Fatal Bear Attack in NJ

All the predators are making a comeback. There not being hunted plus the over population needs to be culled. I have bears, mountainlions, bobcat, lynx, fishers, coyotes, plus beaver damming up streams. There are no trappers of yesteryear today. How much longer do we wait before these over populations are taken off the endangered lists and were allowed to hunt them again. There to the point there not afraid of man. How many more deaths do we need before changes are made.

We tell people what we're seeing and they are convinced we're wrong. My son,wife,daughter seen a mountainlion in there woods near the condo while walking the dog. It was behind a dead fallen tree busy eating a fresh kill.
My son took the condo powers to be and showed them it's tracks. They said no way your wrong. No one believed them until the mountainlion was browsing through the condo's middle parking lot while people were going to work and the kids were outside waiting for the school bus.
Then it was holy ......We have a mountainlion. Everyone seen it now.

The mountainlion is one of the most elusive animals to try to see. It took me decades to see one after seeing its tracks in the snow in the higher elevations in the mountains. Now decades later as there population has multiplied there wandering into the lower populated areas looking for food.

We also have the construction of new malls and housing cutting into there habitat too. We need to leave them enough free space and forest land for them too. What were doing now isn't working nor do the powers to be have a plan. When a hiker gets killed by an animal someone isn't doing there job to stop the threat.

I often wonder we know these animals are there yet at the entrance to the forest I don't see any warning signs. Why?

The bottom line is some think we are on the top of the food chain and we are not.
 
Funny thing about bears..... In a close encounter, a Grizz is more likely to attack out of aggression, kill you, and leave you lay. But when a male black bear attacks, it is more likely to actually eat you.

I spend a lot of time in black bear country (Maine and PA), photographing wildlife, kayaking, camping; and have encountered a lot of bears. Most run away, some are a little curious. I have been bluff charged a couple times. Had bears pressing against the fabric of a small tent while I sat inside sweating. Even been chased by a female when I got between her and her cubs with a camera. She could have had me if she wanted, but was content to just "push" me away from her cubs. Had a small bear in the water follow me around a pond in my kayak - Don't know what he was thinking.

Only time I ever really felt in danger was years ago, up in Maine. Was walking from a lake I had been kayaking on back to camp for lunch with the wife and step kids. Bear started following me, circling. He would disappear into the woods, then reappear, getting closer each time. he was small, and didn't look right. Seemed he was trying to work up his courage. After about ten minutes of cat and mouse, he ignored my shouts, trying to drive him off, and started making a bee line for me. At about 15 yards, I shot him in the head with a .45 Glock I was carrying.

He was an old bear, with broken teeth, and in a starved condition. The game warden agreed that he was starving, and a threat. I do believe he was about to attempt to eat me, and that was a weird feeling, let me tell you. It made me a firm believer in always carrying a firearm in the woods - always.

Larry
 
I was carrying a Glock 26 the one time my wife and I encountered a bear hiking, maybe three years ago.
004294.JPG


Now I carry a S&W 1006.
Photo7121.jpg


I believe I would take Elmer Keith's advice on caliber and velocity.

"A cast iron camp stove at 2500 fps":)
 
All the predators are making a comeback. There not being hunted plus the over population needs to be culled. I have bears, mountainlions, bobcat, lynx, fishers, coyotes, plus beaver damming up streams. There are no trappers of yesteryear today. How much longer do we wait before these over populations are taken off the endangered lists and were allowed to hunt them again. There to the point there not afraid of man. How many more deaths do we need before changes are made.

We tell people what we're seeing and they are convinced we're wrong. My son,wife,daughter seen a mountainlion in there woods near the condo while walking the dog. It was behind a dead fallen tree busy eating a fresh kill.
My son took the condo powers to be and showed them it's tracks. They said no way your wrong. No one believed them until the mountainlion was browsing through the condo's middle parking lot while people were going to work and the kids were outside waiting for the school bus.
Then it was holy ......We have a mountainlion. Everyone seen it now.

The mountainlion is one of the most elusive animals to try to see. It took me decades to see one after seeing its tracks in the snow in the higher elevations in the mountains. Now decades later as there population has multiplied there wandering into the lower populated areas looking for food.

We also have the construction of new malls and housing cutting into there habitat too. We need to leave them enough free space and forest land for them too. What were doing now isn't working nor do the powers to be have a plan. When a hiker gets killed by an animal someone isn't doing there job to stop the threat.

I often wonder we know these animals are there yet at the entrance to the forest I don't see any warning signs. Why?

The bottom line is some think we are on the top of the food chain and we are not.

You sound like the anti "Assault Rifle" crowd. Considering how over populated and hungry these predators are, they aren't doing much. I believe the average number of deaths in America due bears/mountain lions/wolves combined ranks just behind badminton fatalities
 
All the predators are making a comeback. There not being hunted plus the over population needs to be culled. I have bears, mountainlions, bobcat, lynx, fishers, coyotes, plus beaver damming up streams. There are no trappers of yesteryear today. How much longer do we wait before these over populations are taken off the endangered lists and were allowed to hunt them again. There to the point there not afraid of man. How many more deaths do we need before changes are made.

We tell people what we're seeing and they are convinced we're wrong. My son,wife,daughter seen a mountainlion in there woods near the condo while walking the dog. It was behind a dead fallen tree busy eating a fresh kill.
My son took the condo powers to be and showed them it's tracks. They said no way your wrong. No one believed them until the mountainlion was browsing through the condo's middle parking lot while people were going to work and the kids were outside waiting for the school bus.
Then it was holy ......We have a mountainlion. Everyone seen it now.

The mountainlion is one of the most elusive animals to try to see. It took me decades to see one after seeing its tracks in the snow in the higher elevations in the mountains. Now decades later as there population has multiplied there wandering into the lower populated areas looking for food.

We also have the construction of new malls and housing cutting into there habitat too. We need to leave them enough free space and forest land for them too. What were doing now isn't working nor do the powers to be have a plan. When a hiker gets killed by an animal someone isn't doing there job to stop the threat.

I often wonder we know these animals are there yet at the entrance to the forest I don't see any warning signs. Why?

The bottom line is some think we are on the top of the food chain and we are not.

They should all be in a circus cage or dead ....cause that's what it's coming down to. Oh yea they are over populated, of course. ...if wee keep shrinking their land then there will be more of them on less land...thus over populated. Two bears/goats/gerbils/beavers/lions on the last remaining 2 Sq ft of open space is over population. Around here in SE Pa people keep moving further and further into the wilderness because it's so beautiful but to get there they plow over and concrete everything in sight and then complain that there are too many wild animals. In 6 months you go from forest to 10k people town with subdivisions and strip malls.

Trappers of yesteryear also did some damage. Remember the Buffalo? Linx? Two animals that were almost gone.

When I go camping in the mountains I'm in their house. If I wanted risk free camping I could trow a tent in my house and just look out the window at the 2 trees that my home association left standing and called it "preserved open space"
 
As many of you know, Black Bears can be easily dealt with and coexisted with as they don't want to eat you, generally. As a previous posted stated, it's the aged or infirmed animals that cannot hunt their natural prey and when that happens be it a Bear, Lion, Mountain Lion, or whatever, they will hunt what is easiest to take down. Living in Pa., I carry a firearm in the woods, around the yard, or pretty much everywhere. Do I fear Bears? No. I respect them.
Funny, I read the NJ Herald and the usual bunch of tree huggers and Bear protectors did everything they could to either blame the hiker of try and convince readers it wither wasn't a Bear attack or the Bear " scared " him to death. They are always consistent,...... sad.
 
Triathloncoach,

I doubt that a victim would take much solace knowing he or she was the only person consumed by a bear in over 100 years.
Maybe if the victim showed the bear the statistical information, the attack would stop. Dean
 
Triathloncoach,

I doubt that a victim would take much solace knowing he or she was the only person consumed by a bear in over 100 years.
Maybe if the victim showed the bear the statistical information, the attack would stop. Dean

True but then the only other option is to eradicate all predatory animals.....completely. That way there won't be even one bear attack in 500 years
 
There is a bit of silliness going on here (including me, my apologies). Here is the truth: if you go into the wilderness, be prepared to encounter wildlife, and make a decision how you want to protect yourself. I'm good with any way you want to do it, or even if you decide not to. It's entirely your call.

As far as dangerous animals around populated areas goes, they have to be controlled. Doesn't matter if it is catch and release ( which doesn't work well with big cats) or euthanasia. People gotta be protected.

Also, it is cruel to not manage wildlife. Anyone who has seen an animal starve as a result of overpopulation understands this.
 
Every year the loonies protest the bear hunt...

It's all clear to me now. People are obviously loony, i.e. somewhat crazy or off in the head or mentally disturbed, if they protest a bear hunt?

Got it.
 
I own a house on the southeast side of Vernon, in Sussex county, NJ. If I walk due east, straight out the back door, I'll be in West Milford in Waywayanda state park. The attack took place about another eight or nine miles east of there. Bears are thick on the ground in the whole area. When you see a sow bear in the spring with triplet cubs, there isn't enough pressure in the environment. It's been that way for twenty-five years.

Russ
 

Latest posts

Back
Top