{"id":63579,"date":"2025-12-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/?p=63579"},"modified":"2025-12-15T15:43:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:43:53","slug":"news-2025-12-15-black-bear-season-reopens-wednesday-saturday-december-17-20-shotgun-muzzleloader-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/news-2025-12-15-black-bear-season-reopens-wednesday-saturday-december-17-20-shotgun-muzzleloader-only\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Bear Season Reopens Wednesday-Saturday December 17-20 Shotgun\/Muzzleloader ONLY"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image text-wrap-pic half\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-51079\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/njfw\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/njfw\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/njfw\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/njfw\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/njfw\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/njfw\/bear-walking-on-path-in-forest-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The December black bear hunting season will be extended by four days this week per state regulations to achieve harvest objectives that help protect public safety and maintain a sustainable bear population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The season extension will begin on Wednesday, Dec. 17 and will end on Saturday, Dec. 20. Hunting hours on each day are one half-hour prior to sunrise to one half-hour after sunset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zone Permits are still available and can be purchased beginning at 10 a.m. today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hunters are reminded of the following important regulations changes now in place:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Hunters may NOT attempt to take or kill a black bear weighing less than 75 pounds (live weight), or less than 50 pounds dressed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hunters may NOT attempt to take or kill an adult black bear that is in the presence of cub(s) (bears weighing less than 75 pounds).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hunters may NOT attempt to take or kill a black bear or have a loaded weapon within 300 ft. of a baited area when hunting bears.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>During this extension period, the Pequest Wildlife Management Area and Whittingham Wildlife Management Area Check Stations will be the\u00a0<strong><em>ONLY<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0stations open from Noon to 7 p.m.\u00a0\u00a0It is\u00a0<strong>mandatory<\/strong>\u00a0that hunters check all harvested bears at one of these two open stations. Hunters shall surrender the black bear transportation tag and will be issued a legal possession seal. Bear check is\u00a0<strong>NOT<\/strong>\u00a0available through the automated system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When field dressing a black bear, leave the sex organs intact, attached to the body. A harvested black bear may be quartered and brought out of the field in sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pequest Wildlife Management Area, 605 Pequest Road, Oxford<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Whittingham WMA, 148 Fredon-Springdale Rd., Newton<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>More Information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/bears\/bear-hunting-season-information\/\">2025 Bear Hunting Season Information<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/bears\/black-bear-management-faqs\/\">Black Bear Management FAQs<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/bear-hunter-guidance.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hunter Guidance for the 2025 Bear Season<\/a> <i class=\"fa-solid fa-file-pdf text-danger\" title=\"Adobe Acrobat PDF File\"><\/i><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/digest-hunting-and-trapping-2025-2026-segment-46-48.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025-26 Hunting &amp; Trapping Digest &#8211; Bear Regulation Pages<\/a> <i class=\"fa-solid fa-file-pdf text-danger\" title=\"Adobe Acrobat PDF File\"><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading text-danger\">Hunters should continue to monitor the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/bears\/bear-hunting-season-information\/\">NJ Fish &amp; Wildlife Bear Hunting Season Information<\/a>&nbsp;webpage&nbsp;for the most up to date information.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The December black bear hunting season will be extended by four days this week per state regulations to achieve harvest objectives that help protect public safety and maintain a sustainable bear population. The season extension will begin on Wednesday, Dec. 17 and will end on Saturday, Dec. 20. Hunting hours on each day are one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":58676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hunting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63579"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63610,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63579\/revisions\/63610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/njfw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}