Gov. Murphy says no to emergency bear hunt
newjersey.news12.com/gov-murphy-says-no-to-em...
newjersey.news12.comPosted Sep 15, 2021, 10:56 PM UTC
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newjersey.news12.comI looked at the data the state uses for bear management during my masters and it includes reports of people merely seeing non-nuisance bears. While this is useful from a management perspective, merely seeing them shouldn't be used to justify a hunt but historically has. Earlier this summer my Nextdoor app blew up with New Yorkers who just moved out here freaking out over wildlife. One in particular photographed a bear next to a river on public land from a second story window and demanded to know who he could call to get it removed (the locals rightfully tore him a new one). If individuals like him are reporting every sighting to the state, it could be creating an artificial crisis.
On a personal note, my next-door neighbor has lived in her home since 1960 and didn't see a bear until Christie added the October bow hunt. We live near preserved greenspace where bears have been known to make their dens. They were still active when the second hunt came and rather than stay in the area they had for generations, the bears moved onto the forested sections of private land (i.e. my backyard) where hunters couldn't follow. Now seeing a bear every summer isn't unusual in my neighborhood.
If there is to ever be a bear hunt again, they need to target areas where bears have become a nuisance, not allow hunters into forests where they're not bothering anyone without consideration for where they will go when their homes are made unsafe.
Edit: Typos
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Not to mention more people just being at home because of Covid. If all these commuters are now home all day you're gonna see a jump.
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I never even thought about the whole New Yorkers leaving the city thing. The ring app is chock full of safety warnings that are literally just bears walking through somebody’s yard.
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About 3 or 4 weeks ago my father sent me a picture of his backdoor camera where he caught a black bear eating the fish from his pond. He lives in a dense suburban town no more than 15 min south east from Philadelphia. I've never heard of or seen bears in that area, especially so close to houses, in my entire life (and I keep in close contact with many people that never left that town). Until this post I never knew it was more than a weird one-off thing. Didn't know Christie enabled bear hunting, I'm assuming this has changed their normal habitats?
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I had all my heirloom tomatoes wiped out by a black bear this year. Deer and ground hogs don't tear thick plastic fencing in half and leave behind a foot long pile of poop as a calling card. Bear were a problem in my area before the hunt and they were way less prevalent once the hunt started. Now since Murphy stopped the hunt they are back all over town here. Hunting bears in the forest gives them more room and keeps them out of suburban backyards.
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I've been riding mountain bikes in the North NJ woods for like, ever. The bear story 10ish years ago was totally out of control, it was downright frightening up in the Sparta area. They were EVERYWHERE. Now I see bears about as much as one would expect, occasionally and deep in the woods. I hope they manage the numbers to around where they are now, at least where I ride around.
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Did the state ever collect kill data on the earlier hunts? I’m interested in knowing if the hunters actually did affect the population count or if they simply displaced the animals.
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I'm not sure. I just looked at their human-bear interaction data and that didn't include fatal interactions where the bear lost.
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did it show the human bear encounter where the Rutgers student lost?
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I can't believe how much Big Bear has its claws in NJ.
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It’s grizzly
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Shout out to all the bear
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Deer are more of a nuisance these days. Find a way to expand the deer harvest.
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Allow hunters to sell venison either directly to others or through butchers
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TIL. I didn't know hunters were not allowed to sell venison to people. That explains why I've never been able to find any for sale.
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All market hunting has been banned since Roosevelt. It's illegal to buy meat that wasn't raised on a farm since birth.
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Do t even need them to sell it, they will do it for fun if there is a zero cost way to donate the meat.
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I was driving through Asbury Park and saw someone with a sign that said "STOP DEER HUNTING"... that feels like one of those things that people don't really think through.
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Biologists employed by the state to manage the population say that a hunt is needed. Murphy wants to spend tax dollars to neuter wild animals instead of having hunters keep everything in balance while funding conservation.
This is some backwards ass thinking.
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It's an election year and he doesn't wanna piss off the radical left wing. He knows what happens when you piss them off.
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Maybe in some west-coast state like Oregon that's true, but I don't think the "radical left wing" in NJ thinks about bears. Left-wing activists in NJ are mostly urban and I would be very surprised if any have spent one minute in the past year thinking about bears. Important issues are more like housing, health insurance, transit, etc.
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I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on,
You man the fuck up and defend your state
Defend your state from what? Some bears eating garbage, maybe getting into a house? I mean honestly what's 5he worst that will happen? A couple people get killed by bears, so what? Honestly, we put way too much value on peoples lives.
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bears being in close proximity to humans is bad for both species. since you display a callous attitude towards the value of human lives, I'll tell you first that any bear who kills or injures or poses a threat to any human will be killed. trash eaters and bears getting into human spaces are the first to go. since you don't care about people dying from bear attacks (psychopathic btw) I won't elaborate about those dangers.
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I'll tell you first to learn when to capitalize words
I'll tell you first that any bear who kills or injures or poses a threat to any human will be killed
Cool story bro, same goes for dogs. Oh, so they're killed without a hunt being issued. Looks like this whole thing is a moot point anyway.
bears being in close proximity to humans is bad for both species
I never said it was good, but would say that 6 attacks in a decade is not anything anyone should worry about.
trash eaters and bears
Don't be a dumbass, I was obviously referring to bears that are eating garbage, not another species.
I won't elaborate about those dangers.
Cause they're so minimal in scale that it's not worth you writing them out in a comment that you decided to respond to by own volition?
(psychopathic btw)
Because I'm fine with nature being nature, and not having some fat-ass accidentally shoot their hunting partner who they mistake for a bear.
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Bear, beets, battlestar gallactica
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Bears are cool.
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Oh deer
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You must not have them going through your garbage.
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I've had this happen, but not in NJ. They're still pretty cool.
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Keep your garbage in a shed until garbage day.
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I didn't move into their area.
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It was their home before it was ours. It's fucked up to move into deforested woodlands and then be angry that there are woodland animals near you.
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Honestly i'm surprised they haven't killed them all in the name of safety. Being in the woods and the thought of bears lurking makes enjoying nature a little more exciting.
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Oh no my garbage
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Seems reasonable. Bears may be an issue, but not a top-10 one. If an emergency bear hunt is to happen, it should absolutely wait in line until after the emergency Rt-22 driver hunt is authorized.
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The hunt list is:
- Left lane campers
- Out of state drivers
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Use dogs to tree them when they get close to humans has worked well in other states, with bears, mountain lions, and bobcats so why not use that method instead?why is everything kill, kill ,kill? you know why there are so many bears right now? it's pretty simple when you hunt and kill a lot of them, you are increasing the territory and the resources for the ones that are left, those boars usually mate with more sows who have less competition next fall and guess what you get a tripling of the population.you have a problem of your own making, but the solution that Murphy is proposing is going to cut down the population in the long term, so how about you start seeing things the same way?
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So why then is the population so much higher now than when the hunt was legal. Maybe it’s because the opposition to the bear hunt doesn’t live in areas impacted by the excess population and has no idea what they are talking about. I’ve lived in Sussex county for over fifty years and never saw a bear until about twenty years ago. . They repopulated the area from PA and NY and are a huge nuisance. They disappeared while the hunt was legal but are now roaming all over town here again . Whatever the state is doing, and I think it’s nothing , isn’t working.
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They didn't disappear, you didn't see them,bears have always been there, trouble is we are cutting up the land that the bears live in, so what the hell are they supposed to do? they have the same right to live as you and me, you ever think about that?
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Do bears think about their preys “right to live”?
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Since bears are opportunistic eaters and mostly eat berries and grubs gtfoh
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Is this a safety thing with you? If so, way more people are killed by hunters accidentally, than killed by black bears.
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Bears don’t have that luxury but you certainly do
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No the bears have not ALWAYS been there . They returned to NJ sometime in the late 80s and into the 90s and by the early 2000s there numbers sky rocketed. We aren’t cutting up land the bears are supposed to live in . The land was already cut up and the bears returned to our altered suburban landscape. It’s a false narrative on bears that we are chasing them out of their habitat. They migrated back to ours. And by the way the mountain lion is also coming back so be prepared to hide the kids from those bad ass cats
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What about the poor deers n turkeyz too
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Bears can be dangerous, that’s the difference
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If confronted any animal can be dangerous, don't play the idiot game
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Not anywhere near as dangerous. Also deer cause deadly car accidents. Bears generally do not.
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Umm what if you don't...you know...happen to have a dog with you when you run into one of these bears???? Also I and millions of others here grew up in NJ and have zero experience dealing with wild animals - am I just supposed to know how to train my dog how to do this and know how to react when I come across a bear? Finally, I'd like to see your math here that leads from less bears to more bears lol.
Tldr you are talking out of your ass. If people are willing to take care of the problem, let them.
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Specialy trained dogs, you knucklehead, I wasn't talking about your grandma's Yorkie, but I guess you're too dense for this grown up conversation?
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Ok so you are talking about sending teams of people and dogs out to subdue and relocate the bears? When you said tree the bears I thought you meant that was people's defense in case the bears approached them. Sorry it's been a long day and like I said I grew up near the shore our wild animals were squirrels and seagulls.
Still though I don't see how killing some bears of indeterminate sex leads to more bears being created.
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Pretty simple, there is less competition for territory,or food sources sows can have three or four cubs instead of one or two,so there are more bears,bears have no natural predators because we killed of the puma and the wolf which were their competition and their predators,we have upset the ecological balance time and time again to our detriment, and we keep encroaching on what little bit of territory they have left with impunity and expect them to give way
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Is this a lunar bear situation?
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Can we do an emergency deer hunt? Please!
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Didn’t know we were in a bear emergency. I see at least 22 different deer a day but yeah bears are a real problem in NJ clearly.
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Daaa bears
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What’s the point of this unnecessary mean spirited comment?
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Huh? Bears and people don’t mix. Nothing wrong with culling the population. Same goes for deer.
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I’m not disagreeing that people are too stupid to live around bears. Though I do disagree with frivolous hunting. Your comments about Murphy are uncalled for.
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Have you seen his smile? I’m perfectly justified. The dude looks like I could use him for a Halloween decoration!
If people poked fun at Christy for his weight, why can’t we talk about Murphy’s jacked up grill?
And the dudes a frigging billionaire that flew to Italy in The middle of a pandemic. I’m sure he can afford a half decent dentist.
At least mask mandates covered up his plaques.
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I see bears weekly….it used to be maybe once every year or 2.
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Normally who gets the meat in Gov. sanctioned hunts? Is bear meat edible?
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not really I was served some in China and I would say it was like a greasy roasted baseball catchers mit
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the hunters get the meat, yes it is edible. I'm told the flavor is greatly dependent on what the bears were eating (fish vs berries), and it requires knowledge on how to cook it to turn out well.
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Just start nuking deer damnit.
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Defend the state from bears? Are we under BEAR ATTACK? Is Trenton under BEAR SIEGE?
Who's being soft here, really?
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I can't tell is this is sarcasm due to my Asperger's. Bears don't need to be hunted in NJ. If you see bears then stop building in their area.
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I can't tell if it's sarcasm either
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I was unaware of the bear emergency
It’s bearly a problem
This is a polarizing issue.
Is there trouble bruin?
We avoided a grizzly conclusion
Super easy, bearly an inconvenience
Not in my house....bear with me
We haven’t had a bear in Washington borough in over a year . What emergency ?
Stephen Colbert spent years warning us.
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