Can't. The're a "Protected" species in SE Arkansas. They were introduced in Felsenthal WMA (which is about 5 miles from us) about 10 years ago because they USED to be native to this area 500 years ago. Now the offspring are all over the place!
stop feeding for a while...if you can't shoot em it's the only thing you can do without driving your deer away. I'd just switch to minerals on the ground and let him go find somewhere else to feed.
Would a bear still eat the minerals though? I feel like they would eat pretty much whatever they can get their paws on (lame I know)
They occasionally hit the minerals a bit - but at least he'll not end up ruining your feeder. The bears are a lot more interested in packing away the calories and building fat reserves for winter so minerals are very low on the priority list this time of year. I would suggest just putting some trace mineral salt out and he's going to go where he can find those calories while the deer will still keep a pattern of stopping for a bit of the minerals...in about 2-3 weeks the bear will hopefully have stopped his regular visits and you can use the feeder again. Otherwise feed on on the ground and don't use the feeder but realize you will mostly be feeding the bear. If you want to chance sitting out there and thumping him with a blunt head or something to drive him off...he may just get ticked off, or you may end up getting busted by the deer. Not much else you can do. And make sure none of the special fruity/apple/acorn/corn/molasses etc mixes/blocks as they want sugars/calories and high energy and he'll still come around.
Actually they were native there up until the mid 1800s when they were hunted out. I know it can be irritating but instead of getting upset, learn to live with them. They belong there just like everything else.
I would think you'd accept that they ARE and not USED to be native your area and are doing quite well by the sounds of it. And I would get used to seeing them more until you move your knocked over feeder . And I don't think they drive away deer , I hunt in black bear areas in my state , they seem to get along just fine in the woods
Not feeding him would seem the best way. Minerals wouldn't sustain him so he should go look for more rewarding food. Hutch
Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it. I DO enjoy watching them. A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of watching one from about 35 yards for about 10 minutes. It was interesting watching it just being a bear doing what bears do. I guess that if our club stops putting out corn for a while the bear will go to the surrounding territory/deer clubs & eat their corn.
