>I hear bear meat tastes pretty good.  And, you can't be harassed for baiting them since you are a bee farmer and the bears are killing your stock.

Here in Pennsylvania, you can kill a 
bear for destroying property.  A 
relative of mine chased a large black
bear from the hives in his back yard
twice in one night.  The third time, he
shot it with his 7mm.  As luck would 
have it, -the bear ran 100 yards and 
plopped dead near his 'bad neighbors' front
pouch.  He butchered the bear and had
it in his freezer that night.  But the game
commission came knocking 2 weeks later
about the bear kill.  The game commission
said they did not want to respond because they
know how big a problem bears have become,
but the neighbor persisted until they did.
He received a $400.00 fine.  NOT for killing
a bear, but for failing to report the kill to
the game commission.  

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has a 
program for supplying materials to erect deterrent 
fences for bears if 10 or more hives are in one location 
on land open to public hunting. They also may pay for 
damage caused by bear if the bear is not killed, if the 
affected hives are within 300 yards of the owner's or 
an agent in charge of the hives domicile, if it is a first 
time claim, or if a commission approved, bear deterrent 
fence has been erected, maintained, and operated. 

I had a bears do damage to several hives.  The 
game commissioner gets out a kellys bee catalog
and looks up the price to replace all the damaged 
hives.  I had disagreement with them because
they would only pay for package bees as a replacement,
and I argued that a mature colony was worth 
several times the value of a package.  They also
would not pay for the lost honey which totaled 
several hundred dollars.  They sent a contract 
for me to sign for $500.00 reimbursement.  Since
reimbursements for bee loss are only done for 
first time damage, I threw it in the trash.  Bear
damage can go into the thousands of dollars,
and I'll save my one time pay claim for that day. 

Over the ridge from me, a bear was reported
to have climbed a tree next to a house, and 
caused major damage to the side of the second 
story structure to get at a honeybee colony. 

Best Wishes
Joe Waggle

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