Questions about Spring Bear...

Slug870

Slug870

CGN frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
169   0   0
Location
ON
So I am planning on heading out for my first bear hunt in the spring (didn't get a chance to "pop my cherry" in the fall) and I was wondering if a few of the more experienced bear hunters might be able to answer a couple of questions for me.

First Question: After you have located a spot for your stand, when do you start baiting? (I know that hunting over bait is not everyone's preferred method, but please do not bother posting if you are only going to rant about one method being "not right" because it's not how you hunt.)

Second Question: I am planning on using a 30gal or 45gal drum with lots of holes cut into it, filled with cow guts and butcher scrap for my bait. Is this a decent bait set up, or does anyone with experience care to offer advice on changes/modifications?

I am totally new to bear hunting, but really looking forward to the hunt, so any advice or help on preparation would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
 
Guts and rancid meat would not be my first choice for a beat setup. A 5 gallon pail full for a stink attractor maybe. Just remember you have to sit and smell that crap for a few hours at a time. My preferences for baits are pastries(doughnuts etc),popcorn,grain (oats etc) covered with fryer grease which is readily available at most restaurants. Grease your baits heavy to slow em down and it also spreads the "scent" through the bush attracting more bears. Once bears are hitting you can use fresh meat but don't over bait or they'll go nocturnal. Most bears have sweet tooths so sweet stuff works well and doesn't stink too bad. I use a homemade spray attractant when I start in the spring to let them know "dinner" is served and after that I rely on the grease to do its thing. Good Luck and have fun.
 
If you don't like someone than use the gut bait and put the stand down wind in the sun. This makes for a good time. Dognut from timmy's are good to use but what do I know we don't have a spring bear hunt in Ontario.;)
 
In Alberta we are allowed to bait 2 weeks before the season(I think) The sooner you get the bait out the better.We almost always fight the weather to get the setup early.(Lots of snow some years) You are on the right trac with animal parts.Grease is also very good to move the scent around.I have found that we seem to get big bears early in the year.Pork fat from the butcher shop is great.When we think we have a good bear coming in we like to hang a Beaver in a tree.It seems if you don't get a big bear in late April or first of May you may have to wait till the end of May or First of June.
I hope this helps.
Good Luck
 
pocorn is great to have spread around, it takes a long time to eat and requires them to move giving you better shot placemeant chances.
lickorice is very good even the liquid variety can be used to spray as an attractent.
if you're planning on eating the bear go easy on the meat.
i start baiting a week before but don't give them a constant supply of food,this is feeding not baiting and they will just come at night.
good luck and have fun!
 
start baiting as early as the law allows.
A new bait needs certain things to be successful.
First there has to be bears in the area.You can do everything right and fail if there are no bears around.
Scout for sign!
Be around water.Everything needs water.
Get the Ravens on your bait and the bears will come.Ravens and scent are how bears find winter kill.
A loaf of white bread slices thrown out on the ground is easy to see from the air.
Meat will bring Bears,grain/grease will keep them there when the meat is gone.
Everything already mentioned is good bait.Beaver is #1 imo.
The bin behind the grocery store will have a bait fortune in produce if you wanna dumpster dive.Bears enjoy half rotted fruit.
I used to keep my deer trim and carcass from the fall before and make scent bags with it.The smell of rotting venison will bring bears from a long way.Old onion bags work well.
Lots of ways to do a bait barrel,just make sure the edges of the hole are smooth so as not to scrape hair off.
Buy a super soaker water gun from the dollar store and fill it with fryer grease.Then spray your main crib tree as high up as it will go.The scent will travel a long way and bring more bears.
Same on the ground.Saturate the ground around your barrel with fryer grease.The bears will track it out into the forest and bring more bears in.
Bait heavy at first then taper off when you start to hunt.
Wear rubber boots.

Just a few tricks of the trade.
Good luck.


oh and yes dogfood works but is too costly in the amounts needed to be successful.
 
BrotherRockeye said:
start baiting as early as the law allows.
A new bait needs certain things to be successful.
First there has to be bears in the area.You can do everything right and fail if there are no bears around.
Scout for sign!
Be around water.Everything needs water.
Get the Ravens on your bait and the bears will come.Ravens and scent are how bears find winter kill.
A loaf of white bread slices thrown out on the ground is easy to see from the air.
Meat will bring Bears,grain/grease will keep them there when the meat is gone.
Everything already mentioned is good bait.Beaver is #1 imo.
The bin behind the grocery store will have a bait fortune in produce if you wanna dumpster dive.Bears enjoy half rotted fruit.
I used to keep my deer trim and carcass from the fall before and make scent bags with it.The smell of rotting venison will bring bears from a long way.Old onion bags work well.
Lots of ways to do a bait barrel,just make sure the edges of the hole are smooth so as not to scrape hair off.
Buy a super soaker water gun from the dollar store and fill it with fryer grease.Then spray your main crib tree as high up as it will go.The scent will travel a long way and bring more bears.
Same on the ground.Saturate the ground around your barrel with fryer grease.The bears will track it out into the forest and bring more bears in.
Bait heavy at first then taper off when you start to hunt.
Wear rubber boots.

Just a few tricks of the trade.
Good luck.


oh and yes dogfood works but is too costly in the amounts needed to be successful.
Click to expand...


All excellent advice. Fish can also be used as an attractor, I like scooping suckers in the spring and putting them out in onion sacks. Tried barrels of fish once, never again. Makes excellent stink bait but when the wind is wrong you can't sit anywhere near the bait, onion sacks let the fish dry out without going rancid.
 
Spring bear is Not worth eating. Fall bear is edible makes good farmers sausage. I would never shoot a spring bear. Oh and here in B.C. you can not bait.
 
Hillbilly_Deluxe said:
I am not a bear hunter, but I have heard dog food works very well, anyone else heard or have experience with this?
Click to expand...

Dog food and mollasses works great, but you need to have the proper setup. As where hunt I have to drive 1 1/2 hours to the bait area so I have yested barrels to the point that I have the setup perfect. I can put in 2 18KL bags of dog food and 3 -4 lbs of Mollasses on top of the dog food and it takes a week for the bears to empty the barrel. here's some pic's of my barrels

working on the barrels. drill 6 holes - 1in only around the top half of the barrel above the top ring. Weild a chain to the bottom to chain to a tree.

Picture004.jpg


This stand/setup took 3 bear last fall
Picture008-1.jpg


Bears like this work over the barrels
testcamerablack172.jpg


and like this
testcamerablack041.jpg


hunters like this are happy with dog food setups

testcamerablack156.jpg


testcamerablack127.jpg


testcamerablack126.jpg
 
We start baiting our sites at least 4 weeks prior to the season opening. Generally we use fish scraps in onion sacks hung high up in the tree above the bait for stink baits. They work well and usually the smell is gone by the time you get into your tree stand and the bears have found the bait. Underneath the stink bait we use a 40 - 60 gallon barrel chained to the tree. We always use doughnuts from Tim Hortons as bait and it works fantastic. If you go to your local doughnut places and talk to the owner or manager they usually don't have a problem with giving you their day old doughnuts as they just throw them out anyways. With permission we put a 60 gallon barrel by the garbage bins at the store and empty them out once a week.

For the first couple of weeks we soak the ground around the barrel, as wide as we can with fryer grease so that the bears can't avoid it and track it through the woods so that the other bears can smell it and follow it back to the bait. Once the bears are onto the bait we cut down how much bait goes into the barrel to keep the bears coming during the daylight hours and we always make alot of noise when we go in to bait, the bears quickly learn that when they hear us it's feeding time and alot of times it quickly becomes a race for them to get to the food once they hear us.

As far as the barrel goes we only ever put one feed hole in it so that we can place it on the proper angle for the bear to reach in presenting a perfect lung shot as we only bow hunt bears. Also ensure that the hole is only big enough for the bear to have to reach in with a paw and not it's whole head.

If you can't get doughnuts i know guys have had good success with dogfood, and popcorn, just make sure you put something sweet all over it. Jellow powder is cheap and works well.

I hope this helps and good luck, Doublelung
DSCF1239.jpg

DSCF1242.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom