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Northern New Jersey Bear Sightings 2008


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Was out today with Bailey in the Sparta Glen area scouting the area for the possibility for a new series in 2008. We had pretty well traversed both hills pretty good and, given that there were a few denned bears in the area, I was surprised we hadn't come across any asleep.

 

I had my wife's camera with a new super zoom and had just taken a picture of Bailey when I heard the sudden breaking of branches and disturbing of leaves. I looked to my left and down in the valley below my "Death by Hemlock Woolly" cache were three bears in full stride darting across the snow. They were all good size so I'm guessing a mom and two yearlings. I turned to shoot (the picture) and the new lense kept focusing on closer trees so I never got a shot. Very frustrating as it was really an amazing sight to see. There goes my National Geographic gig. :smile:

 

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled if in the area as the bears are staying up past bedtime.

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I was out hunting cache locations and found one hibernating or so i thought in a 3 foot water dranage pipe that i think is always dry. I went to look in as a possable cache location and there it was just looking at me from 15 feet away in its nest of dirt and leaves in the pipe with it. I did get a good pic with a flash but the camera is new and i dont know how to post them yet.

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Hey Kevin... I thought they were supposed to be asleep now???

 

Yeah, me too.

 

The timing of the last approved bear hunt was December 5th as supposedly all the mothers and cubs would be denned for the season. When it turned out that the vast majority shot during the hunt were mothers and cubs, I read an interview in the paper from a naturalist (?) that the readily available food supply with more and more of us humans moving into their neck of the woods was decreasing their need to hibernate. Previously, they timed their sleep to the availability of skunk cabbage and the other things they usually eat. Now, with Burger King down the road, they're pulling all nighters.

 

This particular person (in the paper) was concerned that it is changing the whole nature of black bears in the northeast. As it is increasingly common to see 500+ pound black bears (where I guess 250 lbs used to be the norm), he was suggesting that it might not bee too long before their timid nature began to change to be more aggressive. :laughing:

 

The ones I saw yesterday certainly were still timid.

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"This particular person (in the paper) was concerned that it is changing the whole nature of black bears in the northeast. As it is increasingly common to see 500+ pound black bears (where I guess 250 lbs used to be the norm), he was suggesting that it might not bee too long before their timid nature began to change to be more aggressive."

 

 

A great book dealing with this issue is "The Beast in the Garden". REally worth a read, but is will have you looking over your shoulder.

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"This particular person (in the paper) was concerned that it is changing the whole nature of black bears in the northeast. As it is increasingly common to see 500+ pound black bears (where I guess 250 lbs used to be the norm), he was suggesting that it might not bee too long before their timid nature began to change to be more aggressive."

 

 

A great book dealing with this issue is "The Beast in the Garden". REally worth a read, but is will have you looking over your shoulder.

 

 

Only a matter of time before they grab little Timmy waiting for his school bus to get at his PB&J in his backpack.

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Only a matter of time before they grab little Timmy waiting for his school bus to get at his PB&J in his backpack.

 

They actually wait in the Ringwood school yards for the kids to come out; this way they have a better chance at getting more than one pbj. Ringwood has had delayed school closings because they had to get the bears out of the school yards before they let the kids out.

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Hello from the New England section!

 

I just wanted to share that I often visit your "Bear" threads, and am always amazed! Keep them pix coming! I'm facinated by Bears.......I can't explain it :D I'm glad I am not alone :D

 

The other evening, I read the thru these Bear threads right before bed lurking for new pix, and what do you think happened? I had the most bizarre bear dream! Woke up in a cold sweat :D You need to place warnings on your threads!

 

Have a Beary special caching year & Stay safe!

 

:D

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Plenty of fresh tracks in Waywayanda State park about 2 weeks ago. I do not think black bears hibernate in the classic sense that they sleep in winter. I believe they merely get sluggish, hang out close to their dens and keep a much closer radius to their den area (maybe a few miles at most).

 

I have lived in West Milford NJ for 12 years. I have seen bears every winter, and last year I saw them on very cold days in heavy snow. However, I also think they had a den just up the road as my new neighbor was new to 'garbage detail' and they had a ready supply of food.

 

Take care in the woods up this way for bears, but hunters as well. Sundays are better, but both bears and hunters may be out.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gallery.asp...4e-bab1ce99ecd9

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Was up in Sparta Glen (against doctor's orders) to film a video tribute to my uncle who passed away (a real outdoorsman) and to hide one of my brand new TRL geocoins in Sparta Best View. On the way up I passed these monster bear tracks. They looked more like elephant tracks in the snow. I'm not sure my pictures do them justice but that is one BIG critter that made those. Ordinarily, I am more than happy to see a bear -- this time I was pleased to just see the prints. WOW!

 

44db5dbd-2610-4111-b97b-c75838f057ef.jpg

 

0ade3d93-b1f2-44d8-9364-3800eb15a237.jpg

 

8e9327f1-071f-49e8-bc17-f9b94694c897.jpg

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I saw one on Burnt Meadow Rd last week. He retreated before I could get the camera out. Big guy

 

Slightly funny bear story regarding the same trip. I was working with two other people building the new Lake Sonoma Trail in Norvin Green SF. I had placed two new caches along the route during work breaks. We had cut and blazed to a woods road and decided it was a good turning around point. Two of us went ahead to blaze the return route while the other guy stayed behind to rake the path.

 

Turns out that he ran into a bear on the new trail that refused to move. The bear was between him and his tool box, so he abandoned the tool box and retreated via another route and met us back at the car. We were coming back in 2 days so we figured we'd get the tool box then.

 

Then I receive a "found it" note on one of my new caches from IM Spider and a follow up e-mail about a tool box he found on the trail. He left it there so we were able to snag it on Friday. No bears then though.

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Backround, I grew up in North Jersey, I've seen a few back then.

 

I saw in another post somewhere here in these forums about why would someone need to pack a gun. Then I saw this on a different forum I belong to and thought it would fit in here just nice :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

firearmsbear.jpg

 

 

 

:laughing:

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We saw one on the park road near the entrance booths when we were leaving Wawayanda SP last saturday. My boyfriend exclaimed "Bear!" and it immediately took off :huh: This is actually the first one I have seen in NJ in more than five years (saw one in the Adirondacks last fall). We used to see them all the time.

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Saw this near my Overlook Rock cache a few weeks ago. Not sure if it was a bear or a yeti.

 

460812cf-fcdb-4ab3-abaf-54af90ee10f6.jpg

 

Actually it was a momma bear and 2 cubs. There was also an adult male (I assume) feeding about 100 feet away at the same time. They all took off when we approached so I couldn't get good shots at them. The photos didn't come out too good either :anitongue: .

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My wife and I were camping at Harmony Ridge (terrible campground by the way) in Branchville, NJ last month. We took a drive up to the top of Sunrise Mountain, which is said to be the highest point in Sussex County, and saw a mama bear with a few cubs on the way up AND on the way down. It was amazing; we got video of them.

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I was hiking with trowel32 up onto the ridge overlooking the Charlotteburg Reservoir to find my "PMC - Hibernia" cache, and we saw 1st) a single bear right by the cache "on the road to Charlotteburg", and then shortly thereafter, a mom and 3 cubs on the white trail loooking down at us. They took off, and I just got one crappy photo of the mom, who stalled to look back at us.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/301125...705681f65_b.jpg

Edited by GerIRL
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First one of 2009 for me. I was going to remove the second stage my recently archived "Into the Valley".

 

As I approached it I noticed a dark cave. Well I got to about 10 feet away when the "dark" moved and all of a sudden I saw a huge head looking at me. Judging from the size of this sucker's head I'd hate to see the rest of him.

 

Snapped a photo but I doubt it came out. If it's any good I'll post it.

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Vernon is reporting a bear attack on a human. Seems like the man was loading his car, and had a sandwich with him , the bear attacked to get the sandwich. In State of NJ Speak the DEP labeled an "incident". I am not trying to be too harsh in my view of NJ Officialdom, for it is impossible to do that. The locals are calling it an attack, the man calls it an attack, but the state dep calls it an incident.

 

This is the exact scenario that hunters and wildlife experts have been predicting for some time, bears will become aclimated to being around humans and their food and will become agressive in pursuit of the food, it is not that they have anything personally against humans, but if humans stand in the way of food, the humans will get swatted around. The bear will fight the human for food.

 

Anyone want to be the last sponsor of the sardine sandwich hike at Wawayanda on Sunday ? :)

Edited by Packanack
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