Yup

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In Pa the Government is bringing in shooters to hunt Deers in Valley Forge National Historical Park and they plan on feeding the meat to homeless.


http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/20 ... national-historical-park/

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I have to agree. I love the guys that hide up in trees or in cherry pickers, waiting and waiting for a deer to happen to walk by. As if that takes any skill whatsoever.

And honestly, anyone who would kill an animal for sport is a poor excuse for a human being.

Christian will really show me something when he can take down a bear without the use of a gun from long distance.

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They're pussies.

Yes Bear Meatloaf is actually really good , but last i checked plenty of Americans can not put food on the table. So they can donate it to local pantries.

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Do hunters typically eat bear meat? Just curious.

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Really?? Most hunters eat what they kill. Or they give it to family and friends to eat. Or they donate the meat to food shelters. I find what you stated to be extremely offensive. Lack of class!

Indian tribes hunt for food and are respectful and grateful for the animals they kill. These hunters do it for fun and are really just soul-less pussies.

?The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated?

Gandhi

Here are 5th graders... think of them with guns...

Kearny 5th-grader goes hunting for bear in Jefferson Township with dad and uncle, brings back 200-pound female black bear for Union City taxidermist to stuff

Tuesday, December 07, 2010
By JEAN-PIERRE MESTANZA
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

With a female black bear 50 yards away, Anthony Davidson motioned to his 11-year-old nephew Christian to shoot the animal.

"I grabbed my gun, aimed and shot it," Christian, a Kearny fifth-grader, said in Union City yesterday, only a few hours after notching his first kill.

Using a 12-gauge shotgun, Christian shot the 200-pound, 31/2-year-old bear shortly after 8 a.m. in Jefferson Township, about 43 miles west of Hudson County.

"I didn't feel the gun," Christian said about the recoil.

The kill was recorded about an hour after New Jersey kicked off a six-day bear hunt in seven counties. State officials estimate there are 3,400 bears in New Jersey, double the population from 2001. They anticipate the hunt could remove as many as 700 animals.

Christian, his uncle, and Christian's father, Lawrence Davidson, 45, were in Union City yesterday visiting taxidermist John Janelli, whom they hired to stuff the bruin.

Christian has been going out with his father and uncle since the age of 6 when they took him to hunt in North Carolina. At 7 years old, he started learning how to shoot at the gun range, his father said. Last year, at 10, Christian obtained his youth hunting license.

"He's been shooting for a while now," Lawrence Davidson said about his son. "He can handle a shotgun and rifle pretty well."

According to the website of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, those between the ages of 10 and 16 can get a youth hunting license, which allows them to hunt when accompanied by a licensed hunter who is at least 21 years old.

"I never saw a kid this young hunt a black bear before, this is unbelievable," Janelli, the taxidermist, remarked.

It took all three Davidsons about three hours to load the bear on their pickup truck after tagging it and weighing it.

"It was well worth it, and I'm happy for him (Christian)," said Anthony Davidson, 45, of Kearny.

Asked what he wants to hunt next, Christian pointed to the heads of caribou and buffalo hanging in Janelli's living room on Central Avenue.

"I want to go to Maine, because I think they have a lot of buffalo there. It should be fun," he said.

The Star-Ledger contributed to this story.

Hunters Flock To Bear Down In New Jersey

Wall Street Journal
By CHRIS HERRING

Nearly 7,000 hunters have obtained permits to participate in New Jersey's black-bear hunt next week, a spike of more than 57% from the number registered for the state's last hunt, in 2005.

The surge comes even as animal-rights groups sought to stop the hunt with a legal challenge that failed on Friday.

Some New Jersey hunters say the length of time that has passed since the last hunt drew scores of residents to buy permits. "It's so overdue, and I think most of us have felt like that for a while now," said Dave Worth, who owns the Cheyenne Mountain Outfitters store in Robbinsville. He said his shop, just east of Trenton, has sold "a ton" of permits for the hunt.

Ed Cuneo, president of the state's Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said he expects permit sales to rise even further, citing Friday's court decision that will allow the hunt to proceed. "It's not something you get to do all the time in New Jersey," he said of bear hunting.

Officials say about 6,500 permits have been sold thus far and they expect to sell at least 500 more in the coming days. That's up from the 4,434 people who bought permits for the 2005 hunt.

The permit sales seem to signal high interest in this particular hunt as opposed to hunting in general. The 80,000 or so people who paid for hunting licenses in New Jersey last year is similar to the amount sold in 2000. But the figure is a far cry from the numbers in 1990 and 1980, when more than 125,000 and 175,000, respectively, bought hunting licenses.

Similarly, the number of license holders nationwide has held steady over the past decade, at about 15 million. That figure is off from the 16 million or so that were licensed in 1980 and 1990.

New Jersey officials said they were pleased with the sales of the $2 permits. "It's up appreciably, but we don't know why," said Lawrence Ragonese, a spokesman for the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

Bear hunts have become somewhat rare. While hunts were allowed in 2003 and 2005, the state suspended them for more than three decades starting in the 1970s to allow the animal's population to rebound.

And rebound they have. State officials cited the booming number of black bears?3,400 are estimated to reside in the northwest portion of the state, up from 500 or so in the early 1990s?in their decision to allow the hunt. They expressed concern that the animals had begun expanding into more heavily populated areas, increasing the likelihood of human encounters.

Doris Lin, an attorney representing the Animal Protection League of New Jersey and the Bear Education and Resource Group, painted the state's black-bear policy plan as sloppy and arbitrary.

"They're pretending that the hunt is necessary when the science they cite does not support one," she said.

A New Jersey appeals court did side with Ms. Lin in a 2007 lawsuit, finding that the 2005 hunt was commissioned based on faulty science. The ruling invalidated the state's bear management policy, which at the time called for an annual hunt. State officials in turn created one that called for nonlethal ways to manage the bears.

The policy has since changed again, under Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who as a candidate said he supported a bear hunt.

Participants will be allowed to shoot bears of any age and gender, using shotguns and muzzleloaders. State officials have said they seek to reduce the bear population by anywhere from 500 to 700 bears. In 2003 and 2005, 328 and 298 bears were killed, respectively.

Write to Chris Herring at chris.herring@wsj.com
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Activists seek to block N.J. bear hunt

An appeals court denied the bid to stop Monday's hunt. Gov. Christie called the claims "laughable."

By Angela Delli Santi
Associated Press

TRENTON - Animal-rights activists have petitioned New Jersey's highest court to block a black bear hunt scheduled to begin Monday.

The Animal Protection League of New Jersey and the Bear Education and Resource Group want the six-day hunt stopped before it starts. Environmental regulators insist the hunt, the state's first in five years, is needed to control a growing bear population now estimated at 3,400.

A hunt in seven northwestern counties is expected to reduce the number by 300 to 700 bears.

The state Supreme Court did not rule Friday. Court spokeswoman Winnie Comfort said a ruling could be issued Saturday.

An appeals court refused to block the hunt Friday, saying the groups' claims lacked merit. A similar challenge was successful in 2007, and no hunt was held.

"Of course, we're disappointed," lawyer Doris Lin said. "We're still confident we will eventually win the lawsuit."

The Department of Environmental Protection's bear-management policy includes a hunt. The groups contend the policy was improperly developed.

The appellate division disagreed.

The panel found the hunt "a safe, legal, and responsible use of wildlife resources, as well as a legitimate and effective means to control overabundant game species in a cost-effective manner."

Hunting is used to manage and control the black bear population in at least 29 other states, including Pennsylvania and New York, the ruling noted.

About two dozen protesters braved the cold outside the Statehouse on Friday to protest the hunt, chanting "No blood for votes," a reference to their assertion that Gov. Christie backed the hunt during his campaign in order to win votes.

One demonstrator, Edita Birnkrant, the New York director of Friends of Animals, appealed to Christie to use his gubernatorial power to stop the hunt.

Christie was unswayed. He called the group's claims "laughable" at a news conference Friday and said the hunt was "environmentally, ecologically sound."

DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese said the agency was pleased by the appellate ruling and confident the hunt would be held as scheduled.

"We believe the hunt is based on science and facts, and we're confident there will be a well-managed bear hunt in New Jersey on Monday."

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NJ Bear Hunt Is On, Says Court

By BRIAN THOMPSON
Updated 5:30 PM EST, Fri, Dec 3, 2010

Protesters chanted "Cancel the Hunt" outside New Jersey's Statehouse in Trenton Friday while, just blocks away, the State Appeals Court was giving the bear chase the green light.

"It is very disappointing," said Edita Birnkrant of the Friends of Animals in reaction to the court ruling.

The first hunt in five years is set to begin Monday and last for six days in the Northwestern third of the state, according to NJ Fish and Wildlife Director David Chanda.

"We'll basically just keep the population at the level it is now," said Chanda.

In that part of New Jersey (bears can be found in every one of the state's 21 counties, according to research), there are an estimated 3400 bears, and the state claims complaints have been going up.

But that statistic is one issue of contention between the state and advocates, who argue their own examination of the state's record keeping shows just the opposite -- that many of the complaints were double counted and the actual number has been going down.

There has been no independent analysis to determine which side is right, but the state says population control goes hand in glove with bear proof garbage containers and education to make sure bears pose minimal danger to humans living in 'bear country.'

"I think our education programs have helped peoploe be much more tolerant of a black bear in their backyard," Chanda said, while adding "When it starts to break into their home, they're not as comfortable."

But bear advocates see this as a chance for the 7,000 plus hunters who have permits to just mount a head on a wall, or throw a rug in front of the fireplace.

"I don't believe in trophy hunting," said Kathy McGuire of Camden County, who said she owns a .357 Magnum that she uses simply for target practice.

Advocates may have lost the first round in court, but are appealing over the weekend to the State Supreme Court.
"While we're disappointed in today's ruling from the Appellate Division, we will not be deterred," said Doris Lin, an attorney for several animal protection groups.

She added, "We also lost our motion to stay the hunt in 2005, but by 2007, the court ruled that the state's 2005 bear hunt and bear policy were illegal."

If, however, the state's highest court turns advocates down, hunters will be able to go out half an hour before sunrise Monday morning, and will have six days to get their prey.
Dhanda did suggest that while there are more than 7,000 permitted hunters, it is unlikely they will be allowed to kill more than several hundred bears since the hunt can be stopped with just 24 hours notice.

Bear hunt opponents rally today at NJ Statehouse

Published: Friday, December 03, 2010

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? Opponents of New Jersey's bear hunt plan to protest outside the Statehouse in Trenton Friday.

The state's first hunt in five years is scheduled to start Monday and last through Dec. 11 in New Jersey's seven northwestern counties.

Hunters would be permitted to kill one bear each.

The Environmental Protection Department says 297 bears were killed during the last hunt in 2005. The DEP estimates 300 to 700 would be killed this time around.

Animal rights groups filed court papers Wednesday seeking to block the hunt, arguing the bear management policy is flawed. A similar challenge succeeded in 2007 and no hunt was held.

The state says the argument is without merit and the groups can't show that the hunt will threaten the long-term viability of the black bear population.

An appeals court ruling is expected soon.

http://www.savenjbears.com