![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/casper-bear-1.10.26.jpg\")
The techniques and equipment used to trap bears for relocation and research have evolved a lot over the last 70 years. (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)Ether Does The Trick<\/p>\nThe pioneering days of bear research in the 1950s were bonkers and not standardized. One capture team using ether-soaked cotton to put bears into a stupor and included a college football player who once wrestled a bear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really dangerous. What the young gals and fellas are doing now, it\u2019s so far ahead of what we were doing. We were the pioneers. We were some of the first ones,\u201d seasoned conservationist Cliff Bampton told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview from his home in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 1958, Bampton, then an undergraduate college student, along with his teammates Ray Long and Steve\u00a0Browne,\u00a0captured 118 bears in the Adirondack\u00a0Mountains in New York State.<\/p>\n
At one point, the team was given a sedative dart gun, and \u201cthat worked OK,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
However, they stuck mostly with their up-close-and personal approach to subduing bears.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continued doing it the old way. We were crazy, young and full of piss and vinegar,\u201d said Bampton, who is now 89.<\/p>\n
Bears Sacrifice Testicles<\/p>\n
The daring young trio was sent into the mountains to collect\u00a0data\u00a0for Hugh Black, who needed information on bears for his doctorate-level studies, Bampton said.<\/p>\n
They recorded each bear\u2019s weight, length and other vital measurements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the largest one we caught was 420 pounds,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
Hapless males each also lost a testicle for the sake of fledging bear research science.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn male bears, we removed the right testicle and left the left one,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the testicles they (researchers) were hoping to know at what age a bear started producing sperm and at what age they stopped,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The techniques and equipment used to trap bears for relocation and research have evolved a lot over the last 70 years. (Wyoming Game and Fish Department)Ether Does The Trick<\/p>\n
In some instances, they used \u201cmetal culvert-style trap\u201d to capture bears, Bampton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the far end, there were holes. We would spray ether into the holes. If we see the bear went down, we would open the other end and drag the bear out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, they weren\u2019t down completely,\u201d he added, wryly.<\/p>\n
Long was charged with injecting the bears with a sedative, Sodium Pentobarbital, to further subdue them.<\/p>\n
The team also kept a bucket of ether-soaked cotton handy, just in case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would keep that ether bucket near the bear\u2019s head. If it started coming around, we would stick the bucket over its head,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
Mr. Browne Wrestles A Bear<\/p>\n
In other instances, the team used leg traps attached to long chains with a hook on the end.<\/p>\n
Once a\u00a0front\u00a0paw was caught in the trap, the bear would start to flee, and the hook chain would eventually get caught on a tree, brush or something else solid.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when it was Browne\u2019s turn to step in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve, since he was a football player at Syracuse, he had all the muscles,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
Browne wielded a \u201c6-foot, galvanized steel pipe,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
At one end, the pipe had a chain loop, designed to go over the bear\u2019s head and around its neck, \u201clike the snare poles that dog catchers use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Once Browne\u00a0had the bear caught, Long would move in and inject it with the sedative.<\/p>\n
Then it was Bampton\u2019s job to tie the bear’s\u00a0paws to trees so it was basically \u201cspread eagle\u201d and ready for measurements.<\/p>\n
On one\u00a0occasion, things didn\u2019t go so well.<\/p>\n
The bear \u201cbent the galvanized steel pole around to where he was basically face-to-face with Steve,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
A wrestling match ensued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bear would have Steve down for about 20 minutes, then Steve would have the bear down for about 20 minutes,\u201d until Browne finally prevailed, he said.<\/p>\n
On another occasion, team had to give up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had one bear that was so big, we messed with him all day long and we\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0do anything with him. We had a .357 magnum pistol, and we had to shoot\u00a0that trap off him\u201d and let the bear run free, Bampton said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Had I Grabbed Hold Of That Sucker\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
In another instance, Bampton almost paid dearly for an act of youthful foolhardiness.<\/p>\n
They caught a female bear in the culvert trap, only to discover that she had two cubs with her.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of the cubs ran up these large spruce trees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bampton decided to climb up a tree after one of the cubs, determined to catch it by hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout the time I went to reach for it, it saw there was a tree next to us, and it jumped into that next tree,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
They later caught the cubs, the usual way, and discovered that they weighed about 25 pounds apiece, and had well-developed claws.<\/p>\n
\u201cHad I managed to grab hold of that sucker, I would have come right out of that tree and nothing would have saved me,\u201d Bampton said.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019ve Had One Hell Of A Life\u2019<\/p>\n