Bait Bear In Morning or Evening?

[David G Duncan]

I am getting a stock pile of bear bait ready for the start of baiting. My basic question now is should I be baiting at the same time each day? And what time of the day is the best time?

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Trapper Dave

[birddog]

Originally posted by David G Duncan:
I am getting a stock pile of bear bait ready for the start of baiting. My basic question now is should I be baiting at the same time each day? And what time of the day is the best time?


If you can i would advise you to bait at about the same tme everyday and early in the day so it is quiet around your bait in afternooon.You wil be surprised at the times you will get if you run timers on your bait.And do not be afraid to put alot of bait in your pits.

[LONE WOLF]

Hi Dave. I am no expert on the subject, but I have a friend of mine that runs hounds every year. I use to use fish scraps and table scraps or anything else that I thought would make a good strong smell. I never had a problem getting a bear to hit a bait, but I did have a problem keeping them hitting it. I talked with my friend with the hounds and asked him what my problem was. He told me straight out, never use meat or table scraps as in the fall the bears are wanting to fatten up for winter and they have one heck of a sweet tooth. I ran baits with him last year and couldn't believe the trails and different size tracks on each of the baits. They had multiple bears on each bait site. The magical bait they use, shelled corn with molasis or syrup poured all over it. They also get 5 gallon buckets of powdered doughnut mix, dig a hole with a post hole digger down about 3 feet and fill this with the doughnut mix and cover with a few logs. In just a few days, after the bears find it, they will have a pit almost big enough to stand in without you being able to see them. My uncles run walker houns and they too say to use sweets. They get oreo cookies by the truck load, use to relly make me mad as we would have a bait site that was just getting torn up bad, then they would start to bait within a mile of our site and that was the end of our bear. That brings up another point. You are allowed 2 or 3 baits per person, better check the regs to be sure as I can't remember what it is and it is better to be safe than sorry. If you are putting out more than one bait remember to space them at least 3 miles apart or you will have the same bears hitting both baits. Good luck with your wifes hunt. God Bless and Happy Hunting.

[David G Duncan]

Thanks for the sound advice.

It has been my plan to use mostly pastries for bait. Based on my understanding of the regulations I think we are allowed three bait stations for each hunter.

I also have some resturant deep frier grease, which I also understand is a good way to get the bears started coming into the baits.

I am fairly optimistic about our hunt, mainly because we are seeing a lot of fresh sign in the areas we plan to be baiting.

In fact this weekend I walked up to within 20 feet of a two year old bear that was apparently sleep near a tree. This was a big thrill to see the bear jump up and tear full speed into the swamp.

I had just finished picking a future spot for bait site about 50 yards away from where I saw the sleeping bear. I had decided to check a bear marked tree, that I had found the week before, for some fresh bear sign. Boy did I find some fresh sign and bear was still in the tracks.

Seeing and hearing several groups running their dogs in the area we will be hunting. I am a little concerned that on opening day that hounds the might disrupt the bear we might have coming into our baits, but I guess I will have to try to figure out which of our baits will be furthest from where we are seeing all the bear hound tracks. Any suggestions?

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Trapper Dave