Mississippi
Black bear moves on from DeSoto County. But could he — or other bears — return to area?
DeSoto County black bear: See video of the bear near Nesbit
A black bear was spotted multiple times in North Mississippi as it made its way across DeSoto County and into Marshall County.
A juvenile black bear’s adventure through DeSoto County has produced photo and video across the area and sparked discussion about wild bears in Mississippi.
Now, more than a week after the bear was first spotted in DeSoto County, he appears to have moved on eastward to Byhalia and Marshall County.
But could this bear or other bears return?
Anthony Ballard is the Black Bear Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. He said it’s possible this bear or others could visit the area, but noted it’s hard to predict what bears will do.
“That bear could turn north and go to Tennessee,” Ballard said. “He might turn around and go right back to Lake McCormorant, or he may walk to Alabama. You just never know. He may set up camp right where he is and stay there for the rest of his life.”
The DeSoto County bear was noticeably young and likely male. Ballard said it’s normal for males of his age to travel long distances rapidly in this way. While females usually remain close to their mother, males around 16-18 months begin to roam.
“So this time of year, what you see is young males, usually, that disperse a long distance from their original home range,” he said. “So it could be tens or even hundreds of miles from that original home range, just to just spread those genetics out, you know, into a different area. That’s kind of a biological way of, you know, preventing inbreeding and genetic problems. They’re going to just try to figure out how to be a bear on their own.”
Ballard said the travel is instinctive — bears aren’t necessarily looking for females at this point or even going anywhere in particular, just somewhere to establish a home range without any competing males nearby. North Mississippi hasn’t seen a bear in years, so that certainly fits the bill.
While most of the estimated 150 bears in Mississippi can be found near the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Delta, Ballard hazards a guess that the bear is actually from Arkansas, meaning he swam across the Mississippi River.
“A lot of the bears that we have here in Mississippi came from population sources from either Louisiana or Arkansas,” he said.
It’s a good sign — as the population density of bears increases, the males adapt by going farther and farther distances to find their permanent home, even crossing large bodies of water like the Mississippi.
Black bear populations are making a comeback in Mississippi. They’re a historically important species to the state, with fossil records dating back 12,000 years. By the 1930s their numbers were devastated to about a dozen bears. Bear hunting was banned in 1932, and thanks to years of conservation efforts, by 2002 there were nearly 50 bears. Now the number is more than 150, though it is difficult to determine an exact number.
Bears are a protected species in Mississippi — harming one could lead to jailtime. If the bear has been spotted in your area, be sure to move inside your home anything that could attract the bear, like barbecue grills, smokers, garbage, animal and pet feed and even bird feeders. Do not scare or agitate the bear with loud sounds, simply wait for the bear to leave.
“I tell people anything that a dog can get into, a bear can smell even better, and they’re even better at getting into it,” Ballard said.
To learn everything you need to know about coexisting with bears in the areas that they roam, visit bearwise.org.
Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering DeSoto County, as well as Dining in the Memphis area. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.
Mississippi
What channel is Mississippi State baseball vs Ole Miss on today? Time, TV schedule to watch college baseball game
Mississippi State baseball, coming off a sweep of Vanderbilt, travels to Ole Miss for a three-game series, starting on March 27.
The Bulldogs (21-4, 4-2 SEC) swept Vandy last weekend in Starkville to move above .500 in league play after two weeks.
Ole Miss (19-7, 3-3) took two of three games from Kentucky last weekend in Oxford.
Mississippi State and Ole Miss will also play on April 28 in Pearl.
Here’s how you can watch Mississippi State baseball vs Ole Miss:
Mississippi State vs. Ole Miss on March 27 will be televised via streaming on SEC Network+, which is housed on the ESPN app and can be accessed via a SEC Network subscription. If you are subscribed to SEC Network, you can access SEC Network+ online.
- Game 1 start time: 6:30 p.m on March 27, SEC Network+
- Game 2 start time: 1:30 p.m. on March 28, SEC Network+
- Game 3 start time: 3 p.m on March 29, SEC Network
- Feb. 13: Hofstra, W 6-5
- Feb. 14: Hofstra, W 6-1
- Feb. 14: Hofstra, W 7-5
- Feb. 17: Troy, W 13-7
- Feb. 18: Alcorn State, W 19-0 (7 innings)
- Feb. 20: Delaware, W 9-2
- Feb. 21: Delaware, W 10-0 (8 innings)
- Feb. 22: Delaware, W 7-3
- Feb. 24: Austin Peay, W 16-3 (7 innings)
- Feb. 27: vs. Arizona State in Arlington, Texas, W 8-4
- Feb. 28: vs. Virginia Tech in Arlington, Texas, W 15-8
- March 1: vs. UCLA in Arlington, Texas, L 8-7 (10 innings)
- March 3: at Southern Miss, L 7-6
- March 5: Lipscomb, W 8-3
- March 6: Lipscomb, W 9-4
- March 7: Lipscomb, W 26-0 (7 innings)
- March 10: vs. Tulane in Biloxi, W 11-7
- March 13: at Arkansas, L 5-4
- March 14: at Arkansas, W 7-2
- March 15: at Arkansas, L 7-3
- March 17: Jackson State, W 17-1 (7 innings)
- March 20: Vanderbilt, W 4-2
- March 21: Vanderbilt, W 7-2
- March 22: Vanderbilt, W 17-7 (7)
- March 24: Southern Miss, W 12-0 (7)
- March 27: at Ole Miss, 6:30 p.m on SEC Network+
- March 28: at Ole Miss, 1:30 p.m on SEC Network+
- March 29: at Ole Miss, 3 p.m on SEC Network
- March 31: Grambling
- April 2-4: Georgia
- April 7: UAB
- April 10-12: Tennessee
- April 14: at Samford
- April 17-19: at South Carolina
- April 21: Memphis
- April 24-26: LSU
- April 28: vs. Ole Miss in Pearl, Miss.
- May 1-3: at Texas
- May 5: Nicholls
- May 7-9: Auburn
- May 14-16: at Texas A&M
OXFORD – No. 6 Mississippi State carries momentum and confidence into one of college baseball’s fiercest rivalries this weekend, traveling to face No. 18 Ole Miss in a three-game Southeastern Conference series at Swayze Field.
The Diamond Dawgs arrive in Oxford riding a five-game winning streak and carrying plenty of momentum into one of the league’s premier matchups. MSU sits at 21-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play, while the Rebels enter at 19-6 and 3-3 in the SEC.
Mississippi State has been one of the most complete teams in the country through the first half of the season. The Bulldogs are hitting .347 as a team with a .452 on-base percentage and 39 home runs, consistently putting pressure on opposing pitching staffs. Ole Miss counters with plenty of power of its own, already launching 46 homers while posting a .500 slugging percentage.
The engine for State’s offense has been graduate outfielder Bryce Chance, who leads the SEC with a .452 batting average and has struck out just three times all season. All-American infielder Ace Reese continues to anchor the middle of the lineup with a team-high seven home runs and 34 RBIs, while Noah Sullivan and Aidan Teel provide consistent production around them to give the Diamond Dawgs one of the deepest lineups in the league.
Mississippi State will lean on its weekend rotation that has begun to separate itself as a strength. Left-hander Charlie Foster is expected to get the ball in Friday’s opener. The Bulldogs will then turn to sophomore standout Tomas Valincius on Saturday. The southpaw has been dominant, going 5-0 with a 1.04 ERA and 47 strikeouts, highlighted by a 14-strikeout performance in his last outing. Right-hander Duke Stone is slated for Sunday and brings a 4-0 record with him into the series.
Ole Miss is expected to counter with left-hander Hunter Elliott in the opener, a veteran arm with a 3-0 record and 44 strikeouts, followed by right-hander Hudson Calhoun on Saturday. The Rebels have yet to announce a starter for the series finale. As a staff, Ole Miss owns a 3.56 ERA with 293 strikeouts, setting up a matchup between two pitching groups capable of missing bats at a high level.
While the Bulldogs have dominated at home — winning 19 straight games at Dudy Noble Field dating back to last season — this weekend presents another opportunity for State to prove itself away from Starkville. MSU is 1-3 in true road games this year but has shown the ability to compete against elite competition throughout the early part of the schedule.
The rivalry history leans in Mississippi State’s favor, with the Bulldogs holding a 268-213-5 advantage in the all-time series. State has also won two straight meetings between the programs, adding another layer of confidence heading into the weekend.
Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the baseball program. Fans can also follow the program on social media by searching ‘HailStateBB’ on X, Facebook and Instagram.Top of Form
‘I would call him a hybrid between a smoke phase and a red phase. He’s not a true smoke phase because of all the red in him.’
Hilarious video shows turkeys chasing delivery driver
Wild turkeys chased a UPS driver in Branford, Connecticut, as he tried to deliver packages.
A Mississippi turkey hunter’s season wasn’t off to a good start, but with a change in plans, a little scouting, some luck thrown in, he bagged a rare reddish-colored turkey and it’s considered a bird of a lifetime.
“I’d been hunting the same bird since opening day,” said Barrett Clark of Strong, which is located near West Point. “He finally frustrated me enough to where I just needed to go look for another bird.”
Clark wasn’t able to connect with the gobbler he was after. So, on Friday, March 20, he decided to check another property. He located a few gobblers that afternoon, but one looked different. It appeared to have a lighter color than normal, but Clark figured it was just the way the sunlight was hitting the bird.
The following morning, Clark and his father, Larry Clark, returned to the area in hopes of getting a shot at one of the birds.
A turkey hunt that was almost ruined
“We met and went in early Saturday morning,” Clark said. “We were probably 300 yards away from him when he started gobbling. It was right at sunrise. He was gobbling off the roost.”
The gobbler flew off the roost and continued to gobble. Clark said he lightly called the bird. Then, a gunshot rang out from a nearby property and the gobbling stopped. To make matters worse, minutes later a coyote appeared and it looked like he was after the turkey that had been gobbling.
“That coyote came within 15 feet of my dad and ran straight to where the turkey had been gobbling,” Clark said. “We thought our hunt was boogered up.”
MS hunter shoots turkey with strange colors
The hunt wasn’t over, though. About 10 or 15 minutes later the gobbling resumed and Clark lightly called back. A little later, Clark saw a turkey through the trees in the neighborhood of 100 yards away.
“I was really just seeing his head move,” Clark said. “I would see his fan occasionally, but it was mostly just his head. I could tell he was lighter, but I really wasn’t focused on that. I was trying to stay still and make a good shot.”
Clark said he was hunting in pines that were maybe 10 years old, and the understory was thick. The bird came within 50 yards of him, but there was no shot. The bird began to walk away but stepped into an opening, and Clark pulled the trigger of his 20-gauge shotgun.
Clark still didn’t understand what he’d shot. He said it was only when he and his father got closer that they realized how unusual it was.
“We could tell it was something that neither of us had ever seen,” Clark said.
What is it, and how rare is this turkey?
The bird is a light rust or cinnamon color and lacks any normal coloration, but putting a label on it isn’t easy.
“I would call him a hybrid between a smoke phase and a red phase,” said Caleb Hinton, Wild Turkey Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “He’s not a true smoke phase because of all the red in him.”
Hinton couldn’t put a number on it, but he said a genetic trait like this is very rare.
“Like all the genetic mutations, it’s exceedingly rare in the wild,” Hinton said.
And for a gobbler to express such a genetic trait is even more rare. Hinton said that upwards of 95% of the turkeys that express such traits will be hens, not gobblers.
“It’s just a once-in-a-lifetime trophy for the hunter,” Hinton said.
A lifelong outdoorsman and wildlife enthusiast, Brian Broom has been writing about hunting, fishing and Mississippi’s outdoors for the Clarion Ledger for more than 14 years. He can be reached at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.
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