[briansnat]

Originally Posted by buzzbaiter

Bears are not hunters, they are scavengers. This whole story sounds off to me. What five guys you know go for hikes together??? Pretty sure none of you call up your buddies on wednesday and say "hey, lets go hiking this weekend. I'll make sandwiches!"

Black bear are mostly scavengers but they do hunt. Evolution gave them that speed for a reason and it wasn't for running away. Ask any deer.

As far as guys going for hikes together, don't be so sure. I've been hiking with my buddies since high school days. Well, we bring our own sandwiches.

Originally Posted by acabtp

very sad but they are apex predators and adult males in NJ start around 250# and range up to 800+# so unfortunately it was only a matter of time before this happened. bear numbers are exploding and the state is being hamstrung on population control by the "save nj bear" group etc. condolences to his family.

When the bear hunt was first proposed I wrote a letter to the editor that was printed in several newspapers that said the very same thing - that it was just a matter of time before someone was killed.

The bear population is not proportional to available habitat. That combined with the most dense human population in the nation is not a good mix.
The media keeps making a big deal about this being the first time in 150 years this happened in NJ. What they are missing is that bear have largely been non existent n NJ throughout the late 18th and most of the 20th centuries. It's only in the past decade or two that their population has exploded.

Originally Posted by dakota560

I'm sure this post will prompt a reply but it needs to be said. You're post make absolutely no sense. It's tragic that someone lost their life but that doesn't mean the bear population should go unprotected and it should be open season hunting them. Anytime someone strays into the wild they need to be aware of the surroundings and realize they are somewhere as previously someone said where they're not the apex predator. It's the same thing that happened with sharks when jaws was releases and the world was immediately brain washed into thinking the only good shark is a dead shark. The world population of sharks has plummeted ever since and it's nothing short of brutal what has happened to every shark species on the planet. Society has over developed every parcel of land and pushed these and all animals to the brink. We go into their territory and then blame them for when an accident like this happens yet it's fine to kill thousands of them a year. If opinions like yours were the edict of the day, there wouldn't be a bear, deer or any animal left in the woods or a shark in the ocean. Accidents happen when people go into the wilderness and as tragic as it is it's part of the balance which exists in this world. That doesn't warrant in my opinion the extermination of a species. Some hunters like fisherman are conservation minded but many want to kill anything and everything that moves. That's not the answer but that's the behavior posts like yours will provoke.

Like I said it's tragic someone lost their life and it's tragic the bear also had to be put down but it had to be. It's what happens when a civilized society keeps pushing the boundaries with wilderness to the point where one day you won't have to worry about bear attacks because there won't be any bears left to attack with opinions and attitudes like yours.

My condolences to the family who lost a child.

Dakota

Yep, it prompted a reply. First, the the movie Jaws had nothing to do with the plummet in the shark population. Sure there may be a few yahoos who kill sharks for fun the way some shoot rattlesnakes. The plunge in shark numbers is because of their popularity as food, particularly in Asia.

Regarding bear in NJ, their population has not been "Pushed to the brink". There are probably more bear in NJ now than there have been in 100 or more years. They are thriving, and that's the problem.

As far as our "going into their territory", Manhattan, Newark, Hoboken, Paterson and Camden were once bear habitat. Precisely where does "their" territory begin and "ours" end now? Are the people who live in suburban Wayne, Totowa or West Orange in "their" territory or "ours"? I ask because bear have been caught wandering these suburban communities over the past few years.