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Fall 2002
President's Message
My cousins and I were reared on stories of my grandfather, Clive Metcalfe,
and my great-uncle, Harley Metcalfe, hunting black bear with Theodore
Roosevelt. Who knows whether these stories or the gene pool is responsible
for the fact that we have always been a family that treasured nature,
loved to hunt and fish and felt a responsibility for the conservation
of natural resources.
On October 19, one-hundred years after President Theodore Roosevelt's
first hunting trip to the area, the Great Delta Bear Affair was held
in and around Rolling Fork. Local citizens, Mississippi corporations,
conservation groups and government agencies joined forces with the Black
Bear Conservation Committee, a consortium working in Mississippi, Arkansas,
Louisiana and Texas.
The celebration had two purposes. First, organizers raised public awareness
of Mississippi's black bear population and garnered support for increasing
the habitat that black bear need to thrive. Secondly, organizers wished
to recognize the anniversary of Roosevelt's hunt in Sharkey County in
1902.
In spite of noted hunter and guide Holt Collier's best efforts, Roosevelt
did not shoot a bear in Sharkey County in 1902. He refused the opportunity
to shoot a small bear that had been hobbled by a lariat. The event was
of great public interest throughout the nation, and a series of cartoons
in The Washington Post depicted bear cubs which were called "Teddy
Bears." Toy companies began manufacturing stuffed bears which gained
immediate popularity.
Despite Roosevelt's failure to kill a bear on the 1902 hunt, he returned
to this area in 1907. Accompanied by Holt Collier, the Metcalfe brothers
and other local sportsmen, Roosevelt and his party killed three bears,
six deer, one wild turkey, twelve squirrel, one duck, one opossum and
one wild cat.
For the celebration in Rolling Fork, organizers planned music, Theodore
Roosevelt impersonators, bird watching tours in the nearby Delta National
Forest, Indian mound tours, seminars on the black bear and educational
activities for families along with other events.
Your Foundation, as well as mutual supporters such as Cellular South
and Entergy, were proud sponsors of this fine event.
Leila Clark Wynn President
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