Last year, 510 bears were killed by hunters in the Garden State.
NEWTON -- Hunters killed 549 bears during the extended New Jersey bear hunting season this past week, making it the second-highest harvest since the hunt reopened in 2010 and the first bear hunt in about 50 years to use bow and arrows.
Hunters were permitted to use only bow and arrows during the first three days of the extended hunt. Hunting with bow and arrows and muzzleloaders was permitted from Thursday to Saturday.
A firearm-only bear hunting season will take place from Dec. 5 to Dec. 10, meaning the total bear harvest this year could well exceed the current high of 592 bears killed in 2010.
Sixty-two bears were killed on Saturday, according to figures released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP has set a target threshold for the bear hunt based on the total number of bears tagged by state wildlife officials in the current year -- between 20 and 30 percent of the 197 bear tagged so far in 2016. Over the past week, 44 tagged bears were killed by hunters, 22.2 percent.
DEP has said the bear hunt will end early should hunters hit the 30-percent threshold.
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The county-by-county totals through Saturday:
- Sussex County - 288
- Morris County - 96
- Warren County - 93
- Passaic County - 56
- Hunterdon County - 13
- Bergen County - 3
Bow and arrows were allowed in the bear hunt this year for the first time since the late 1960s, DEP officials said.
Five bear hunting zones were open to hunting in Bergen, Hunterdon, Mercer, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties.
More information on the bear hunt is available on the DEP's bear hunting season website.
Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.