Fewer bears were killed by New Jersey hunters this year as compared to last year, but 2 of them were the largest bears ever taken in the state. 469 bears were killed this year as compared to 592 in 2010. Cold, rainy days during the 6-day hunt which ran concurrently with the NJ Firearm Deer Season, December 5-10, may have been a factor for the lower numbers. Harvested this year were 140 male bears and 329 females; 311 in Sussex County, 98 in Warren, 25 in Passaic, 33 in Morris, 1 in Bergen, and 1 in Hunterdon.
A 13-year-old bear which was tagged when it was younger made the record book as the heaviest bruin ever taken by a hunter in New Jersey. Bruce Headley, 62, a deer hunter from Jefferson, Morris County, shot the 829-pound bear on his own property. Headley wasn’t hunting for it, but he had bought a bear hunting permit. It was also one of the biggest black bears ever taken in North America. Headley’s black bear was one of fewer than a dozen over 800 pounds in 35 states and most of Canada.
The previous record for the heaviest bear taken in New Jersey was in 2005 with a bear estimated to weigh 739 pounds. However, a new state record had just been set a day earlier than Headley’s bear; when a bear estimated at 776 pounds was killed by John Noon of Sussex Borough, in Stokes State Forest. But that record did not last very long. It took 11 people, six hours to get Noon’s bear out of the woods.
Headley’s field-dressed bear was 703 pounds even. To calculate the approximate weight of the animal before its organs were removed, the standard calculation requires the addition of 18 percent, bringing the bruin’s weight to 829.5 pounds, an all-time New Jersey state record. New Jersey adult male black bears on average weigh 400 pounds.
The bear measured 6 feet, 11 inches from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail. Hung by its back legs, the bear was nearly twice as tall as Headley and had paws that were at least 50 percent wider than a human male and claws at least as long as a human index finger. The bear required 4 men, an ATV, sled, come-along and a chainsaw to get out of the woods which took about 3 hours. Headley donated the bear to the state to have mounted and displayed at the Pequest Trout Hatchery. Read on…..
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