Did You Know?

[LittleM]

That back in the 1980's the State stocked, up in the Ringwood area, timber rattlesnakes, northern copperheads, coyotes, and ..... wait for it ........ timber wolves.  Know how I know this?  Because a real nice fella who works behind the counter at one of the two sporting good stores in the Andover / Newton area (and it wasn't Simon Peter's) was holding court with a store full that included my son and I.  And he was dead serious.  When we walked out, my son wondered what it was like to be able to go through life like that ...............

 

True story, unfortunately.  Just happened this evening.

[MRMCR]

You forgot to mention how in the 1920's the state had stocked unicorns......

[Rusty]

I did not know that.  Now I have to change everything that I teach in my ecology class. 

[Bucksnbows]

It's amazing to me what some folks will believe and stick to like it was not only the truth, but that they were there.  And you forgot mountain lions  

[LittleM]

I didn't include mountain lions only because I didn't hear him say that, but at some point my eyes glazed over and I retreated to my own little world ..............

[CJ3a]

Your all wrong it was the insurance companies.

[Devil Horns]

Did he mention the black helicopters? I believe they were used to stock predators at night.

[Bucksnbows]

Of the list, it seems that coyotes are the one most falsely believe were actually stocked in NJ.  In my lifetime, I know the state reintroduced Eastern turkeys and bobcats.  If memory serves, the turkeys came from Vermont back in the early 70s.  The bobcats were from Maine, but I can't recall when although it wasn't as far back as turkeys.  Both very successful reintroductions.

 

Now how the Bigfoot was stocked is another story altogether.....    

[Haskell_Hunter]

Now how the Bigfoot was stocked is another story altogether.....

 

The story I heard was that the state tried to introduce the Mongolian yeti as a Bigfoot breed in the U.S., but due to the warm summers and lack of adequate yeti caves the stock didn't take hold. Southern Jersey yeti sighting may have contributed to the NJ Devil myth. But the study done by the state and the docile disposition of the Mongolian yeti was almost a sure thing.

 

True story...

[LittleM]

Here's another true story -

 

Years back a guy from Bedminster area called ENSP Clinton office to report a bigfoot siting.  He spoke to the mammal biologist.  He was serious.  When the biologist pointed out that with all the trail cams in the forests, wouldn't he think that a picture might have been obtained at some point.  Guy got all indignant and started yelling that no pics have been taken cause the bigfoot(s) are not up in the big NW Jersey forests, they are in suburbia.  True story.  We laugh like crazy when we can get the biologist to recount that one........

[BowhunterNJ]

They stocked the state with Democrats, and they've overrun the entire population here. True story!

[BowhunterNJ]

On a serious note, and it's been a longgggg time since I was told this, but I could have sworn a warden once told me (15 years ago?) that the Colliers Mills WMA area was stocked back in the 1970s with a Canadian strain of whitetails to help recover the population? Amidst that was telling me about the area we were standing at the time where many deer were buried, I can't recall the reason but I believe it was disease related. Wonder if I can Google out any validity to that, but again don't quote me on the source...it's a vague memory with way too much muddling my mind since that day! haha