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Photo by Ray Pettengell Merv Wolfer sprays a bear-attracting scent on a pound of bacon laced with tetracycline as part of an unprecedented bear population survey in southwest Oregon. Scientists get back on track Black bear population under survey for first time By MARK FREEMAN Researchers hope the unusual combination of bacon, antibiotics and accommodating hunters can answer a question about black bears that has remained unsolved for decades. The meat, drugs and hunters are part of Oregon's first-ever attempt at a scientific estimate of its black bear population, and it focuses on the woods of southwest Oregon. Biologists are planting the concoction this week in trees 4.5 miles apart throughout southwest Oregon. The bacon is laced with the antibiotic tetracycline, which leaves a peculiar stain on the teeth of bears that ingest it. Hunters who shoot bears during this fall's general season will be asked to supply a tooth to researchers, who will use tallies of stained and unstained teeth to estimate population. No such estimate has ever been tried in Oregon, although biologists have a soft estimate of 25,000 black bears statewide. Getting a more scientific estimate into the mix would help clarify whether sport-hunting levels are too high, too low or just right. "I think it will be good information for all of us," says Merv Wolfer, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Central Point. Bear census Hunters who kill black bears this fall will be asked to take the bears to check-in stations as part of a bear census in Southwest Oregon. Check-in sites include: Black Bird Shopping Center, Medford; Big R Store, White City; Rick's Market, Talent; Emigrant Lake Country Store, Ashland; Morrow's Hardware, Gold Hill; John's Trail Market, Trail; The Trophy Room Cafe, Prospect; Taylor's Sausage, Cave Junction; Galice Resort, Merlin; Loring's Lighthouse Sporting Goods, Brookings; Rogue Outdoor Store, Gold Beach; Most local taxidermy shops. But hunting advocates, including Duane Dungannon of the Medford-based Oregon Hunters Association, wonder how useful the information truly will be. Even if the estimate is accurate, it will need to be repeated regularly to develop trend information that may, eventually, help determine future harvest levels, Dungannon says. "I don't think it's going to whirl any heads initially," Dungannon says. "I don't think the results of this study can tell us if we need to take more or less bears." ODFW researchers also see trend information as helpful and hope to repeat the study. But they have to start somewhere, and that somewhere is Southwest Oregon. Black bears, by their secretive nature, are tough to count. For years, the only data collected has been on bears killed by hunters, and that information centered more on age and health. Backed by a federal grant, the ODFW this year has borrowed a page from Idaho and others states that have done black bear censuses. Biologists carved Jackson, Josephine, Coos and Curry counties into a grid to plot spots of forest land 4.5 miles apart from each other. That has led to about 150 plots in Jackson County, with most falling on public lands, Wolfer says. At those plotted spots, biologists such as Wolfer are setting out baits to "mark" a random number of bears. Eight feet up a small pine tree, Wolfer drives a nail to hold the bait, which consists of a pound of the tetracycline-laced bacon. The antibiotic is known to leave blue stains on teeth when viewed under black light. The tetracycline will not harm the bear and has no effect on the meat, Wolfer says. A plastic "slobber board" is fastened to the bacon, and strands of barbed wire encircle the tree's base. The idea is to have the bear shimmy up the tree, catch strands of hair on the barbed wire, bite the "slobber board" and devour the bacon. The hair samples and bite marks on the slobber board will help tell whether a bear actually ate the bait, Wolfer says. Baits are placed 4.5 miles apart, Wolfer says, because studies elsewhere indicated individual bears are not likely to eat to laced baits that distance apart. Within two weeks, the tetracycline will have stained the bear's teeth. Come fall, successful bear hunters will be asked to take their bear to one of the area's 47 "check stations," where a premolar tooth and a tissue sample will be taken. Also collected will be information listing the date and location of the kill, the bear's sex and the hunter's name and tag number. Researchers will cut the tooth in half and view it under a black light to see if it is stained. Similar samples will be collected from bears killed because of damage complaints as well as those found dead on roads and in the woods. By comparing the numbers of stained and unstained teeth with the number of bears known to take the baits, researchers hope to come up with a population estimate for the region. Southwest Oregon was chosen because it has a high number of bears, bear damage complaints and harvest, Wolfer says. Hunters whose bears are part of the study will be mailed a postcard with information about their bear (including whether it was a marked or unmarked bear) and a patch recognizing their participation in the study. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. He can be reached at 541- 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA