New Jersey Fish and Wildlife has announced that the December black bear hunting season will be extended by four days this week, per state regulations.  

The extension begins a half-hour prior to sunrise on Wednesday, Dec. 14 and ends a half-hour after sunset on Saturday, Dec. 17.

An extension of up to four days was required if the minimum goal of reaching 20% of the tagged bears was not reached by the scheduled close of the regular season.  

The state’s bear hunting regulations call for the mandatory closure of the season once the cumulative rate of tagged bears brought to check stations reaches 30%. 

The bear hunting zones include all of Sussex, Warren, Morris, and Hunterdon counties, as well as portions of Passaic, Somerset, Bergen, and Mercer counties.