This state ain't big enough for the both of us

So the bears have got to die.

[New Jersey o]fficials hope the hunt will reduce the state's population of an estimated 3,200 bears by about 500 to stem the rising tide of complaints about the animals breaking into suburban homes, raiding trash cans, killing livestock and wandering into traffic.

...Lynda Smith, director of the Bear Education and Resource Group, said her group has tried to teach northwestern New Jersey residents how to avoid close encounters with bears by keeping garbage can lids on tight and not leaving pet food outside.

"One week of bear hunting, nothing's going to be solved," Smith said. "Come spring, the bears will still be eating our garbage and still be walking through our back yards."  article

Yeah, well, one small correction: you're in the bears' back yard.

Harry McDole bagged what conservation officers said was the first bear of the season just before 8 a.m. Monday, a 160-pound female. McDole, 63, of Sussex Borough, said he had killed three bears in Canada on previous hunting trips.

"I've waited 33 years to shoot one in New Jersey," Dole said. He said he planned to have "a rug or something" made from the pelt and eat the meat.

He's going to eat the meat. I'll just bet he is.

A guy I used to know would say, let's give the hunters knives attached to their hands and make it a fair fight.

Bears are simply nature's pest control in the forests. Where the only pest is man.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.