Court Affirms No Bear Hunt On Public Lands But Murphy Hunt is Still on

On Friday, the state appeals court rejected a motion filed by New Jersey Outdoor Alliance and other hunting groups challenging Murphy’s order that closes state lands for bear hunting. Bear hunters however will still have access to other lands and the hunt may be extended if the harvest falls below specified targets. The second phase of the bear hunt is scheduled to begin on December 3.

“If Governor Murphy can win in court on blocking the hunt on state lands, then he can win in court on blocking the hunt on all lands. We believe Murphy has the authority to stop the bear hunt but he still has not stepped up and done it. The court decision was expected,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “The decision to block the hunt on state land is just a distraction. Murphy is trying divert the public while still having a hunt. Murphy has the authority to block the hunt just like Whitman, McGreevey, and Corzine did and yet he is still not doing anything to stop it.”

In their appeal, the sporting groups argued the closure of hunting on state lands conflicts with current state policy to use the hunt as a tool in managing black bear populations in New Jersey and minimizing human-bear conflicts. The court agreed, in part, and remanded the case back to the administrative office of law to determine whether the ban on hunting on state lands undermines the Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy (CBBMP).

“Even though the bear hunt is prohibited on state land, there still could be the same number of bears killed in this year’s hunt. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of private lands for these bears to still be killed on including county parklands, water company lands, non-profit lands and municipal lands. Only 40% of bears are killed on state lands. This means they will move the hunt on private lands and will just privatize the hunt. There is also no mechanism to keep people off public land,” said Tittel. “The Murphy Administration said they could were afraid of being sued if they blocked the hunt but they got sued anyway. Now they won the lawsuit but they still haven’t block the hunt altogether.”

According to a report by the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Bear Activity Report, the number of bears in New Jersey from 2009 to 2018 have dropped by 87 percent. Sightings dropped by 83%, and Damage and Nuisance reports dropped by 86% since 2009. Encounters with aggressive bears tied the lowest total since 2010 with two in 2017. Despite this data, there will still be however, a second phase of the bear hunt for 2018 that will begin December 3.

“We need a thorough bear management plan can be created that adequately tracks the bear population as well as creates education and non-lethal plan to manage it. The bear hunt was initiated initially to get rid of aggressive and nuisance bears and the numbers show that they have dropped by 86%. There’s no reason to be killing the same number of bears this year. The cold snap this week will do more to limit the bear hunt than what Murphy is doing,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “If Murphy has to fight to defend not allowing hunters on half the land, why not just fight to defend not allowing them on any land. This is still Murphy’s hunt and the bears will still get killed. We will continue to urge the Murphy to stop this unbearable hunt.”