Tally now at 489 after state decides to add four additional days to black bear season
FREDON -- The state Department of Environmental Protection added four more days to the black bear hunting season originally scheduled to end this past weekend, with 17 animals killed Wednesday, according to preliminary DEP figures.
Eleven animals were killed in Sussex County, three in Warren, one in Passaic and two in Morris on the first day of the extended hunt, which ends Saturday. No animals were killed Wednesday in the other counties where the firearms hunt has been permitted, Bergen, Hunterdon, Mercer and Somerset.
A total of 489 animals have been killed in 2015 as of Wednesday, far higher than the 2014 total of 217 animals but still short of the take the state had hoped to realize in this year's cull. The state reinstated the controversial hunt in 2010 to contain swelling bear populations, especially north of the I-78 corridor.
The hunt was extended after just 18 percent of bears previously tagged by wildlife officials were killed in the first phase of the hunt from Dec. 7 through Dec. 12, slightly below the state's target of 20 percent.
Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2. FindNJ.com on Facebook