Bait Barrels for Bears

Ghunter

Ghunter

CGN Regular
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Location
Northern Ont.
I've seen a lot of hunting shows where outfitters use the bait barrels to hunt bears and they mostly agree that it is a great method for baiting "remote" baits so you don't have to go out and re-set every other day.
Anybody uses this method? If so; what are the oats or grain used for this technique?
Ghunter
 
I'll try to remember to post a pic of mine... I use an American hunter r-kit (40$ish from basspro/cabela's) attached to a 55gallon steel drum. I had to weld a bear proof cage to the bottom of the barrel to protect the motor. I could probably drop the unit off the back of my pickup on the highway without causing any serious damage to it.

I fill mine with corn, but I hear dog food works well also. I can only make it to the bait site about once a week, so the daily feedings that I get with the automatic feeder keeps the bears coming regularly.

I also have other similar feeders I use for deer and gobblers.
 
At our camp we put in pork, lots of pork. The guy down the road from us uses dog food, they may hit it, they may not it depends on where the bears are. We had one year they were tossing the buckets around, ripping them out of the trees and last year nothing but a pack of wolves.

Too bad we don't have a spring hunt here anymore, would have been nice.
 
Fox said:
they may hit it, they may not it depends on where the bears are.
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...the secret is using it in combination with traditional baiting techniques. Stink bait, molasses and/or anis as an attractant... old fryer grease for scent trails... sweets such as cake, donuts, and bread are like crack and keep them coming for more...
 
I use a 20 gallon barrel with small holes in the sides at the bottom(1/2-3/4") and a long cable for tie down. Fill it with oats and molases or cooking oil and put a beaver carcuss in it. Let them roll it around and they get a little feed out. This way if I can't get back up to check things out for a couple of weeks, there is enough that keeps them coming around.
 
We bait with donuts once a week, also use liquid smoke (they can smell it a mile away). Over the past few years, a local kid, who works at Tim Horton's Donuts, has been collecting day old's for us. We load up and bait with a 45 gallon plastic drum full of donuts. Also walk a soaked rag of liquid smoke in and out of the bush to our bait station. Even if the bears get in and eat up the entire barrel within a day or two, they will keep passing by to check it out on a regular basis. Creatures of habit.
 
keith mokry said:
I use a 20 gallon barrel with small holes in the sides at the bottom(1/2-3/4") and a long cable for tie down. Fill it with oats and molases or cooking oil and put a beaver carcuss in it. Let them roll it around and they get a little feed out. This way if I can't get back up to check things out for a couple of weeks, there is enough that keeps them coming around.
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The key,especially on a remote bait is to make the feeding holes small enough so that the bears have to work at it. We usedto use 50 gallon drums filled with bread or donuts or meat. They worked really well but some of my baits that had 10 or more different bears coming in would clean me out overnight. Now we chain or cable two drums to a bait site, fill the barrels with oats and lots and lots of used french fry grease. Don't need any stink,the grease is all I use. Pour it over the oats,ground bushes; the bears then spread it around and leave a scent super highway to your bait. If you want to add some attractant I make up a mixture of Oil of Anise, Cherry Extract'Almond Exract and Vanilla. I then pour it into a spray bottle and cut it with Canola oil, sray it around your bait. Works really well and doesn't make you gag in your treestand. Cheers.
 
We had 3 bears coming in at once, there are a bunch of guys baiting in the area, it seems like whatever bait they hit first brings all the bears. Dad had one stomping and snapping, he gets a little uneasy around the thought of bears and wolves so I had a little chuckle when he said he was a little weirded out walking out of the bush in the dark.

We have put the stink lines in and such, still did not seem to matter, found a little spot where the wind pulls the scent through the valley and into the swamp, location has been more important than the bait in the Ottawa valley at least to those around us.
 
Thanks guys for the replies! Very interesting comments.
For my closer baits I use chip stand frying oil and table scraps. The donuts in my area is a no go because local outfitters actually pays-off the stores managers. (See fly-in fishing trip) So I can't compete with that.
For my remote baits that I'll be setting up I think I'll try the dog food/bread soaked in frying oil and tying the barrel to a tree.
Any other "farm" feed/grain that would work?
 
Oats work well and aren't as expensive as dog food. Most farmers will sell you some right out of their graineries. Some will even give you old silage for free.
 
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