Hunters Win! New Jersey Bear Hunt Reinstated!

[LifeNRA]

Hunters Win!

New Jersey Bear Hunt Reinstated

(Columbus) - In spite of having cancelled last year’s hunt, the head of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection announced yesterday that the state will likely resume hunting black bears in 2005.

The decision comes in the wake of months of sportsmen’s protest over the bear hunting cancellation, the airing of a documentary that showed the dangers of overabundant black bears in the state and a near attack on a three-year-old at his home in northern New Jersey.

Bradley Campbell, commissioner of the New Jersey department which is the parent of the state wildlife management agency, told Newark Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran that, “We need to reduce the (bear) population…All indications are there will be a hunt this fall, and it probably will be an annual feature thereafter.”

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reports that it has fielded 398 black bear damage and nuisance complaints since the first of the year. It had received 234 complaints during the same period in 2004.

In the wake of Campbell’s last-minute cancellation of the 2004 bear hunt, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance brought suit to force the hunt to go forth. In the wake of a decisive victory for hunting before a state appeals court, Campbell appealed to the Supreme Court, where he won an injunction against the hunt. The Alliance and state sportsmen’s groups including the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, United Bowhunters of New Jersey and others saw the decision as damaging to the future of wildlife management in New Jersey in that the court ruled that the politically-based decision of a member of the governor’s cabinet took precedent over the rules established by the statutorily established New Jersey Fish and Game Council.

“The integrity of fish and wildlife management has in a sense been reestablished in the state,” said Rob Sexton, vice president for government affairs for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Campbell’s 2004 political decision to stop the hunt has been trumped by political pressure brought to bear in the wake of that decision.

“It’s not the victory for the science of wildlife management that we would have liked to have seen, but at least the best interests of wildlife and the people of New Jersey will be served,” he added.

In June, a television documentary, “Bears: Too Close for Comfort” aired in New Jersey and nationwide on the Outdoor Channel. The production, the airing of which by New Jersey Public Broadcasting had been weeks earlier cancelled due to intensive animal rights protest, made a strong case that New Jersey black bears were overabundant and in need of management. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance worked with producer Tom Phillips and the Outdoor Channel to bring the documentary to a television audience.

“There is no doubt that public sentiment in favor of hunting was sharpened by Bears: Too Close for Comfort,” said Alliance Senior Vice President Rick Story, who appeared in the documentary. “Coupled with the anger generated among New Jersey residents who live in bear country and the disappointment of hunters who take seriously their role in wildlife management, it is obvious that public pressure became too much for Campbell to bear.”

The final straw may have come last week near the northern New Jersey town of Fredon. Three-year-old Sammy Francavilla was rescued by his mother from a hostile black bear who had cornered him in his backyard. The incident made news up and down the East Coast.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, through the legislative process in the states and in Congress. For more information, call (614) 888-4868, visit its website at www.ussportsmen.org or write to: U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, 801 Kingsmill Pkwy, Columbus, OH, 43229-1137.

[fisherguy]

Re: Hunters Win! New Jersey Bear Hunt Reinstated!

I'll start celebrating when i see a picture of a New Jersey bear hunter with their bear. I cas see it now, a week before the season they cancel it again.