Cryptic crossword clue
Beginning to target male bears in rural areas 3,6

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 6 letter word THE STICKS

I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
T
H
E
S
T
I
C
K
S

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "rural areas" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case rural areas = the sticks.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

Crossword Answer definitions

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