The second half of the 2016 bear hunt will begin on Monday.
FREDON -- New Jersey's bear hunt season will resume just before sunrise Monday, setting in motion a familiar, emotionally-charged ritual pitting protesters against participants.
A total of 562 bears were killed during the first stage of the hunt in October, which took place in eight northern counties and lasted for six days. More than half, 296, were killed in Sussex County.
It was the first time, since the hunt resumed annually in 2010, that the bear hunt was extended beyond December.
The tally was high enough that the Department of Environmental Protection is anticipating an early end to next week's hunt, currently scheduled for six days and concluding Saturday, Dec. 10.
As in prior hunts, protesters are planning to gather Monday morning in Fredon outside the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area, one of DEP's five check stations where hunters log in dead bears.
Around that time, Ray Szpond said he will be hunting in the woods in Vernon.
Szpond, president of the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said he used a bow and arrow to kill a 127-pound female bear during the October hunt.
Szpond said bear hunting is justified by safety concerns and cited the fatal mauling, in 2014, of a 22-year-old Rutgers University student while hiking in West Milford.
"We have far too many bears in the state of New Jersey. The only way to control them is through controlled hunting," said Szpond, a Scotch Plains resident.
Elaine Dunn, a bear hunt opponent from Bloomingdale, disagreed and called it a "trophy hunt for rugs and heads."
"Even though they'll say it's for our protection, that's a crock," Dunn said, charging that using bait as a hunting aid, while legal, is creating a safety hazard.
Dunn said a second protest in Fredon is being planned on the hunt's sixth day, though by that point DEP could have closed down the hunt.
The DEP has set a threshold for the bear hunt based on the total number of bears tagged by state wildlife officials in the current year of 30 percent of the 197 bear tagged in 2016. Of that, a total of 46 were killed in the October hunt, representing 23.4 percent.
Another 14 would meet the 30-percent threshold, DEP spokesman Bob Considine said.
Any shutdown, though, would not happen immediately. It would take effect 24 hours after the closing time on the date the 30 percent mark is certified by DEP.
The weigh stations will be open from noon to 7 p.m.
New Jersey Fish and Game Council member Phil Brodhecker, asked about the likely duration, said, "We're expecting at least two to three days."
Brodhecker lives in a farm in Hampton and said he is not taking part in the hunt.
A farmer from Hampton, Brodhecker said he is a hunter, but did not seek a permit for the 2016 hunt.
Three protesters arrested for acts of civil disobedience during the October hunt are due to appear Dec. 8 in municipal court in Andover Township.
Next week's hunt will be playing out in the aftermath of what remains, to some, a still-fresh wound -- the presumed killing during the October hunt of a bear nicknamed "Pedals" for walking on its hind legs, as widely seen in videos on YouTube.
Dunn described Pedals as "a bear that wouldn't harm anybody, just barely surviving," and alluded to speculation that the bipedal bear had been targeted.
Szpond said the controversy surrounding Pedals' apparent demise was misplaced.
"Bears are not friendly creatures. Just because you give a bear a name, doesn't make it a mascot," Szpond said.
State Sen. Ray Lesniak, a Democrat from Union County, named his bill seeking a five-year moratorium on the bear hunt after Pedals. The proposal would also prohibit baiting as a hunting aid and promote non-lethal alternatives to hunting, such as securing garbage.
It gained approval from the Senate economic growth committee, soon after the hunt ended, but a vote by the full Senate has not been scheduled.
Lesniak sent a letter Nov. 18 to David Chanda, director of DEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife, asking him to call off next month's hunt.
In it, Lesniak criticized the extension of the bear hunt, addition of hunting regions and the introduction of bows and arrows for the October hunt.
"The combination of all these changes is a recipe for overkill, poor wildlife management and bad public policy," wrote Lesniak.
He described the hunt as "nothing more than a state-sponsored black bear extermination plan."
Asked for a response, Considine said DEP's bear management policy includes a variety of non-lethal methods, such as raising awareness about coexisting wth bears and securing garbage.
"A controlled bear hunt is also needed as part of that policy because the northern part of New Jersey has one of the highest density rates of black bear in the country, based on high reproductive rates and lower mortality rates," Considine said in an email.
In addition to Sussex County, the hunt will take place in Bergen, Hunterdon, Mercer, Morris, Passaic, Somerset and Warren counties.
Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.