Despite a highly debated and much anticipated New Jersey black bear hunt last fall, the state's bear population is still on the rise, bringing with it a host of human/bear conflicts. The Washington Examiner [2] has a write up on the state's black bear population count and distribution.

"The area you're standing in right now has more bears per square mile than anywhere in North America," said Dave Chanda, director of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, on a recent day in Sussex County. "Some of the densities exceed three per square mile." Fish and Wildlife prefers a density of one bear per 3 square miles, Chanda said.