Good weather continues on the second day of the weeklong hunting season
FREDON -- The total number of bears harvested by the second day of the state's bear hunt reached 309, already exceeding by a considerable margin the number of animals taken in all of last year, according to preliminary figures from the state Department of Environmental Protection released Tuesday night.
Ninety-three animals -- the large majority hunted in Sussex County, which usually leads among all counties for number of bears claimed -- were weighed on Tuesday, less than half the number of animals on the first day of the hunt Monday.
The five-year-old firearms hunt was introduced to limit populations of black bears in New Jersey, especially in the northern part of the state. The hunt is permitted in parts of eight counties.