This is one of the bears that has frequented the property of Mike Shuler and his wife in Slippery Rock. Shuler once hunted bears, but injured his knee and was told by his wife to stop.

SLIPPERY ROCK — By order of his wife, Mike Shuler can no longer hunt bears.

So the bears are coming to him.

Shuler, 56, and his wife live on Muddy Creek Drive in Slippery Rock and have been frequented by black bears on a regular basis.

“We lived in Herman for 34 years. We certainly weren’t expecting this when we moved here two years ago,” Shuler said. “We get a bear in our yard at least once a week now, mainly at night.”

Shuler bagged a 300-pound black bear in Lucinda, north of Clarion, four years ago. During the process of getting the bear out of the woods, Shuler suffered a knee injury that required surgery.

“I ripped it pretty good,” he said. “I missed work time because of it ... My wife said, no more hunting bears.”

Shuler still enjoys hunting deer and turkey — and he’s been seeing plenty of bears.

“We probably saw six different ones come around last year,” he said. “This year, it’s been mainly two — a smaller one and a huge one that must weigh 450 to 500 pounds.

That thing makes my 300-pound bear look small.”

Shuler and his neighbors have nicknamed the big bear “Fluffy.”

“I got a text from my neighbor one night saying Fluffy was coming up my driveway,” Shuler said. “I walked toward my back porch, flipped on the light and saw him walking up the steps, on to our deck.

“I yelled and he turned away and walked around to the front. I yelled at him again through a front window and he left. They’re not here to harm anyone. They’re just looking for food.”

Shuler said he’s had six bird feeders in his yard destroyed by bears over the past two years. One of the bird feeders was perched eight and a half feet off the ground.

“That’s how big Fluffy is, to be able to get to that one,” Shuler said.

He added that the bears enjoy sunflower seeds and suet cakes.

“They’re nocturnal, so they come overnight,” Shuler said. “We’ll wake up some mornings to find a broken bird feeder lying mangled in the yard.”

The Shulers keep the bird feeders inside for days at a time, trying to encourage the bears to roam elsewhere. But a mile of woods lies between their backyard and Route 8.

Shuler figures a number of bears are in those woods.

“There’s plenty of room for them to hide and the houses are nearby if they get hungry,” he said. “Personally, I enjoy watching them. They’re fascinating.

“My wife had never seen bears before, but she’s gotten used to them. She just doesn’t enjoy watching them like I do.”