need some advice on this springs hunt...any advice would be appreciated ...my fist day in the stand will be may 1st...my questions are about techniques?how much bait?best time of day to bait?ive got a freezer full of old lobster crab and mussels...but i hear sweets may be better....iam gonna be using a savage 308 lever it kills moose so i think iam ok for killing power...my barrel will be 20 yards fom stand....hoping to hear from some experienced bear hunters...thanks
Spring bears
- Thread starter RED BONES
- Start date
bait:
beaver carcasses (from a trapper friend?)
pork scraps from the butcher
any scraps from the butcher
out dated sweets (donuts, etc)
Fish guts and skin
oats
oats mixed in bacon grease
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make the bait a little work to get at so the bears cant carry it away or consume it too quickly. A 5 gal drum sealed up with holes punched on the outside works well, and tying to trees etc.
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bait needs to be set well in advance and refilled regularly. look for bear sign every time, and once it starts getting hit a lot, time to hunt your bait.
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your gun is fine
bait in the day, and your bait will often get hit at or near nightfall
make sure you are downwind of bear approaches and the bait itself
make sure you dont have bear coming up behind you when in a ground blind
make sure you have a lot of light, as walking out of the woods in the dark when there are 40 hungry bears milling about can suck, plus you may have to track a wounded bear
if you are having a lot of bear action, identify large tracks, and if present...... woohoo......
dont get buck fever when bears come during your hunt... hold out for a big one or for colour
beaver carcasses (from a trapper friend?)
pork scraps from the butcher
any scraps from the butcher
out dated sweets (donuts, etc)
Fish guts and skin
oats
oats mixed in bacon grease
-------------------------------
make the bait a little work to get at so the bears cant carry it away or consume it too quickly. A 5 gal drum sealed up with holes punched on the outside works well, and tying to trees etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
bait needs to be set well in advance and refilled regularly. look for bear sign every time, and once it starts getting hit a lot, time to hunt your bait.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
your gun is fine
bait in the day, and your bait will often get hit at or near nightfall
make sure you are downwind of bear approaches and the bait itself
make sure you dont have bear coming up behind you when in a ground blind
make sure you have a lot of light, as walking out of the woods in the dark when there are 40 hungry bears milling about can suck, plus you may have to track a wounded bear
if you are having a lot of bear action, identify large tracks, and if present...... woohoo......
dont get buck fever when bears come during your hunt... hold out for a big one or for colour
I never use stinky stuff, I feed with bulk grain and cheap dry dog food. No scavengers, no nasty smell on you, no curious hickers or VTTers attracted. You just need to use the right "smell" to call them in. There are a lot of those smells into sporting good shops. Anything from vanilla to anis oil (that's what I use) are more than good to go.
I made automatic feeders out of 45 Gal pails, just like those you feed the cats with. It usually easily contains up to 200 lbs of "food" inside, so you're good to come back one week later..
When the bait is started, they just come in all the time. Here, in Quebec, we start the bait only 1 week before the season's opening. We kill more bears than you think of at only one bait.
I made automatic feeders out of 45 Gal pails, just like those you feed the cats with. It usually easily contains up to 200 lbs of "food" inside, so you're good to come back one week later..
When the bait is started, they just come in all the time. Here, in Quebec, we start the bait only 1 week before the season's opening. We kill more bears than you think of at only one bait.
I've hunted and baited bears for 20 years and been on 2 TV shows. If you can get bread or donuts that would work great and it keeps their bellies full. I start out with grease, hard grease or liquid french fry grease. The bears walk in the grease and track the sent around the woods and back to your bait. Then you get multiple bears in your bait. Good luck.
Another very effective attractant is used fryer oil from restaurants. Take a 5 gallon pail with a lid that seals properly and fill it. I had been soaking bread and donuts with syrup and molasses but found that the fryer oil drove them mad. They tore my whole bait site apart, ripped the ground up where it had soaked in, torn the bark off deadfallen trees that had been soaked...and it was free 
I even tried different restaurants to see if it made a difference; The Keg, Frankie Tommatto's, this Chinese food joint, a roadhouse, etc. but it didn't seem to make a difference.
Six weeks after I last poured a 5 gallon pail at the site, it was still getting hit.
I even tried different restaurants to see if it made a difference; The Keg, Frankie Tommatto's, this Chinese food joint, a roadhouse, etc. but it didn't seem to make a difference.
Six weeks after I last poured a 5 gallon pail at the site, it was still getting hit.
