Large turnout for first day of bear hunt

NEWTON – Will Jauroux Sr. pulled into the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area a little before noon Monday, passing by about two dozen protesters with a bear he just shot lying in the trunk.

"Murderer," "coward," "kill the hunt not the bears," were a few of the cries from the picketers, which grew to a roar as Jaroux's truck drove by and into the check-in station.

Jauroux, of Lafayette, stepped out of his truck, filled out paperwork with the state Department of Environmental Protection, and watched the black bear get weighed. College students also collected DNA samples from the bears and checked teeth to determine age.

Jauroux was dressed head to toe in camouflage and smoking a cigar. Since DEP allows one bear per person, Jauroux's bear hunting season was over.

"I don't expect it to be a good hunt because of the cold weather, I just got lucky," Jauroux said. "They need to move it to earlier in the season."

The fifth New Jersey bear hunt began Monday and the cold, dry weather lead to about a dozen check-ins by mid-afternoon, a larger than expected number.

"We usually see cars lined up at the end of the day around 7 p.m., not this early," said DEP spokesperson Larry Ragonese as a steady stream of trucks lined up to check in.

One pair of hunters, Ragonese said, each brought in a bear, and said they saw a group of eight, but only harvested their allotted two.

The first bear taken was a 135-pound adult female, killed in Vernon by Marc Beardslee of Vernon. The second was much larger, a 346-pound adult male, killed in Andover by Mike Donahue of Stanhope.

Ragonese said the bears looked healthy, which could mean bigger numbers next year.

The bear hunt runs through Saturday, concurrent with the state's six-day deer hunting season.

Ragonese said the protesters, lined up across the street and to the right of the check in station, were allowed to stand closer during the first three years of the hunt, but the past two they refused to sign a permit.

"It's their choice, I couldn't tell you why they didn't," Ragonese said. "They see DEP as a part of the problem because we are organizing and coordinating a hunt that kills bears."

SEE VIDEO:

Ragonese said about 7,000 of 10,000 allocated bear hunting permits have been obtained, 1,000 more than last year.

State biologists are predicting a harvest similar to last year, when 251 bears were taken. About 5,000 bears were harvested last year in Pennsylvania and New York, close to the northern New Jersey hunt, Ragonese added.

"We anticipate a very safe and professionally managed black bear hunt, which is just one component of the New Jersey's Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy," DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said. "The state's overall goal is to reduce the number of bears to a more manageable number, while improving public safety by reducing bear encounters with people."

Ragonese said he did not believe the September death 22-year-old Rutgers University student Darsh Patel - the first recorded fatal bear attack in the state – was related to the uptick in hunters.

"These are hunters out here. It's not like the average person decided to go out and get a permit to hunt after September," Ragonese said. "But what happened was a tragedy and I hope that fatal attack opens protesters up to the fact that black bears are not cuddly animals, the can be dangerous."

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said the incident has been used by some to justify the need for an expanded hunt.

"It is shameful that people are trying to use tragedy and increase in bear encounters to expand the bear hunt, when what we really need is a real bear management plan," Tittel said. "This hunt was supposed to be sustainable keeping the same number of bears, instead the number of bears is dropping. This is not a sustainable hunt or manageable hunt, it is a trophy hunt. It is about going after the bears in the deep woods, not bears closer to the population."

Ragonese said the bear hunt is necessary to control the black bear population in the state. He said there are about 2,500 bears in New Jersey, and the hunt seeks to cut that number in half.

Overall reports of aggressive, or Category 1, bears have dropped since the start of the hunt, falling from 235 in to 2010 to 129 in 2013.

After the hunt ends Saturday, Ragonese said DEP will analyze the five-year sample from all of the hunts since 2010.

"The numbers will guide us moving forward," Ragonese said, adding there would more than likely still be a hunt next year.

Ragonese said the five year sample would lead to a more accurate number for the state's bear population, and could also lead to a change in the length or the time of the bear hunt. It would also give DEP a better idea of which areas in the state to focus on.

While black bears have been reported in all 21 counties, the densest population is in a 1,000-square-mile portion of the state north of Route 78 and west of Route 287. Hunting zones are located in Hunterdon, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties, plus a very small area of western Bergen County.

Chris Bartosh planned to hunt deer Monday, but got his bear permit "just in case." He was about to call it a day when he saw a bear in the distance.

Bartosh, 29, of New Providence, said he planned to mount the bear's head and use the free recipe book DEP provided to cook the meat from the bear.

As he drove past the protesters, his friend in the back of his truck took a video of the protesters shouting at them.

"Hunting is legal in New Jersey, and some of these people think that bears are pets like cats and dogs and hunters are murderers," Ragonese said. "But nobody is protesting hunting deer."

Protester Lou Vellucci said the hunt was inhumane and should not be allowed.

"This is a trophy hunt, and it's not what the people want. This is the wrong thing to do," Vellucci said, disputing the fact that all protesters see bears as pets. "We respect them as wild animals, not domesticated animals. But they deserve space to live in peace. We are the ones that need to adjust."

Edward Yuhas protested the hunt for the first time Monday, wanting to see it in person.

"The fact that they take out cubs and mothers is disturbing. It's a bloodsport that perpetuates a culture of violence in America," Yuhas said. "My heart breaks to see someone come out of the woods with a cub, and I can't believe it's allowed."

Tim Oswald said he just started hunting with his uncle and cousin Monday morning when a bear walked right in front of him.

"I was lucky. He walked right up to me," said Oswald, 47, of Danielsville, Pa. "It took 45 minutes. Shooting him was the easy part, it took three hours to get him out of the woods."

When weighed, Oswald's bear was 193 pounds. He said it was the first bear he ever shot and he planned to make a rug from it. He also planned to use the meat for steaks and roasts.

Not all hunters wished to speak, and some even blocked the name on the side of their trucks and hid the bear under a tarp for fear of retribution from protesters, but Oswald said he didn't mind.

"Everybody's got the right to do what they want to do," Oswald said.

Hunter Tim Slaughter was at the check in station around noon taking a break to look at what other hunters had killed.

Slaughter, 36, of Maywood, was in the woods a little after 5 a.m., but had not killed a bear yet.

He said he noticed hunters were bringing in a lot of yearlings – young bears. At 1 p.m. he hopped back in his truck, passing by protesters on his way back into the woods.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@dailyrecord.com

New Jersey's bear hunt at a glance

A look at New Jersey's bear hunt, which began Monday:

HUNT FACTS: This year's hunt is the last of five begun in 2010 to reduce the bruin population and protect people, property (and bears) from human-bear interactions. This year's hunt will run from through Saturday in counties in northern and northwestern New Jersey. Any sex or size bear is fair game, including cubs, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Limit is one bear per hunter.

HOW MANY BEARS?: The state Fish and Game Council estimated in 2010 that there were roughly 3,400 bears living in New Jersey north of Interstate 80; it said there wasn't enough data to make an estimate for the rest of the state. About 1,600 bears have been killed in the four bear hunts, and the Department of Environmental Protection estimates there are now about 2,500 bruins in those areas.

FATAL ATTACK: Darsh Patel, a Rutgers University student hiking with his friends in Apshawa Preserve in West Milford, was killed by a 300-pound black bear in September after taking pictures of the bruin with his cellphone. Critics of the bear hunt say Patel's death shows that education and warning signs are more effective than killing the animals.

THE NUMBERS: Overall reports of aggressive, or Category 1, bears have fallen from 235 in 2010 to 129 in 2013, though there was a slight increase from 2012 to 2013. Reports of home entries and attempted entries fell from 90 in 2010 to 33 last year, but have risen recently, to 44 through November 20 of this year. Similarly, reports of bears killing livestock fell from 68 in 2010 to 21 in 2012, but rose to 35 last year.

By The Associated Press