A nearly 700-pound black bear was killed on Monday evening on the first day of bear hunting season in New Jersey, NJ.com reported.
After killing the bear with a shotgun, 39-year-old Steven Polanish of Hopatcong, N.J., brought the animal to a bear check in station at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area in Newton, according to Larry Ragonese, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection.
The animal weighed in at 693 pounds. In 2011, an 829-pound bear was killed – the heaviest in state history.
"We may not see a bear this big again all week," Ragonese said. "You could have a hunt go on for a week and not get a bear so large. Getting a nearly 700-pound bear on the first day of a hunt is huge. Most of the other bears we've seen today are weighing between 150 and 300 pounds."
The number of people with permits for the state's bear hunt increased for the first time since 2011, Dave Golden, chief of the Bureau of Wildlife Management, told NJ.com. A total of 7,789 people were granted permits for the current hunt, compared to a final count of 7,731 in 2013.
A large group of animal activists picketed outside the Whittingham Wildlife Management check-in station to denounce the hunt, according to NJ.com.
It is unknown if there will be a bear hunt in N.J. next year. The current hunt is the fifth and final state-sponsored one, according to The Courier Post. Last year, only 251 bears were killed, almost 60 percent less than the 592 killed in 2010.
