SPRINGFIELD, MO. ? State conservation experts and Missouri State University are conducting a joint study to track black bears by satellite and analyze genetic data to determine how many live in Missouri.

The study, which will continue into 2011, will assist state officials who are considering the introduction of a hunting season for an animal that is currently off-limits to hunters, department spokesman Jim Low said.

Based on early data from researchers, Missouri could have a larger black bear population than had been thought, said Jeff Beringer, a bear expert with the Missouri Department of Conservation.

“They may be to the point where we have a (sustained) population and we want to know more about that population,” he told The Springfield News Leader.

Researchers will track bears wearing collars that send signals to a satellite and are then transmitted to a laboratory at Missouri State University. The groundwork involves checking more than 30 traps spread across 100 miles of rugged terrain.

The study covers the state’s southernmost counties from Barry County to Texas County, close to areas in Arkansas where black bears were stocked between 1959 and 1968.

Biologists theorize that bears moving north have been breeding in Missouri.

Researchers have trapped 14 bears and put collars with GPS trackers on eight of them. Beringer said he wants 13 bears collared for the study.

He said the state will consider introducing a bear-hunting season when officials are certain about the black bear population and its dynamics in Missouri.

Beringer said the study could paint a new picture of black bears in Missouri.

“When we’re done, I think we’re going to be able to say with some confidence what the population is, at a bare minimum,” he said.