Here's what hunters should know about the return of NJ's December bear hunt

TRENTON — All five of the bear hunting zones in northwestern New Jersey will be open, with 11,000 permits now available to licensed hunters for the first unrestricted hunt since 2018. The season opens Dec. 5 and coincides with the annual shotgun deer season.

Gov. Phil Murphy last Tuesday signed an executive order rescinding his 2018 order that banned bear hunting on state-owned lands. In 2021, there was no bear hunt season because the bear management policy, which called for a hunt, had expired and a new one put in place.

Related:NJ's controversial bear hunt is back after state approval, drawing backlash from critics

Where can you hunt bear in New Jersey?

The five zones are in the area west of Interstate 287 and north of Interstate 78. The permits allow hunters to take one black bear within the specified zone. Hunters may purchase a permit for up to two separate zones but will be allowed to take only one bear.

A map and description of zone boundaries, which encompass part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, can be found online at bit.ly/3hToT26.

Hunting licenses are available online or at in-person license agents.

This year's regulations, approved by the Fish and Game Council under emergency conditions approved by Murphy and DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette, will allow hunters to use shotguns loaded with slugs, as well as .44-caliber, single-shot muzzleloaders. Scopes are also allowed.

When will the bear hunt take place?

The hunt will be held from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset through Dec. 10. The hunt may be extended by up to four additional days (Dec. 14 to 17) if the target harvest of 20% of the bear population is not met. The hunt can also be canceled should the harvest exceed 30% of the estimated black bear population.

According to Murphy's executive order, there are an estimated 4,000 bears within the hunting zones. The order noted that at the start of the 2018 bear hunt, the estimated population was 1,500 bears. In the event of a season closure, notification will be on the black bear hunt website and through the NJ Hunting email list.

Harvested bears must be brought as soon as possible to one of five weigh, check-in stations at wildlife management areas — Green Pond and Black River in Morris County; Whittingham and Flatbrook in Sussex County; and Pequest in Warren County. At those stations, each bear will be weighed and technicians will gather information on when and where the bear was killed, take samples and check for tags or tattoos. In past years, biologists also took hair and blood samples for DNA studies and checked for parasites.

Keep these restrictions in mind

There are no permits available for apprentice hunters, and youth hunters must be under direct supervision (in same location) of a licensed/permitted adult hunter who is at least 21 years old.

There are three additional restrictions for this year's hunt. Hunters may not take or attempt to kill a black bear weighing less than 75 pounds, live weight, or less than 50 pounds when field dressed.

The prohibition also extends to an adult black bear that is in the presence of cubs weighing less than 75 pounds. Bears of less than 75 pounds are most likely to be have been born last winter, and therefore are less than a year old. They will stay with their mother until late spring.

Hunters must stay more than 300 feet away from a baited area when attempting to take or kill a bear.

The full list of bear-hunting regulations can be found online at dep.nj.gov.

Conservation and hunting laws are taken seriously by the department and especially by local municipal judges, who hear most of the hunting violation cases.

As an example, in 2016 a 76-year-old Sparta man was convicted of killing three bears on his property and ordered to pay a total of $4,332 in civil penalties and restitution. He was charged not only with killing the mother bear and two cubs, but also with shooting a firearm within 450 feet of residences.

More:Ringwood man, 22, charged with hunting, firearms offenses in shooting of bear cubs

Although this hunt is being conducted under an emergency order, the Fish and Game Council and the governor's office also filed a proposal to make the hunt a permanent part of state game law. That notice is to be published in the New Jersey Register on Dec. 19.

That opens a 30-day comment period during which the public may submit written comments. Those comments may be submitted after Dec. 19 at nj.gov/dep/rules/comments.

A public hearing will also be scheduled in January to take oral comments.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: NJ bear hunt: Restrictions, licenses and what you need to know