Shooting black bears in Mississippi is illegal, but trapping them for research purposes is an intriguing adventure.
Clarksdaler resident Wayne Winter recently got the exhilirating experiencing of seeing a black bear about 20 miles south of here in neighboring Bolivar County.
“There are about 100-120 black bears in Mississippi,” Winter said Wednesday.
Winter said wildlife officers with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Department assist in the trapping of bears  as part of the black bear preservation program.
“We put some bait to trap a bear,” Winter said.
What food attracts bears best?
“Donuts,” Winter said. “They like smoked honey, too.”
Winter told a Clarksdale civic club how to make smoked honey.
“Take raw honey. Pour it in a tin can and scald the honey,” Winter said.
“The smoked honey will attract bears just like the smell of donuts,” Winter said.
Winter became interested in bear stalking because he loves to photograph wildlife.
“We got a lot of photos of bears last year,” Winter said.
The trap involved a piece of culvert pipe with a mesh door on one end to attract a bear, Winter said.
Once the bear gets inside and goes for the bait it trips the metal door behind the animal, Winter said.
“We checked the bear trap every morning to see if we had one,” Winter said. Winter took his grandson along to allow him to experience the adventure.
A video camera had been mounted to take photos of  any game within the trap so the crew on the hunt could view from a distance.
“Our camera showed a momma bear and her cub,” Winter said. When the group arrived the only victim they found inside the trap was a bear cub.
“We were told to let the  bear cub go because it would tear you up,” Winter said.
Shortly thereafter the hunting crew captured a male bear.
“We tranquilized it,” Winter said. An ear tag was implanted with a geophysical satellite (GPS) device to track the bear once it was freed.
Winter said the bear weighed about 220 pounds.
“We were told that was the 20th bear tagged in Mississippi,” Winter said.
Winter said that after the animal was tranquilized a tooth was pulled to analyze and determine the animal’s age.“That bear was about four and a half years old,” Winter said.
Winter said he learned that the bear with the GPS implant swam across the Mississippi River to Arkansas. “The bear got to Snow Lake,” Winter said. “Since there was no movement of the bear it must have slept for days.”
In late June a very large  black bear was found in a trap, Winter said.
“It must have weighed more than 250 pounds, Winter said. The record for a black bear found in Mississippi is 420 pounds.