Another Bear this morning

[Malsua 1,422]

Had a bear on my deck this morning....when I flipped the lights on, I was standing right by the door.   In retrospect, I didn't grab the .357 in the event he came at me.  This particular bear lives nearby as we see him all the time.   This was the first time he came on my deck.   I was up reading news and such before work when I heard the hammock rattling.   I initially thought it was a 2 legged predator, but I looked at the camera monitors and there's yogi having a snack.

 

[DeerSlayer 241]

Welcome to Sussex County!

[Old School 611]

Mark - Leaving food on the deck?

[Malsua 1,422]

Welcome to Sussex County!

 

When I moved here in 96 there were no bears

[Malsua 1,422]

Mark - Leaving food on the deck?

 

No, not really.  The bag of grass seed has been there since March.   I suppose bears love seed, but I've never had them go after grass seed.    I've seen the neighbor's bird feeder get ravaged, but I guess I never thought much about grass seed.

[DeerSlayer 241]

When I moved here in 96 there were no bears

Ive lived here since 77 they've always been here. Just didn't see them as often as we do in the past 15 years. Wonder if all the development had anything to do with it? Hmmmm....

[jm1827 284]

When I used to live up in Highland lakes back in the late 80's we used to see them all the time.

[Malsua 1,422]

When I used to live up in Highland lakes back in the late 80's we used to see them all the time.

 

In the 90s, I would see a bear once a year at most.   Starting about 2003, it became a weekly thing and it would come and go.   Usually the years after a hunt were one bear a month.   This summer has been 5-10 bear sightings of 2-3 different bears a week.  It's getting pretty ridiculous.    There has been no extra development in my area for quite some time and most people are good about garbage and food.

 

The particular bear in the video I posted must be denned up nearby.   He crosses my property on the way down to the lake to get water pretty much every day.

 

As an update to this particular bear, he was back about 4pm and was parked at my neighbor's house(100 feet away), trying to get into their basement and wouldn't leave for 20+ minutes.   I suspect this one is not going to have a happy ending unless he gets relocated.   

[DeerSlayer 241]

They don't relocate bears anymore.

[djg0770 481]

We can relocate him to my freezer Mark.

[twotwothree 1]

My grandmother sees bears in hackettstown routinely

[Malsua 1,422]

No more bears relocated?  What do they do when they get 'em in those culvert traps?  

[HBecwithFn7 296]

My grandmother sees bears in hackettstown routinely

 

As do I.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

We had a bear stroll right thru our club's black powder muzzleloading shotgun clay bird shoot which is held up on a farm along Rt. 94 in Vernon.  Apparently the noise of EXPLOSIVES bein' fired wasn't enough to scare it out of the area, so not EVERY bear will cower when a couple of trash can lids are slapped together like cymbals.........  It wandered thru and left us alone so we left it alone.......

 

Dave

[Malsua 1,422]

We had a bear stroll right thru our club's black powder muzzleloading shotgun clay bird shoot which is held up on a farm along Rt. 94 in Vernon.  Apparently the noise of EXPLOSIVES bein' fired wasn't enough to scare it out of the area, so not EVERY bear will cower when a couple of trash can lids are slapped together like cymbals.........  It wandered thru and left us alone so we left it alone.......

 

Dave

 

I've seen the same at Cherry Ridge.   We have one bear that the cops ran out last fall when it camped in front of my neighbor's door....it simply wouldn't move until it got tagged with whatever the cop shot at it.  Beanbag maybe?  I'm unsure.

[Johnny 0]

I've seen the same at Cherry Ridge.   We have one bear that the cops ran out last fall when it camped in front of my neighbor's door....it simply wouldn't move until it got tagged with whatever the cop shot at it.  Beanbag maybe?  I'm unsure.

 

Good thing they didnt riot in protest of police brutality.

[Malsua 1,422]

Good thing they didnt riot in protest of police brutality.

 

Well, it was a black cop...which surprised me because I think there are fewer than 1 black people in my town.

[DeerSlayer 241]

No more bears relocated? What do they do when they get 'em in those culvert traps?

Either euthanized or relocated back to your neighborhood with some stress inflicted on them. Hopefully to prevent them from having contact with humans again. They use dogs and tree the bear after opening the trap, then shoot them in the ass with rubber buckshot. They call it "conditioning". And I think its better then just killing them if it works. If not I also would be glad to put a .50 cal hole through him come the first week of December if he isn't already denned up by then. What a great week for a bear hunt But they don't take them from your neighborhood and bring them to mine anymore. They stopped that practice about 8 years ago. The state bear biologist is a buddy of mine.

[Malsua 1,422]

But they don't take them from your neighborhood and bring them to mine anymore.

 

I know they used to truck them up from the Philly suburbs to Sussex county.    Glad they stopped that.

 

I wish the damn things would go elsewhere.   We had one come in the kitchen in 07, fortunately my wife was able to run it off.    Now we have two regulars and if another one comes in the house, it's going to be a big problem for the bear.

[DeerSlayer 241]

As soon as they breach a home all bets are off. Fish and game comes out and either traps them or hunts them down and puts a slug in them. Then they become mounts at peaquest like this one euthanized after it broke into a house in Stillwater.

 

We bring him to the farm and horse show every year to educate people about them. And how to avoid having to destroy them. Most likely some moron in your neighborhood is feeding them. Is Susan Kehoe your neighbor? Lol...

[H.M. Murdock 0]

Ooh haven't seen her in the papers in a while

[Malsua 1,422]

Most likely some moron in your neighborhood is feeding them. Is Susan Kehoe your neighbor? Lol...

 

Fortunately that twat is on the other side of the lake from me.  

 

There was a jackwagon 10 years ago that was nailing meat up to a board behind his house.   He got his pee-pee spanked and moved away.  I don't think anyone is actively feeding them, we just happen to be butted up against the Pequannock watershed area where there is tons of denning.     There are probably active dens within 100yards of my house...I know a couple spots that appear to be host big animals and one has probably moved in.

[DeerSlayer 241]

Yeah she was in the news about a month ago. They unveiled the "Samantha" statue in front of Vernon town hall. What a bunch of loons those people are.

Last year we had one dened under a house down the street from me. The cable guy got a surprise when he entered the crawl space to change a splitter. Hahha. Yeah man we live in bear country. All you can really do is make your yard as unappealing to the bears as possible. Idiots like the bear group only make things worse for all of us normal thinking humans.

[MartyZ 696]

Look at the bright side, next time he comes around you got yourself a new rug and plenty of meat for the winter.

[Malsua 1,422]

Yeah, well, I ain't eating bear.  I prefer not to get trichinosis.

[T Bill 649]

Susan Kehoe...................

 

Her latest from about a month ago.  Even the cub seems to be saying, "Shut up and leave me alone!", as he takes off.

 

[fishnut 2,358]

I am willing to bet that the bears feel the same way you do Malsua. I bet they think every day "Man I wish those humans would go else where" The bears were here first and they deserve their natural territory. People built or bought homes in bear country and then complain when bears cause problems for them, what did you expect to happen? I understand that the bear population was smaller when you moved in but you still knew you were buying a home in an area that has bears. If you have an issue with sharing your property with the bears you might want to consider an electric bear fence or moving to a city. In my opinion the state should bring back wolves and mountain lions, they will help manage the bear and deer population but then the city slickers will really freak out when they see a pack of wolves or a mountain loin attacking a bear cub or a deer in their back yard. Also the state could give bear hunters a real bear hunt season instead of after the majority have denned up for the winter.

[djg0770 481]

The bears were here first and they deserve their natural territory.

 

So were the native americans so pack up your stuff and...

 

The fact is that the wildlife population in the northeast has grown significantly since I was a child.  I grew up in a well farmed area of western NJ.  There were no bears heard of or seen, no wild turkey, no coyotes, no bobcats, all of which WERE at some point native species here in NJ. 

[DeerSlayer 241]

If we had more hunters there would be much less issues. Bottom line is we went from a state where we had many many more hunters buying licences, down to a fraction of that amount today. Its no longer politically correct anymore to kill your own dinner. And its also a lot of work to be successful.

 

Many guys lost the properties they hunted, to New developments of shit box McMansions with the real housewives of New Jersey living in them. God forbid they have a guy in the neighborhood bow hunting to protect what small amount of forestry we still have. Many of the older hunters moved and retired to other states.

 

Furthermore kids these days are way to lazy to actually go outside to do things when they have a computer and a PS4 to keep them occupied, while stuffing their faces full of high fructose corn syrup filled treats becoming disgustingly obese. People also work more these days and later than in decades past. Many just plain don't have the time to go kill deer.

 

The woods are decimated by deer here. You can see straight through them 6' high, because the deer have killed all the undergrowth and new saplings. Once the trees we have in these areas begin to die off there will be even less woods. Trees eventually live their lives and die, now there's nothing new growing to replace what we have now. I go in the woods at the end of my street ( thousands of acreage of open spaces property) and see hardly any deer sign anymore. But on my way there I pass at least 10 houses with hurds of 6 to 10 deer on the front lawns of almost every 5 or 6 houses I pass. Something is wrong with that!

 

I do my part and kill everything I see even if its still got spots. If I could clone myself a few thousand times we may be ok again.

 

Sportsmans groups like the one I belong to are pushing for an early bear season possibly for the next game code revisions that occur every two years. But we have to fight the Susan Kehoe's of the world to do it. Its not an easy task and I believe were lucky to even have the bear season we have now. Although I would love to see even an early November 3 day Muzzle Loader or a possible spring Archery season. Highly unlikely but possible with enough support from the public. Sooner or later a kid will be killed (God forbid) but its only a matter of time. Once that happens, public opinion will change and people will be calling for a hunt. Until then the public perception of the NJ black Bear is that of a loveable Disney Character, and I'm the "evil no good hunter". Actuality couldn't be further from that depiction.

 

Sorry Rant Over.

 

[fishnut 2,358]

Your mostly correct but the populations of the bear, turkeys, coyotes, and bobcats populations are not growing they are rebounding same as the white tail deer population. They all have always been native to NJ they were just overhunted and or victims of habitat loss due to humans. which resulted in very small numbers of all those animals but they were not extinct in the state. Well, I am not sure 100% sure if the turkey population was wiped out or not. The coyotes were hunted to the edge of extinction in the state before the state started to reintroduce them. I have been told by old timers that in the 30's if you got a white tail deer you made it into the paper because there were so few. So while you may have not seen the animals they were still there. The only species that I can think of off the top of my head that have been wiped out of NJ are the Mountain Loins and the Passenger pidgin. Both the eastern sub species of mountain lions and the passenger pidgin are listed as extinct. As for the Native Americans the area I live in was purchased from the Indians fair and square, you can still see a copy of the bill of sale in the municipal building so if they want their land back they can buy it back. Also I have recently found out that I have more than one native American relative so I guess I can stay anyway.