I was awoken by a very loud growly sound (outside) about 3am this morning; the dogs went absolutely ballistic, which is a bit unusual for the whole pack to go crazy at once.
It was a sound I’d never heard, so I explored some soundfiles this morning – I’m virtually certain it was a black bear. :eek:
Black bears in NJ are not all that unusual. I saw one visiting near Diggerland (it’s possible both of us were visiting 
)in 2014. Depending on how you feel about bears a trap-camera might be worth the investment just to get some good shots for the family album.
I’m in eastern PA, just a few miles miles from the Jersey border.
Bears are on the move right now around here – had one knock down my bird feeders and eat the seeds a couple nights ago; it also mangled a neighbor’s trash can and spread trash all over their yard.
Another two or three weeks and they’ll go into hibernation … right now they’re just traveling through, looking for a good spot.
We had a black bear stroll through our property on the western shore of Lake Michigan a few years ago. Our neighbor to the north spotted it in our woods. It hung out on another neighbor’s deck, about 1/4 mile south of our place, and drove their dog (safely inside) into a frenzy. Eventually it wandered south into the local town’s “Pirate Days” festival where it climbed a tree, got tranquilized (possibly for not fitting with the “Pirate” motif) and hauled back up north.
Are you sure it wasn’t a raccoon? I’m not saying i wasn’t a bear, but more likely a raccoon. If you only heard the growl upon waking, you might not have a clear memory of it.
We get mountain lions wandering into people’s backyards here, so consider yourself lucky!
This. I’ve nearly run into a giant black bear in my car when visiting my inlaws in Jersey.
Now ask what he was doing in my car.
Adjusting the mirrors from proper safety? 
If it was a black bear it was likely more scared than you were. They’re the smallest of our North American and not usually that aggressive towards humans. As long as their aren’t extenuating circumstances (like young cubs or them feeling like they don’t have a clear route to escape) most will want to get away from you during an encounter.
A good cite from Rutgers university about living with black bears. It includes things about what may be drawing that bear to your area, trying to minimize the chance of encounters, and how they behave so you have a better understanding if you do end up close to them.