What to make of the recent bear problems in Deerfield? Well, we better get used to it and take precautions to eliminate artificial food sources that encourage bears into residential neighborhoods before natural foods become abundant.

Bears come out of their spring dens famished, and there isn’t a lot of natural food available for months. That’s when it’s crucial for people to eliminate garbage, beehives and birdfeeders as food sources.

Word on the street was that the sow killed by law enforcement after it entered a resident’s kitchen on Upper Road in Deerfield had been fed by a resident or residents on Hoosac Road in Conway, just across the Deerfield River in the Stillwater area. That story may or may not be accurate, but if it is, then the people who contributed to the problem now carry the guilt of the two motherless cubs fending for themselves.

It’s no secret that the Bay State bear population is a runaway train. As a result, uncomfortable, potentially dangerous bear/human confrontations are inevitable. The problem confronting state wildlife officials now is how to stabilize or reduce the statewide bear population, a tough nut to crack because bear hunting is not and likely never will be popular here.

As problems increase, the gadflies who’ve advocated extending bear season during the shotgun deer season as a solution will have a field day criticizing the bear-management team. The state has already lengthened the bear season dramatically — from 12 to 23 days — in an effort to increase the harvest, and the kill did jump to a record 153 quickly. But 153 is not nearly enough to stabilize the population. And unless the population is stabilized soon, we’re going to see more and more bears killed in residential and agricultural neighborhoods.

Archers can legally take bears during the November season, which overlaps the archery deer season for six days, but critics say many hunters are nervous about killing a bear with an arrow. They say there would be no such reluctance by shotgun-toting deer hunters.

The other side of the argument is taken by state Bear Project Leader Jim Cardoza. He says that, because bears are often denned-up and inactive during the shotgun deer season, bear-hunting opportunities would be inconsistent and thus ineffective as a management tool. The critics counter that even an “insignificant” or inconsistent annual kill is better than nothing, and that maybe three or four annual deer-season bear kills in areas with dangerous bear densities would be enough to eliminate some problems.

Where is this argument headed?

It’s anyone’s guess, but state wildlife officials seem to have few bear-management options better than opening the deer season.

Like a vocal local proponent of deer-season bear hunting said in this space recently: “I don’t know why they don’t at least throw their worm in the water and see what happens.”

Sounds reasonable.