Joining the Bear Hunt in New Jersey

The black bear population in New Jersey is on the rise and hunting black bear in New Jersey is permitted again. Okay, so I've never seen a black bear in our neighborhood although we have surprisingly seen deer -- hubby has seen them alive, I've only seen them posing as roadkill.

Anyway, back to the black bear hunt...I've always wanted a bear rug so we decided to join in. Armed with a bow and arrow (we're traditionalists), we headed off into the great outdoors.

Look what we brought home.


Seriously, did you really think we would go bear hunting? I cried when the squirrel died in the trap even though we knew it was breaking into our attic and chewing up electrical wires!

This is as close to a owning a true bear rug as I will ever get -- I have absolutely no desire to own an animal skin of any type. Besides, my bear is a brown bear (grizzly) and New Jersey bears are black bears.

But isn't my bear rug cute? It's a decent size -- a perfect lap blanket -- and because it's knit out of a wool/alpaca/acrylic blend, it is warm! I'm thinking of making pink and blue bears for baby presents -- wouldn't that be adorable?

Seriously though, there really is a black bear population problem in New Jersey and I was very sad to hear that there will be a bear hunt in December.