829 Pound Black Bear Taken in New Jersey

[Alaska444]

New Jersey is not often the place one would think of finding a giant black bear in the wild, let alone a half mile from a local high school there. But that is exactly what NJ officials recorded when a hunter brought in his find. Makes you think twice about those .22 LR for woods defense in NJ!!

JEFFERSON — A Morris County deer hunter who shot one of the biggest black bears taken in North America was disappointed.

“I would have traded getting two bucks instead of the bear,” said Bruce Headley, 62, of Weldon Road, Milton. Headley’s 829-pound live weight black bear was one of fewer than a dozen over 800 pounds in 35 states and most of Canada.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2...ecord-N-J-hunt

[mete]

A 776 lb bear was taken ,a record ! Then the next day the 829 lb was taken ! Then this week a 500 lb was found in someone's basement - all settled in asleep for the hibernation !! Homeowner clueless !
About 450 bear taken though they wanted about 600.
I'll withhold my remarks about the antis .
BTW PA record is 900 lb, what's the record Alaska Black bear ??

[Alaska444]

If you read down the article a little further, it gives the top heavy weight black bears in the US:

Heavyweight Contenders
Garden State adult male American black bears (Ursus americanus) weigh on average 400 pounds. Males are called boars; females, called sows, average 175. Headley's bear was a boar. Cubs are born in January and most weigh an average of 80 pounds by their first December. Sows aggressively chase their cubs when the reach ages of 16-18 months, so they can breed again.

Pennsylvania's state record bear, estimated at 879 lbs., was shot in 2010 in Pike County, but weighed 700 lbs. on June 7, 2009, when it was caught, tagged, weighed and released by N.J. bear research biologists off Old Mine Road, in Hardwick Township, Warren County. Six bears heavier than 800 pounds have been shot by hunters in Pennsylvania since 1992.

The U.S. record wild black bear, shot in North Carolina in November 1998, had fattened by eating discards near a pig farm. It weighed 880 lbs. A 805-pound black bear was killed by a hunter in Manitoba, the province where one that was 856.5 lbs was killed when struck by a vehicle on a road near Winnipeg in 2001.

New York's record black bear, shot in Franklin County in the Adirondacks in 1975, weighed 750 lbs.

Bears can grow as big as 900 in captivity if they're overfed, which is what happened to the wild one that roamed last year in Pike County, Pa., and had been fed by workers at the Fernwood Resort. The Monroe County hunter who shot it with a crossbow said he didn't know that.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2...ecord-N-J-hunt

[FrankenMauser]

New Jersey is not often the place one would think of finding a giant black bear in the wild, let alone a half mile from a local high school there. But that is exactly what NJ officials recorded when a hunter brought in his find. Makes you think twice about those .22 LR for woods defense in NJ!!

What does it matter, if it was 1/2 mile from a high school?

New Jersey is so heavily populated, it's pretty hard to get 1/2 mile from anything. It just goes to show how ignorant and unobservant people are, that no one knew the bear was even in the area.

[Alaska444]

Today, 11:35 AM #4
FrankenMauser
Senior Member

Join Date: August 25, 2008
Location: Mormonville
Posts: 3,762
Quote:
New Jersey is not often the place one would think of finding a giant black bear in the wild, let alone a half mile from a local high school there. But that is exactly what NJ officials recorded when a hunter brought in his find. Makes you think twice about those .22 LR for woods defense in NJ!!
What does it matter, if it was 1/2 mile from a high school?

New Jersey is so heavily populated, it's pretty hard to get 1/2 mile from anything. It just goes to show how ignorant and unobservant people are, that no one knew the bear was even in the area.
__________________
-Long Winded Voice of Reason..... or something...

Sorry, but if you read the story, the man that shot this bear on his property was aware of it prior to shooting it. He just wasn't hunting it actively, only the deer. I would not call him ignorant and unobservant.

Bruce and his family prefer venison, but he missed a shot at a buck on opening day of bear and deer season, Dec. 5, at the 150-acre property that has been in his family for nine generations. It abuts the 3,200-acre Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, Morris County's biggest park.

Headley had seen the big bruin in his backyard in late September “under a yellow delicious apple tree shoving apples into its mouth,” about half a mile from Jefferson High School. He wasn't hunting for it, but was one of 7,294 other hunters who bought $2 bear hunting permits.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/2...ecord-N-J-hunt

[warbirdlover]

In any case that's one BIG black bear !!!

[Shotgun693]

If it's not an old boar it'll be pretty good eating. Bear meat needs to be treated like pork. Ive, unfortunately, never killed one but have eaten bear and thought it was great.

[shootniron]

BIG...BIG...BIG BEAR...à la John Candy

[FrankenMauser]

Sorry, but if you read the story, the man that shot this bear on his property was aware of it prior to shooting it. He just wasn't hunting it actively, only the deer. I would not call him ignorant and unobservant.

I did read the article. He saw it once. No one else was aware of the bear.

[Gbro]

I did read the article. He saw it once. No one else was aware of the bear.

One of the commenter's to the article claimed to have know the bear personally . He said the bears name is Clyde.

There is a Bear Sanctuary about 50 miles north that draws bear from a lot further away. There are bear in that place that are so fat their belly's drag the ground and they are so pleased with themselves with what they do.
http://www.americanbear.org/sanctuar...sanctuary.html

As I always say, "God Bless Bear Hunters"

[JimPage]

I'm gonna miss Clyde. We always had a beer on Friday nights together. So many of my old friends are passing.......

[FrankenMauser]

There is a Bear Sanctuary about 50 miles north that draws bear from a lot further away. There are bear in that place that are so fat their belly's drag the ground and they are so pleased with themselves with what they do.

If you read the "Letters to the Editor" section of any of the New Jersey news sites for the week/weekend the Bear/Deer hunt opened, that's all you'll see.
There are thousands of people trying to make themselves feel better, by trying to insult bear hunters' manhood.

I remember seeing one on the New Jersey Herald website, that referred to the "great work" the sanctuary was doing.

[Lambdebois]

A truly large bear no doubt. I enjoy reading the links you post and follow on here Alaska. I have spent a lot of time in bear country and seen many bears in Colorado over the last 6 years. I have noticed.... at least in southern Colorado... The last couple of years.... Every time we have gone to an area in the San Isabel National Forest.... we see bears. They walk around the tent at night. It sounds like a person walking cause there is gravel in the dirt in this area. Sometimes several a day. This last august... I was recovering from a hemilamenectomy/microdiscetomy a month earlier. My significant other started to set up the tent while I drove the vehicle to a restroom the forest service had set up at a lake about a mile or two away. When I was driving back I was literally 40 yards from the site and saw a sow and two small cubs walking around. I freak out cause I realized my fiance was about 15 yards on the other site of some dense trees and brush and was unarmed. When I got around the brush I could see she was okay. She had no idea they were there. Later that day we saw another sow and cubs. She was Huge! The were walking and headed somewhere. We just watched and were glad they were 200+ yards away. My significant others father who has lived in Trinidad and hunted the area of southern Colorado for years said it was the largest bear he had seen in many years. He said all he knew was that it was larger than a 500lb bear when I asked him how large it was as we watched them walk. I will try to post a picture. He has about 25 acres and this year there was a 400lb male that had been raiding the industrial dumpster. He said he would just yell out "Hey bear" at it and it would just look up and take off. We have had vehicles broken into by bears because someone left something in there. Once even for a flask of seagram's seven! He literally bit the top off and I just imagine him lifting it up and chugging it lol. 2-3 years ago in this same area way up on a forest road.... my fiance, I, and our 3 dogs were hunted by a large cinnamon colored bear. It was close enough that ignoring yelling....he came within ten yards looking straight at us... but walking until my fiance pulled her glock and fired several rounds near it into the ground and the bear turned and left long enough for us to throw our dogs and ourselves into the vehicle and drive back into town. Honestly.... I froze at the time and it seemed like everything was in slow motion. Gunshots did not hurt my ears. I hate to admit it but that time.... I couldn't get my shotgun out and loaded near fast enough it. My ability to function seemed compromised and my fiance was able to get a gun loaded and out way faster. A lot of things the talk about did happen as far as gun noise not bothering, tunnel vision ect... It was so disturbing that it still bothers me to this day and have been hesitant to talk about it. I will see if I can get the pics of the large sow and cubs we saw this august. The occurrences I've had in the last 3 years with bears in this area has been a lot higher than in the 3 before than from my experiences. That's all I know.

[Lambdebois]

Here are a few of the pics....

[Lambdebois]

one more view...

[BIGR]

That is a big one for sure. Years ago I had a 472 pounder on my back porch (attacked my gas grill) and I live within 400 yards of a high school, thats true. The bear had been going up to the high school and dumpster diving. Bear season opened and some bear hunters jumped it with their dogs across from my driveway. After the chase they cornered the bear and killed it about a half a mile away. I guess it turned out for the best, since it was starting to be a nuisance.

[C0untZer0]

They seem so funny.

Until they whap you upside the head and start biting you...

http://www.wimp.com/curiousbear/

[Gbro]

That was some cool handed filming!
I was helping 2 friends set up for bear hunting and one was shooting (Bow) and the other was backup with a rifle. He watched as a small bear climbed the archers stand and then blasted it off the top step. The archer almost fell out from the shock of the guns roar! He said he knew the little bear was there but didn't want to make any noise and spoil a chance at a large bear.
The other guy was much more the excitable one.