How to make Bear Bait last longer at the bait?

Dobbin19

Dobbin19

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Does anyone have any unique ideas of how to make your bear bait last longer at the bait or how to make it harder for them to access the bait (especially the young bears)? Any ideas would be really neat to try this spring, let me know!
 
Im just looking for a barrel design or a way to make it a lot harder for the small ones to access the bait, ive tried using smaller foods like popcorn and peanuts so they cant walk away with the bait but the smaller bears sit there and clean me out lol.

Last year i was using a steel barrel, cut a 4"-6" diameter hole in the front and jammed logs in the hole.
 
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I had a barrel with dog food and other bits and I found the holes need to be real small other wise the chipmunks and mice will clean it out. The smaller the holes the longer the bears will be around.
my 2 cents I am not a seasoned hunter so others may have better advice

My barrel was tied to a tree via a steel cable
 
Dobbin19 said:
Im just looking for a barrel design or a way to make it a lot harder for the small ones to access the bait, ive tried using smaller foods like popcorn and peanuts so they cant walk away with the bait but the smaller bears sit there and clean me out lol.

Last year i was using a steel barrel, cut a 4"-6" diameter hole in the front and jammed logs in the hole.
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Most of what you do will limit larger bears, not smaller bears. Your best bet is to create competition on the bait. To do this you use sufficient food to feed multiple bears, the smaller bears will be in early and will hit the bait hard... what you don't see is the larger bears coming in after dark, the scent tells the story. They know what bears have been there and they know what they were eating and they know how often, they are also patterning "you," but after a few days, the boss bears will begin to set-up camp nearby and will start coming in earlier, and will begin driving off subordinate bears, that is when you have a shot at taking them, unless you are hunting in "true" wilderness (unlikely), small bears are your best ally to harvest a really good bear.

All this is contingent on providing a sufficient quality, quantity regular food source. It works, but so will you.
 
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Assuming you are using a standard 45 gallon steel drum with a hole about 12x12 inches located midway on the side of the barrel. Barrel lays on the ground horizontally with 6 inch diameter logs laying over the bait hole. That way the only thing that can move the logs is a bear.

One thing for sure to do is to limit the size of the bait pieces you put out. There is no sense in putting an entire beaver carcass in there. You must chop it up into the smallest chunks you can so they will not carry it away otherwise they will. Also use oats and molasses. The oats scatter all around the bait site and will keep bears there chasing scraps forever. The molasses gets all over their paws and they track it all over the woods making it much easier for other bears to home in on the source.
 
You don't need to cut holes in the barrel. Fill 3/4 full with oats through the large bung hole, pour in a 5 gallon bucket of used fryer grease, seal the large hole, take out the small bung. Punch a hole through the top lip and attach a chain to the drum and a nearby tree, about 8 ft in length. If you can, attach a heavy duty swivel, otherwise they'll have the chain wrapped up from rolling the barrel around. Dump some extra fryer grease on the ground around the bait and on top of the barrel.

With this setup, they have to work to get the bait, you'll know when it's hit as the drum will be knocked over and they don't waste much. With large side holes, most of the bait will get spilled and trampled. If you don't have a farmer nearby who has oats, you can buy rolled oats or corn in 50 lb bags at Co-op feed stores etc. If you're in a more urban area, talk to people with horses, they'll know where to find oats or may have some.

The small bears tend to spend more time at a bait. There's no way to limit that, but at least this way they have to work for the meal.
 
Thanks these are some great ideas,

Shredder0, A 12"X12" hole seems excessive, I have heard of some people cutting a hole too big and next thing they know a bear has his head stuck in the barrel, Have you ever had any issues with this? or ever heard of anything like this happening before?

Has anyone ever tried hanging a barrel to make the bears work a little harder to get at the bait?
 
Bearkillr has this nailed well. We also use popcorn with the oats and the holes in our barrels are generally about the size of a toonie. The bears shake the hell out of it in order to spill small amounts out and I have seen several fighting for the opportunity to feed. Best of all you can fill the barrel relatively full and it will last if you're away for several days. We tried a bear lollipop and it wasn't terribly easy to make and it didn't function as we had seen on the net.
 
bearkilr said:
You don't need to cut holes in the barrel. Fill 3/4 full with oats through the large bung hole, pour in a 5 gallon bucket of used fryer grease, seal the large hole, take out the small bung. Punch a hole through the top lip and attach a chain to the drum and a nearby tree, about 8 ft in length. If you can, attach a heavy duty swivel, otherwise they'll have the chain wrapped up from rolling the barrel around. Dump some extra fryer grease on the ground around the bait and on top of the barrel.

With this setup, they have to work to get the bait, you'll know when it's hit as the drum will be knocked over and they don't waste much. With large side holes, most of the bait will get spilled and trampled. If you don't have a farmer nearby who has oats, you can buy rolled oats or corn in 50 lb bags at Co-op feed stores etc. If you're in a more urban area, talk to people with horses, they'll know where to find oats or may have some.

The small bears tend to spend more time at a bait. There's no way to limit that, but at least this way they have to work for the meal.
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+1 for this idea...maybe even take it a step further and only drill a couple of 0.5 inch holes in the barrel while leaving the bung holes plugged. I've watched bears working this stetup for hours as they wiggle a claw in the hole and lick the oats as they fall onto their tongue. Mollassas rolled oats seems to work great.

Cheers,

Brobee
 
I've done the bear suckers and mentioned it here. I find they will last a long time which is good. They do not help to cause a sense of urgency or competition at the bait though, which isn't great if you are trophy hunting. IE if you have limited bait, biggest bear will claim bait and come in before the bait is gone. I'm not a pro bear hunter btw.
 
My set up, learned from a guide outfitter acquaintance. If it ain't worth their while, they won't come back. Hard to see, but there is a cover on that barrel and a 5" hole near the bottom. Not a lazy man's game, in spite of what some think.

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bearkilr said:
You don't need to cut holes in the barrel. Fill 3/4 full with oats through the large bung hole, pour in a 5 gallon bucket of used fryer grease, seal the large hole, take out the small bung. Punch a hole through the top lip and attach a chain to the drum and a nearby tree, about 8 ft in length. If you can, attach a heavy duty swivel, otherwise they'll have the chain wrapped up from rolling the barrel around. Dump some extra fryer grease on the ground around the bait and on top of the barrel.

With this setup, they have to work to get the bait, you'll know when it's hit as the drum will be knocked over and they don't waste much. With large side holes, most of the bait will get spilled and trampled. If you don't have a farmer nearby who has oats, you can buy rolled oats or corn in 50 lb bags at Co-op feed stores etc. If you're in a more urban area, talk to people with horses, they'll know where to find oats or may have some.

The small bears tend to spend more time at a bait. There's no way to limit that, but at least this way they have to work for the meal.
Click to expand...


Do you put the heavy duty swivel at the barrel or at the tree? I imagine the chain would get wrapped around the tree thats why i ask.
 
oldbill said:
I've done the bear suckers and mentioned it here. I find they will last a long time which is good. They do not help to cause a sense of urgency or competition at the bait though, which isn't great if you are trophy hunting. IE if you have limited bait, biggest bear will claim bait and come in before the bait is gone. I'm not a pro bear hunter btw.
Click to expand...

Grizzly Adams said:
My set up, learned from a guide outfitter acquaintance. If it ain't worth their while, they won't come back. Hard to see, but there is a cover on that barrel and a 5" hole near the bottom. Not a lazy man's game, in spite of what some think.
Click to expand...

a couple of guys get it. How you bait changes as the season, and sign, dictates.
You bait hard at the beginning to get as many bears coming as possible. Once you have big bear sign you taper off the bait to get the big fellas to come during hunting light.
There are a multitude of little tricks that can get your bait rocking and eventually help you take a big bear, but you have to have one coming in.
Using a BrotherRockeye BearAll custom barrel would make it a whole lot easier! :)
 
After baiting for years and trying different bait stations I came up with one that works great for me. I am one that needs to drive 1 1/2 hours to get to the area I hunt/bait. I have used everything from meat scraps to oats and have settled with a mixture of sweat feed and dog food. The 45 gal drum has a clamped lid and has a link with a swivel attached to the bottom and is then chained and bolted to the tree. The barrel has 6 - 7/8's hole drilled only in the top half of the barrel and are staggered around the barrel. (A rolling Shaker barrel) 50 - 70 lbs of feed will last up to a week and if I need to slow it I can easily take a tin circle and screw it from the inside to slow food consumption.


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