Sask spring bear
- Thread starter rkr
- Start date
Scout early, ideally old bait sites that aren't in use are great to try and reactivate. Try to avoid being within a few miles of any other bait sites. If you are establishing a new site, try to be in mixed forest close to a natural water source. intersecting game trails have worked great for me.
Bait as early as your regs allow you to, and leave it be for a week or two, with a trail camera. For fall bear I use fryer oil I collect from restaurants, scented with a caramel extract and oats. Spring bear, I use oil, meat, and a few oats or popcorn. Talk to your local butcher shops, meat processors. Most I have dealt with are happy to help you out for free, or in some cases, booze. Beaver carcasses are great, suspend them in a pail, hanging upside down from a high branch.
Baitem 907 dot com has some excellent scenting options. I take some of the caramel scent, mixed with cooking oil and put it in a spray bottle, and I spray all the trees and area around the bait. the oil and scent combo stay around a lot longer that way. You can also scent rags and hang them up. Once the bears start hitting, keep the bait full and figure out what is coming in based on trail cam data and make your plan. if you have really big bears coming in through the night, cut your bait back and feed them early morning.
Evening hunts are most active during spring, ideally, have two different stand options to enable you to hunt the site regardless of wind direction. Make sure to set your primary stand up so that the prevailing winds in the area are hitting you in the face. Once you are actively hunting, I use scents in the stand. I have had great luck with burnable scent sticks and aerosols.
The most important part, is to have fun. Get creative, YouTube is a great source of info, but don't be afraid to try your own ideas. My wife and kids get into the bait collecting and bait placing process, and my wife loves spectating the bears from the stand. Hope that helps, more than willing to answer any additional questions or offer advice anytime, best of luck.
Bait as early as your regs allow you to, and leave it be for a week or two, with a trail camera. For fall bear I use fryer oil I collect from restaurants, scented with a caramel extract and oats. Spring bear, I use oil, meat, and a few oats or popcorn. Talk to your local butcher shops, meat processors. Most I have dealt with are happy to help you out for free, or in some cases, booze. Beaver carcasses are great, suspend them in a pail, hanging upside down from a high branch.
Baitem 907 dot com has some excellent scenting options. I take some of the caramel scent, mixed with cooking oil and put it in a spray bottle, and I spray all the trees and area around the bait. the oil and scent combo stay around a lot longer that way. You can also scent rags and hang them up. Once the bears start hitting, keep the bait full and figure out what is coming in based on trail cam data and make your plan. if you have really big bears coming in through the night, cut your bait back and feed them early morning.
Evening hunts are most active during spring, ideally, have two different stand options to enable you to hunt the site regardless of wind direction. Make sure to set your primary stand up so that the prevailing winds in the area are hitting you in the face. Once you are actively hunting, I use scents in the stand. I have had great luck with burnable scent sticks and aerosols.
The most important part, is to have fun. Get creative, YouTube is a great source of info, but don't be afraid to try your own ideas. My wife and kids get into the bait collecting and bait placing process, and my wife loves spectating the bears from the stand. Hope that helps, more than willing to answer any additional questions or offer advice anytime, best of luck.
We just spot and stock them here. The first areas to green up are always a good bet. They have poor eye sight, but a nose that is second to none. I find it best to drop them right where they stand, not a fan of trailing wounded bears. Look them over good as they can be hard to judge for size, that and those little cubs dont always show right away. Good luck and have fun!
- Location
- Saskatchewan
If hunting bears in spring in Saskatchewan, there are very very few opportunities to spot and stalk. I hunted bear for five consecutive spring seasons without seeing a single bear while trying hard to be a "purist". Baiting works, but is a challenge all its own. Bait known or suspected travel corridors, not just some random spot in the bush. Check the bait and top it up often. Use local food like beaver carcasses or spawning suckers if possible. If not, molasses and oats works OK. Have fun and get a big one!
thanks for your help guys.
I asked some ppl and they told me to try wmz56 or 34. I'd rather try wmz34 as it's a lot of farmland and bush but not sure how good the area is.
@pres 27 do you hunt with a bow or a rifle? Since this would be my first bear |I only trust my rifle. What's the chance to be charged by the bear while hunting for him?
I asked some ppl and they told me to try wmz56 or 34. I'd rather try wmz34 as it's a lot of farmland and bush but not sure how good the area is.
@pres 27 do you hunt with a bow or a rifle? Since this would be my first bear |I only trust my rifle. What's the chance to be charged by the bear while hunting for him?
the answer is both. My son was hunting bow, and I have a 45-70 rifle as back up Kid planted a bear with his bow in 2013. This past fall, I took a buddy and his son, and his son shot a nice boar with a .308 grenaded the heart and bear ran 25 yds. I always have a shotgun when checking camera or refilling bait. I have been very nervous, but never actually charged. We have had a cub fall out of the tree with no mom in sight, I've had a bear climb our tree and its mouth 6 inches from my foot, and I had a bear that wouldn't leave bait and we walked out. It was 12 yards from base of our ladder, looked at us but never stopped eating. When I first started hunting bear, I was always a little nervous, but I've come to respect the animal, and realize there is very little threat of danger to myself. Most times, they are simply curious as to what you are. I did have a buddy who had a momma charge up his ladder and he shot her in the face, called CO's and they hauled her away to be examined, but that's certainly the exception. If regulation allows it, take a shorty 12G with you if your nervous and use your bow, or rifle..... its quite the rush
Funny to read this.
I have been working for a farmer this past winter and they eat lots of game. Had several bear roasts and I am a big fan of it now.
Definitely hope to bag a bear, but will wait until fall hunt. They got more out of our fruit trees than we did so it should be good eating.
Lots here in WMU 35
- Location
- Saskatchewan
yes, three bears in recent years. Quickest High percentage kill shot on anything including bears is from broadside, with a heavy reasonably fast bullet to the junction of the humerus and scapula, on through the top of the lungs with fragments hitting the spine. Instant immobilization and lights out. I have used .257 Roboerts, 120 Nos PTN, 30-06 180 Norma Oryx, and .375H&H 260 Nos Ptn. on bears. I'm no expert, but all 3 worked perfectly.
Good habitat here for them, lots of wooded and secluded areas in the Qu'Appelle valley, but lots of farmland for them feed at (they will make a real mess of a crop of oats).
Baiting seems to be the preferred method. The only spot & stalk that would have a reasonable rate of success would be if you are a farmer and have a rifle with you in the tractor doing field work.
If your main goal is to harvest a bear then you better plan on baiting. If you want to spend time in the outdoors, get plenty of exercise and possibly get a bear then spot & stalk would be a lot of fun. In fact that is what I hope to do this spring.
Shot placement is a little more forward on a bear than hooved animals, hopefully that picture works. ideally you would like a broadside presentation with the front leg extended slightly forward. Keep that in mind when setting bait site in relation to potential stand placement. Bears are relatively easy to kill, like I said earlier, I got my buddies son his first bear, 150 grain .308 and it barely went 25 yards. I had a bear butchered at a butcher shop and it wasn't very good. Did some reading and I discovered that you want to be fussy with removing fat and silver skin. Next bear I did myself and it was amazing. Bear stew is phenomenal! Bears will take on the flavour of their food, so if you bait near a garbage dump, they taste like garbage. A heavy fish diet can alter the flavour as well. Fall bear with oats and oil, some meat thrown in for the big guys, and you will have yourself a fine animal that should taste great. Spring bear isn't quite as good table fare but makes for a better rug.
Shot placement is a little more forward on a bear than hooved animals, hopefully that picture works. ideally you would like a broadside presentation with the front leg extended slightly forward. Keep that in mind when setting bait site in relation to potential stand placement. Bears are relatively easy to kill, like I said earlier, I got my buddies son his first bear, 150 grain .308 and it barely went 25 yards. I had a bear butchered at a butcher shop and it wasn't very good. Did some reading and I discovered that you want to be fussy with removing fat and silver skin. Next bear I did myself and it was amazing. Bear stew is phenomenal! Bears will take on the flavour of their food, so if you bait near a garbage dump, they taste like garbage. A heavy fish diet can alter the flavour as well. Fall bear with oats and oil, some meat thrown in for the big guys, and you will have yourself a fine animal that should taste great. Spring bear isn't quite as good table fare but makes for a better rug.
thanks. this is like bear hunting for dummies. good info
I'm planning on using .308 federal copper 165 gr
