The 2015 Black Bear Hunting Season, held December 7-12 and 16-19, 2015, resulted in a total legal harvest of 510 black bears. The season was held concurrently with the 6-Day Firearm Deer Season, and then extended four days the following week. Zone 5 was opened to hunting in 2015, extending the hunting area south of Rt. I-78 and east of Rt. I-287 (see map).

Hunters were required to check all harvested bears at check stations staffed by Division of Fish and Wildlife personnel. Data, including sex, weight and size were collected, and a tooth was extracted for aging by Matson's Lab, a wildlife laboratory offering cementum (tooth) aging.

The document linked below provides sex, age and class information on harvested bears. The bears are listed according to the number on the Possession Seal attached to each bear's ear at the check station. The seal numbers are listed numerically. Tooth ages marked N/A are the result of the lab being unable to determine an exact age due to various reasons:
2015 Black Bear Harvest Data (pdf, 105kb)

For more information on the black bear hunting season in New Jersey, visit the Black Bear Season Information page; for information on black bears in the state, visit the Know the Bear Facts page.

Summaries of the harvest by Bear Hunting Zone and county are provided below.

Black Bear Harvest by Bear Hunting Zone

Bear Hunting Area	Bears Harvested in 2015
	12/7	12/8	12/9	12/10	12/11	12/12	12/16	12/17	12/18	12/19	Total
Area 1	67	38	22	5	8	19	4	0	1	2	166
Area 2	67	24	19	5	10	14	9	2	2	3	155
Area 3	56	21	9	9	11	11	4	1	5	4	131
Area 4	26	10	7	4	2	6	0	0	1	0	56
Area 5	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Total	216	93	57	24	31	51	17	3	9	9	510
Harvested Bears Tagged This Year	11	4	3	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	24
Cumulative Harvest Rate*	8.3%	11.3%	13.5%	15.0%	17.3%	18.0%	18.0%	18.0%	18.0%	18.0%	18.0%

*Based On 133 Tagged Bears Available for Harvest

Black Bear Harvest by County

County	Bears Harvested in 2015
	12/7	12/8	12/9	12/10	12/11	12/12	12/16	12/17	12/18	12/19	Total
Sussex	138	61	37	11	18	28	11	2	4	2	312
Warren	41	12	13	4	7	10	3	0	1	3	94
Passaic	15	5	0	3	2	4	1	1	0	4	35
Morris	20	13	6	4	3	6	2	0	4	0	58
Bergen	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2
Hunterdon	2	2	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	9
Somerset	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mercer	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	216	93	57	24	31	51	17	3	9	9	510