A warm spring evening in rural New Jersey and night gently pushes 
out the daylight, chirping birds quite now as they retreat to their hideaways. On cue tree-frogs having rested all day, begin their hunt for food, small insects and bugs. As the night progresses the males will begin to croak and call out for the females in choruses, first a group from the left, then the right, then in front, back and forth their sound traveling for long-distances.
From a nearby pond the tree-frogs are joined by relatives as their much larger cousins, the bull-frogs sing out with deep, loud croaks of their own. While helping the tree-frogs to keep down the mosquito and insect populations their much larger appetite may include fellow frogs. Bull-frogs are free from natural predators and can use their toxic secretions to disable their prey.
Used to be; further back in the woods unseen and unheard roamed the Black Bear, looking for wild fruit trees, nuts and juicy, moist greens and a nice meal of fawn or other meat. With no natural predators to worry about the mighty bears ruled the dark wilderness without fear. In the daylight hours they had learned to avoid their only predator, humans as they rightly associated them with danger. For centuries they became familiar with the human smell, the sound of a gun, the twang of a bow string and they knew too well that their mighty strength was no match for the thunder sticks. 
Used to be; a lot more forest for the bears but as development of land began to chip away at their natural habitant they began to drift closer to humans. In many states where hunting takes place the bears knew their limits. Sure every now and then they wound up in someone’s backyard, maybe found a garbage pail, a low birdfeeder or some other scrap. But they still resisted bold interaction with humans.
Used to be; less black bears, not only in New Jersey, but around the United States now they are on the increase in every state but still under control through hunting. In New Jersey however, we have a black bear “epidemic” created by a political “epidemic” of interference with the state’s Fish & Wildlife by the Governor’s office. Fueling this controversy are anti-hunting/animal-rights groups and a DEP that refuses to support the professional, experienced wildlife biologists and Fish&Game Council. These groups continue to misinform and mislead a very busy Governor who is struggling with the financial woes of N.J. If the Governor were given the correct information he would quickly understand the danger to humans, the success of hunting in (26) other states with large black bear populations, the money he could save by stopping all of these taxpayer, funded court battles and the money he could earn by adding black bear hunting to the hunting licenses and permit revenue stream. The Fish&Game, hunters and citizens would never allow the black bear population to shrink to extinction; we need a balanced population for safe coexistence with humans.
Used to be; that everyday common-sense played a supporting role in decision making. Common-sense clearly tells us that the black bear simply cannot be left to multiply beyond the states natural carrying capacity. Even in states with hunting land development has influenced the black bears behavior. Those that lack common-sense indicate that proves hunting does not work. Common-sense rebuts with statistics showing that without centuries of hunting these same states would now be overrun with black bears further inflating serious intrusive complaints and attacks on domestic livestock and humans. In New Jersey, complaints went down after hunts in 2003 and 2005 (the last hunt in N.J.) and up in 2007, 2008 and again in 2009 with more aggressive black bear behavior being reported.
Used to be; humans could sit out in the privacy of their backyards to enjoy the “tax-paid-for” property they escape to after a working day. A place for the children to meet and play or perhaps it is supposed to be a relaxing day in someone’s retired life. Now we have to contend with “overpopulated” non-human-fearing, black bears. Day or night they roam taking away the peace and security of our homes.
Many so-called bear experts continue to ignore the warning signs, by writing again and again on how to tolerate black bears, how to co-exist, while the black bear counters with increased aggressiveness towards humans. The black bears of New Jersey have “NO-FEAR” and studies show that their once shy behavior has steadily been changing to an unpredictable aggressive behavior. Wild animals are “unpredictable” and when they are large and strong they are dangerous.
The peaceful chorus of frogs; chirping are the tree-frogs, croaking deeply are the bull-frog, they give us free entertainment and hunt pesky bugs and mosquito’s and as the dusk of another day greets us we can close our eyes and live in the beauty of our own backyard wilderness; SNAP, POP, BANG what the heck? Yup now we have the sound of a black bear like a drunk at a ballgame spoiling the day. Silencing the frogs and sending us scrambling quickly to safety, hope we all get there in time. From a safe place we watch a big beautiful male moving with a certain poetic gate; stopping now and then his nose to the sky as he wind-scents then standing on hind legs for a better view, gracefully he comes back down on all fours and moves forward. He looks out of place, this majestic bear now on display in a large development akin to a zoo. Oh, he knows we are watching and the look on his face somehow expresses the disgust of leaving the beauty of once hidden forest land to be a part of fast paced human habitant. Perhaps he can steal a leftover meal from some unsecured garbage pail or maybe find a rabbit cage or a kitchen door leading to some freshly baked pies. Maybe today he won’t be in such a good mood and find some human to threaten, maybe swipe, maybe worse. A child would be easier prey. Well he doesn’t particularly like to pick on humans but time has taught him that he is bigger, stronger and humans!! They don’t fight back so maybe today he will be your typical bully.
Maybe that look on his face tells us of better times, times when there were less brothers, sisters and cousins occupying the hidden forests, times when he didn’t have to cope with camera crazy humans, times when a human would be lucky to see him. Now humans are his “paparazzi” they follow him for candid shots, they are intrusive and annoying. Hunters; they kill but he has a chance to use his skills against theirs, he is good and when the population is reduced to the proper numbers he will be difficult to find, he will go back to the forest where he relaxed and enjoyed his clandestine lifestyle. The strong will survive, the weak will fall and the balance will be good for both him and humans.
Frogs give us peace when we hear them; black bears give us peace when we don’t see them.
So stop the non-sense; use common-sense just how long does anyone really believe that New Jersey can allow the black bear population to continue growing? There just is not enough room and contrary to what the anti’s suggest it is not a matter of “move-out” if you do not like living with bears because human-rights before animal-rights. We need hunting, whether you are a hunter or not, this is the only proven method of wildlife management. Twenty-six (26) out of Twenty-seven (27) states successfully use hunting to control their black bear population.
Contact your state Senators, the Governors office and DEP let them know you support controlled black bear hunting, value human safety and need to know you can enjoy your own “tax-paid-for-property” without fear of wild animals. Let them know that you support black bear rights to exist in their own natural habitant, to survive using their own skills and not be forced to leave their homeland due to black bear overpopulation. New Jersey is preserving forest and farm land through preservation this will help the black bear if there are not too many.
Mike D
What do you do when none of these people write back to you? I have written multiple times, with pictures of the damage done.
What happens when my children are attacked by a bear while playing in my own back yard?
Gillian, thank you for the comments. We need to just keep writing and calling as the animal-right and anti-hunters do. Unfortunately, they have a communication network in place wherein they compose letters, e-mails and phone calls that their members can just copy, sign and send.
This is so political right now, especially with an upcoming election, that we should be extremely concerned with this problem. Chances are they will stonewall a hunt this year and one more year without reducing the black bear population will be unbearable.
Like you we worry about the day when some innocent child becomes the victim, apparently the eye opener they will need to wake up and address this black bear overpopulation.
Sad as it sounds how else can you look at it? Forgive the redundancy, but (27) other states,have successfully used hunting to control the black bear population. Common on, allow a wild animal, especially a black bear to simply propagate to whatever number they can reach. Where are they going to live? What are they going to eat? How will they learn not to infringe on humans? Garbage control, been there, done that it’s over and now garbage control will have no impact on stemming population growth and dangerous bear to human encounters.
This is just so wrong it is hard to believe intelligent people can think like this. That politicans charged with our safety can just allow this to go on when they have (27) other state political bodies doing just the opposite by allowing their professional biologists and F&W to solve the problem.
Can’t N.J. leaders see this? Can’t N.J. leaders put politics aside and yield, not to hunters, but to the non-hunting public that endorses hunting, to our own professional biologists and F&W and finally to the safety of our citizens.
When will these animal-right/ani-hunting groups look at human safety first? Stop feeding the Governor and DEP, politicians with misleading facts and using voting pressure to make the lies work?
Keep writing Gillian, and God Watch over your children kindly.
Mike D
HI Mike,
Thanks for the response. I made a video for a course I am taking in educational technology. Here is the link. I tried sending to Corzine and Pennachio but the file size is too large.
We (my husband and I) keep a journal of the bears in our neighborhood: date, time, size etc.
Almost 2 -3 times a week we see a bear. It’s unsafe and I am not one to panic since I grew up in PA on a dairy farm. I rarely saw a bear in PA. That’s because we understand the value of the hunt.
Thanks again,
Gillian
Oops! Forgot the link.
Hi Gillian, thanks again, however I cannot open the link perhaps it is too large for my system also. Maybe if you have the time someday you can comment on what is in the video.
My family came from and still live in PA, my wives family lives in Northern N.J. When she was growing up she never saw black bears there either. My family in PA hardley sees them either.
I totally agree that PA, and by the way (27) states altogether, fully understand the value of hunting for wildlife management/population control.
They also understand the value of hunting from a cultural perspective.
Thank You Again
Mike
I am doing some research on NJ frogs and the one in the photo above is one we found in our back yard in S NJ. Is that the bull frog, do you know the exact name? My son is doing a project for school and has his photo with a frog like that but we need to identify the name.
I feel for you with the bears, coyotes moved in around here and are catching lots of deer, but worry about all the children too.
Regards
Rose
H Rose, thank you for reading my blog do not know the exact name of the frog, sorry, but you can goggle the frogs and you will find all sorts of photos’ with correct names. Thank you fo the concern about the black bear problems and you are correct coyotes are becoming quite a threat, attacking dogs and livestock and a few humans. Interesting though, not being as “cute” as the black bear, no one cares about them being hunted.
Mike D.