bear problems, why productive rates are high, because they attract bears.

 

All of this non-sense will continue until the silent-majority floods Governor Corzine’s and DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson with complaints and demands for a hunt.

 

Here it is in a “nutshell”; the problem came into the limelight in 2000 when the overpopulated black bear showed itself to be intrusive, destructive and dangerous. Governor Whitman yielded to animal-right/anti-hunting pressure and stopped the planned hunt; this inflated the political football now being tossed about.

Conditions worsened until 2003 when it became so obvious that citizens were in danger and a hunt was held. In the following year, 2004, the complaints went down. Yet the anti’s succeeded in keeping this a political issue and the 2004 hunt was cancelled again. In 2005 as complaints rose once more a hunt was passed. In 2006 complaints went down again.

 

 

The New Jersey State Supreme Court ruling in favor of a (5) year black bear management plan to include hunting was challenged in the courts by the anti’s and with the support of a new regime, Governor Corzine and his new DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson the decision was once again cancelled.

 

We have eight (8) years of history when beginning in 2000 the same emphasis was placed on garbage control, adverse conditioning and sterilization studies were considered. It is over, nothing will solve this problem unless we follow the lead of less political involved states, (26) of them, that allow the qualified experts, Fish and Game and biologists to perform their job assignments.

 

Read this a few times; only in the (2) two years in which we had a hunt did the black bear problems stabilize. Two (2) out of eight (8) years we got it right, proven right. That is all the proof we should need.

 

This is the worst year ever, if we do not hold a hunt this year, next year will be a disaster.

 

Contact the Governor’s office, contact the DEP Commissioner, and do not let the anti-s continue to feed opened armed politicians, these non-sense excuses to delay the only proven method to gain control of this very dangerous threat to human safety.

Mike D