To the Editor: I am a bear country resident and I hike. I hike all year round, winter, spring, summer and in the fall wearing my blaze orange. I hike for hours on the weekends and while hiking last year I saw zero bears and zero bears in the neighborhood. Yet as the 2005 bear hunt took place it seems hunters were killing bears in 5, 15, 45 minutes all they way up to an hour. I find this very hard to believe having spent so many hours in the woods. Someone I know rides her horse for hours in the woods and she said she did not see a bear all year. The part the hunters forgot to mention while telling their tales of their kills was the bagels, donuts and other goodies they put out to attract a bear. Eric Bunk verified this in one of his letters when he said the “anti’s” destroyed bait piles. So this is how hunters killed bears, what a shame. You call this hunting? I call it plan lazy. Anyone that is familiar with bear behavior knows a bear wants nothing to do with humans unless there is a food source. Who are the hunters trying to kid? No bear hunt or hunter is going to make anyone safer. If people do not want bears in the neighborhood and or on their property they should chase the bears off. Killing innocent bears in the woods, where they belong, bothering no one, will resolve nothing, but being bear-educated can make a difference. I cannot understand why people choose to live and/or more their family into bear country when they are frightened of the animal. I love living in Hewitt and enjoy the wildlife. And just because I am against the bear hunt I have been called by Mr. Bunk, an anti, an animal rights whacko and, now, a terrorist. It amazes me that the papers continue to let him name call. But that’s okay it’s just a part of his weakness, as is his killing of defenseless animals. To those who choose to live in bear country and are frightened of the bears, let me ask this question. After all is said and done and 300 bears are dead, are you still frightened of the bears? If the answer is yes, then 300 bears killed in the 2005 hunt were all killed in vain. Florence Iannantuano Hewitt, NJ 07421