Black bear at bird feeder (photo provided by NYSDEC)

As black bears start to emerge from their dens for Spring, people are reminded to take down their bird feeders and secure garbage to avoid potential conflicts.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Biologist Jeremy Hurst said repeated access to bird feeders and garbage can make bears bolder, “Bears are going to be out looking for food. They’re not voraciously looking for food coming out of the den, but they’re hungry and they need to find food. And so they can easily find it in bird feeders, garbage cans, and any pet food or livestock feed that you store outside. So those are really the targets so we want to try to remove from the outside space and make sure they’re not a problem for bears.”

Hurst recommends securing garbage either inside the house or inside a secure out-building until the morning of garbage collection.

Hurst reminds residents that feeding black bears intentionally is illegal, “It’s also illegal to continue to feed them incidentally through bird feeders and garbage after we warned you not to. Cause that can cause problems not just for you, it’s not just your garbage can that gets knocked over, but it’s your neighbors, and next door neighbors, and the whole community is impacted by how you keep your space.”

If you encounter a bear in your yard, the DEC recommends you contact the local DEC Wildlife Office in Buffalo at (716) 851-7010.

WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley spoke with State DEC Wildlife Biologist Jeremy Hurst about Chronic Wasting Disease in deer now that a case was found just over the Pennsylvania border. He also gave an update on proposed hunting regulations for deer and bear.

He said the primary change is the proposal to extend the daily hunting hours to 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, “Those times are used almost universally across the country, with some exceptions. But New York State was the most restrictive state in terms of beginning hunting hours, so we’re proposing to align with the rest of the country and start those hours a little bit longer. What that does, it gives hunters a little more time in the field to shoot when it can be safe to shoot, and when deer and bear are frequently very active.”

In regards to concerns about the hours changes, especially following the accidental killing of Sherman resident Rosemary Billquist in 2017 by a hunter who mistook her for a deer, Hurst said that tragic incident was an illegal action, “That was, I think, 45 minutes or an hour after legal sunset, so it’s well beyond the time frame that we’re proposing. Nonetheless, it represented an illegal action and certainly irresponsible behavior on the part of that person.”

Other proposed changes to the regulations include requiring hunters using a firearm to wear some level of hunter fluorescent orange or pink. Comments on the DEC’s proposed hunting regulations can be emailed until August 15th to wildliferegs@dec.ny.gov

Hurst said the most recent case is causing alarm, “A individual deer that tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease in a captive facility just five miles south of our border which, for listeners in your area, is just south of the Town of Kiantone into the Pennsylvania side of the line. So it’s the closest that it’s been to the New York border in quite some time.”

Hurst said chronic wasting disease is a fatal disease in the deer family of deer, moose, caribou, and elk. He said one of the challenges with the disease is that the deer is often not visibly sick, “Until the deer is near the terminal stages of the disease. And the deer can have Chronic Wasting Disease for up to two years before it starts to show clinical symptoms all that while it can be spreading the disease. So it really is a difficult disease and it’s rare actually that hunters or the public see a deer that really appears sick even though they may be carrying the disease.”

Since 2012, hunters have not been allowed to bring unprocessed deer carcasses back into New York State from Pennsylvania because of CWD. Hurst asked people who see deer that look sick, emaciated, or otherwise unwell to contact the Region 9 DEC Wildlife Office in Buffalo at (716) 851-7010.