By ROB JENNNIGS • STAFF WRITER • December 6, 2010
FREDON — Joan Robillard of Boonton was waiting in line Monday to have the bear she shot dead several hours earlier in Montville weighed and registered.
Protesters, including Ken Vassilatos of Pine Bush, N.Y., were chanting "stop the slaughter" as hunters pulled up in their pickup trucks, with State Police erecting barriers to keep both sides apart.
By that point, at least a dozen bears had been brought to the check station, one of three in Sussex — the heart of bear country — set up for the hunt. Overall, 264 bears had been killed.
Robillard, who used a Remington 1100 20-gauge slug to kill the bear at 8:35 a.m., echoed the sentiments of several other hunters on Monday — that hunting was part of their heritage and a worthy tradition.
"I've hunted since I was 15," she said.
Protesters took a different view.
Angi Metler of Vernon, a critic of the state's last two bear hunts in 2003 and 2005, charged that the public safety rationale used to justify the hunt was manufactured.
"This is a massacre that is based on lies," she said. "This is simply a trophy hunt. It's not about population reduction and it's not about reducing nuisance complaints."
Herrighty disagreed.
"This isn't a trophy hunt. It is a management hunt," Herrighty said.
Herrighty, who was working in Fredon on Monday, estimated that anywhere from 500 to 700 bears would be killed by the end of the hunt. That would represent a small but still significant portion of the bear population.
Prior to the hunt, the state Department of Environmental Protection estimated there were 3,400 bears in northwestern New Jersey.
According to the DEP, bear complaints involving a threat to safety or property have more than doubled since 2007 — after dropping by 40 following the 2003 hunt and by 15 percent after the 2005 hunt.
New Jersey originally ended bear hunting in the early 1970s when the population was nearing extinction.
In Fredon, Anthony Lingenfelter of Howell recorded the first dead bruin — a 327.5-pound, 7-year-old male — on Monday. Joined by his father, also named Anthony, he woke up at 3:15 a.m. for the two-hour drive and brought
down the bear at 7:10 a.m.
Lingenfelter said he would bring the carcass to the butcher for food, with the hide and head going to the taxidermist.
"I grew up in a hunting family," Lingenfelter said, adding, "It's been passed down from generation to generation."
He said it was the first time he had killed a bear.
Though only one arrest was reported by midday, tensions between hunters and protesters were evident. Two hunters, upon arriving in Fredon with dead bears, said they did not want to be named for fear of retaliation.
A man from Lake Hopatcong who gave his name as "Bill" said he was concerned the publicity could hurt his insurance business. Another hunter, "Mike," was making a video of protesters who were making a video of him.
In addition to criticizing hunters, protesters were also targeting Gov. Chris Christie for allowing the hunt to proceed.
"Gov. Christie, stop the hunt," was chanted again and again by demonstrators lining the road leading to the entrance.
Claudia Emerson, a bear hunt protester who lives in West New York, said she opposed the previous two hunts in 2003 and 2005 and that the reasons behind her objections hadn't diminished.
"It's not necessary," she said of the hunt.
As in 2003 and 2005, this week's bear hunt is limited to north of Route 78 and west of Route 287, including portions of Morris, Sussex and Warren counties