Last week a man in coastal Maine had to kill a 200-pound sow bear that was dining on his goats. Maine is not alone. Increasingly, aggressive black bears are having their way with the good folks in northwestern New Jersey and, my goodness, they just don’t know what to do.

Bear encounters are increasing at an exponential rate. In one year, bear incidents with humans increased 84 percent.

Larry Herrighty, assistant director of the state’s Division of Fish and Wildlife, talked earlier this fall about the growing bear population. He said state biologists estimate there will be 1,885 bears in a 580-square-mile study area in northwestern New Jersey by the end of this year. That number is up from 1,484 in 2006, shortly after the state’s last bear hunt in late 2005.

“It’s fair to say that natural mortality is not keeping pace with the birth rate,” Herrighty said.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corizine is opposed to a bear hunt. He wants non-lethal population control, such as averse conditioning and rubber bullets. As you might guess, New Jersey sportsmen are seeing red. Their previous bear hunt was terminated when the state’s Department of Environmental Protection boss overruled fish and game managers.

New Jersey folks are fending off pushy bears with every conceivable weapon from vacuum cleaners to garden rakes. Some samples:

• A bear broke glass in doors while trying to get into a Vernon home on May 7 while an elderly woman barricaded herself inside by holding a vacuum cleaner against the door until police arrived.

• A bear charged a Jefferson resident on April 1. The resident told authorities he was on his porch, and the bear veered away from him after he threw a rake that hit the bear.

• A bear approached another Jefferson resident in his garage on April 17, but ran away when the resident threw a hammer that hit the bear on the head.

• A Jefferson resident reported that a female and two cubs clawed at her doors and windows and pushed on them in an attempt to gain entry on May 5. They left after she yelled at them.

• A 343-pound male bear approached a Rockaway Township landscaper and a municipal worker on May 5 in “an aggressive manner.” Police shot at the bear, but failed to kill him, the report said. State workers later killed the bear. Township police had reported that the bear was killed by the state because it was too close to a school and had failed to be deterred by aversive conditioning.

• A 120-pound male bear deemed to be aggressive and a public safety hazard was shot dead by Parsippany police on June 10. The bear had destroyed a children’s pool, ate some garbage, and went to Manor Park, where children were picnicking. Police initially shot the bear with rubber buckshot, trying to condition it to stay away from the park, but it returned and continued to walk toward children

The New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen have indicated that they may go to court, as they have done in the past, to try to get state officials to hold a bear hunt. John Rogalo, president of the federation’s Morris County chapter, said he doesn’t expect anything to happen for another month.

As for averse conditioning, rubber buckshot, rakes and Electroluxes, enough already! The answer is so simple, and traditional. A new governor. An annual bear hunt. And a slug-barreled 12 gauge loaded for bear.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].