The Black Bear is one of the commonwealth’s featured big game animals and the archery season is in full swing with the regular firearms season kicking off this weekend for three days.

The pleasant weather and the abundance of forage mast is sure to have black bears active across the big woods. Black bears are traditionally found north of Interstate 80 and into the PA Wilds regions. However, nearly all of our counties now boast a resident black bear population, including Butler County.

In northern Butler County, it is not unusual to have bear sightings around residential areas and farms. I personally see a bear or two come lumbering through our yard on an annual basis.

They love to raid bird feeders and trash cans and even have stolen pumpkins and Indian corn displays off the deck! I frequently get calls from neighbors and friends that I have met about the best ways to shoo them off their property after they have become a nuisance.

Once a bear finds that you have an easy meal offering, they will place you on their must-visit again list.

Ironically, in bear season they become a little more elusive and all the rules change. Pennsylvania has a bear feeding ban that makes it illegal to “intentionally lay or place food, fruit, hay, grain, chemicals, salt or other minerals that may cause bears to congregate or habituate in an area.” This includes garbage, household waste and bird feeders.

A bear can really do some damage to buildings, livestock and equipment if they think a meal is waiting for them on the other side! The Zanella boys can testify up at Zanella’s Milling in West Sunbury on how much fencing and new bird feeders they have replaced due to bear damage.

The only realistic options the PGC can offer are relocation of nuisance bears by trapping them and releasing them in the wilds or by offering a bear hunting season.

Many camps in the big woods look forward to the firearms bear season as a warm-up event for deer season. Many hunters use their deer hunting areas as their bear hunting areas as well. Last year, while deer hunting in Butler County, my cousin sent me a picture of a bear walking by his stand and heading for some thick cover areas.

In many areas, drive organizers round up a group of up to 25 hunters and push out tracts of thickets and swamps to get a bear out of cover and past the waiting hunters. There is a lot of work on this kind of hunting and you better be ready to bust brush and have some good boots.

Firearm regulations are similar to what is expected for any big game hunting in Pa. Rifles, muzzleloaders and bows are permitted to be used.

Check the hunting and trapping digest to make sure you are within the rules of the hunt. Fluorescent orange is required of 250 square inches on the head, back and chest areas. The bear must be tagged immediately after harvest and attached to the ear.

Use caution when tagging your bear’s ear. It’s a trophy; don’t get careless and put a big gouge in the ear when placing your completed tag on the animal. Bears should be field dressed before being brought to a check station.

Getting a bear to a check station is required and the closest one to our area is in Franklin on Route 8 north. The Game Commission staff will check in your bear and take some samples for scientific and wildlife biology purposes.

Getting your bear out of the woods can be a task in itself. A two or three-hundred-pound bear is considered an average bear. Many trophy bears have weighed out over 500 pounds or more with 700-pound bears brought in each year. With that kind of bulk weight to deal with, you better have a plan or a lot of buddies to help you recover the animal.

What do you do with a bear once you harvest it? It can be a once in a life time trophy and you may want to consider a reputable taxidermist to help you.

The taxidermist will properly skin your bear and retrieve your hide for tanning. The bear meat is edible and must be cooled down immediately, lest it spoils.

A game processor or home butcher needs to get to work on the bear promptly and cut it to a manageable portion. Many products can be processed including steaks, roasts, ground meat, smoked meats and jerky/hot stick type products.

Whatever you do, make sure that all the bear fat is removed!

Until we meet again good luck on that bear hunt, pilgrim!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle