bears are free loaders ,if the bear season is closed in your section DON'T KILL IT ..stop feeding or remove your feeder for 1 month he will go someplace else and find anouther feeder ..we have a lot of bears were we deer hunt ,in october we start to feed the deer with apples and sometimes carrots ,we never put all of the apples in one place but throw them all over the place all around our tree stand in a 50 ft. radius ..it helps sometimes ,and when it get's out of hand well than in my hunting place deer and bear season opens on the same day ..good-by mister bear!!!