No bear hunt in 2021 as required management policy expires

There will be no black bear hunt in New Jersey this fall for the first time in more than a decade.

News 12 Staff

Jul 22, 2021, 9:15 AM

Updated 1,196 days ago

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There will be no black bear hunt in New Jersey this fall for the first time in more than a decade.
The state Division of Fish and Wildlife posts on its website that the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy required under a 2007 state Supreme Court ruling expired Wednesday.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy pledged to end the hunt when he ran for governor in 2017, and the following year he halted bear hunting on public lands.
The bear hunt was reintroduced in New Jersey in 2003 to control the growing bear population, after a nearly three-decade hiatus.
It has been held annually since 2010; a second hunt was added in 2015.