4 More Years Of Bear Hunt Up For NJ Council's Consideration

ROBBINSVILLE, NJ — New Jersey's bear hunt could get four more years. State hunting officials will consider extending regulations that allow for seasonal hunts of the creature through 2027.

The hunt made a return in December after a one-year absence. Gov. Phil Murphy originally campaigned to cancel the hunt, following through in the 2021 season. But the governor reversed course last winter after an increase in bear encounters. Murphy advised the New Jersey Fish and Game Council to re-instate an "emergency" hunting period, which overcame a lawsuit from animal-welfare groups.

• Read more: NJ Bear Hunt Begins After Court Rejects Animal Rights Challenge

The re-instatement of the bear hunt was an emergency action that expired in January. The council will consider extending those regulations through May 11, 2028, officials told Patch.

If approved, New Jersey would designate two periods for bear hunting: six-day timeframes beginning on the second Monday in October and the second Monday after Thanksgiving, according to a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection, under which the council falls. That would mean approved bear hunts through 2027.

The Fish and Game Council has until Dec. 5 to consider adopting the regulations. But there's no vote on the matter scheduled for Tuesday's meeting in the Assunpink Wildlife Management Center's Central Region Office.

As has been the case in past years, state environmental officials can slightly extend the hunting period if New Jersey falls short of harvest goals. If the harvest rate falls below 20 percent — based on data reviewed by the DEP at the end of each hunting day — the state can allow an additional four days of hunting. Officials will close the season if the harvest rate reaches 30 percent.

Murphy originally vowed that New Jersey's 2020 bear hunt would be the last under his administration, canceling the 2021 hunting period. But with the population rising and encounters with the creature tripling, Murphy announced in November that he would propose the hunt's re-instatement.

Last December, hunters killed 114 bears for a 7 percent harvest rate, which was a far cry from the state's goal of 20 percent. New Jersey had a shortened hunting season because of its late start and a legal battle with conservation groups, which cut off part of the hunting period.

State officials tallied 2,212 bear-related incidents in 2022 — 182.1 percent more than the year prior. That included 1,753 reports of damage and nuisance, which increased 203.3 percent from 2021.

Environmental officials logged only seven bear incidents in the first three weeks of this year — down from 25 during that short span in 2022.

The council approved the hunt's emergency re-instatement at Nov. 15's meeting. But three animal-advocacy groups — the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, the Humane Society of the United States, and Friends of the Animals — challenged the decision.

The animal-welfare groups argued that the Division of Fish and Wildlife doesn't have an accurate estimate of New Jersey's bear population. The coalition also challenged the legality of the New Jersey Fish and Game Council's emergency rule, which officials adopted Nov. 15 without the usual public-comment period.

The appeals court judge, however, wasn't convinced that the state violated due process for emergency rulings.

Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney for Wildlife at the Humane Society of the United States, claimed the ruling will irreparably harm the state's bear population and "the tenets of transparency and accountability in state government decision-making."

"This is a tragic day for New Jersey’s black bears," Arrivo said in a statement. "The coming days will see them gunned down by the hundreds under the guise of a bogus emergency concocted to prevent experts and the public from scrutinizing the astonishing lack of sound science supporting the state’s decision."

New Jersey has one documented human death from bear in state history — a 22-year-old Rutgers University student killed in 2014 while hiking in West Milford, Passaic County. But several incidents last year brought New Jersey's bears into the forefront.

A bear attacked a woman May 11 in Lafayette, Sussex County, while she checked her mail. She was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries to her right arm and buttock, according to a state DEP spokesperson. Environmental officials set a trap for the bear to euthanize it. Read more: NJ Woman Attacked By Bear While She Was Getting Mail

Elsewhere in Sussex County, two dogs were killed in January 2021 in Sparta, and an 81-year-old woman was injured in a different bear attack in the township.