100 More Bears Killed On Second Day Of Hunt

One hundred more black bears were killed on the second day of a six-day long state-sanctioned hunt.

The 100 harvested bears brings the total number killed Monday and Tuesday to 306, numbers provided by the state Department of Environmental Protection show.

About half the bears killed Tuesday, 49, were harvested in Sussex County; 22 and 15 were killed in Warren and Morris counties, respectively. Eleven were killed in Passaic and only two were killed in Hunterdon.

Only one bear was killed in Bergen County, as was one Monday.

• Related: 206 Bears Killed On First Day Of Bow-And-Arrow Hunt

The designated hunting area has been divided into five zones. Zone 3, the one containing Morris, Bergen, and Passaic counties, has seen the most number of bears killed, 106.

All of Morris County is included in the hunt, while hunters are allowed to go in just a small portion of Bergen and Passaic counties. The territory in Bergen includes Mahwah, Oakland, and Franklin Lakes. A small part of Wayne is in the Passaic County area.

Wednesday the third day is the six-day hunt, and the last where hunters may use bows and arrows. Muzzle-loaded rifles may be used Thursday through Saturday. The hunt is in addition to the firearm hunt held Dec. 5 through 10 this year.

Hunters may kill one bear per hunting season. The season will close if the harvest rate reaches 30 percent of bears tagged in 2016. Twenty-three bears, or 12 percent, of the 197 tagged bears available to be killed have been, state numbers show.

Animal rights and environmental advocates are decried the hunt, saying it is unnecessary and a cruel way to kill the bears.

Hunters can bait the bears, but must abide by certain restrictions. Bears cannot be chased out of dens. All bears, regardless of age, size, or gender, may be hunted.

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