hands down, best, what works for you.... Bear Bait

[mikmaze]

first off , it is legal for me to use with stipulations, which I understand and will adhere to.

First week of December the season opens, and I want the black bruin that is ruining a lot of good apple and chestnut trees. I hear all kinds of things, dog food, bird seed, peanut butter, anise, sugar, honey, maple syrup, cool aid, bacon..... what have you used, how fast does it work, and how the heck to do you get the bear to hit the bait during daylight hours?
this group has to be the most helpful, and full of knowledge so I beg for help.

 

[Terrific_tom]

I help a Bear Guide in Northwest Wisconsin out for a month every year. The number one bait we use is cookies. As far as smell attractants Fryer grease from restaurants thrown up in the tress and surrounding vegetation will get the bears to come and check it out. Concentrated liquid smoke is also a good smell attractant. We spray this every time we bait and the hunters use the spray when they are hunting. Some other things that work for bait is shelled corn with some type of sweet flavoring poured on it. Frosting also works very well. In Wisconsin the use of meat, fish, meat by products and honey are not legal to use.

 

[SwampCat]

I live in Arkansas. Our season opens in September - so no meat. It rots in the heat and becomes a mess. They like sweet. If you have access to a LOT of out of date pastries, that might be the best. Pop popcorn and lightly coat in imitation (cheap) maple syrup and shake powdered sugar on it. I use most dog food and corn for the bulk of my bait - with imitation maple syrup or honey poured over it. I throw some pastries or anything else sweet when I have it. We can legally start baiting a month before season - but my experience - pretty much every bear we get on bait will find it within two weeks. Bear baiting is work if you have to go very far to replenish the bait. Our bears are very likely to circle the bait trying to determine if someone is there. We like to put stand locations on the edge of a hill, overlooking a bait down in a flat. It seems the bears are not quite as likely to circle up over the hill to check wind.

I am definately no expert. We dont have a lot of bears where I hunt. We might get two or three working a bait - not ten like you see on bear hunting shows. Where we hunt, they dont walk over and look at you in the stand and go to the bait. Our bears are more cautious than a big buck. Stand time is what works for us. We get pics of them all day long when we arent there. When we are there, they come in 15 minutes after we leave at dark - that is not coincidence. We spend long hours in the stand and sometimes things just fall in place. This year, my son in law and I were hunting baits about a mile apart. We hunted three days straight - only coming out for two hours at lunch. Didnt see a bear - but plenty of pictures fifteen minutes after we left. Fourth day, we both killed one in the last ten minutes of daylight. I dont know what was different about that day - but something sure was.

 

[Terrific_tom]

I live in Arkansas. Our season opens in September - so no meat. It rots in the heat and becomes a mess. They like sweet. If you have access to a LOT of out of date pastries, that might be the best. Pop popcorn and lightly coat in imitation (cheap) maple syrup and shake powdered sugar on it. I use most dog food and corn for the bulk of my bait - with imitation maple syrup or honey poured over it. I throw some pastries or anything else sweet when I have it. We can legally start baiting a month before season - but my experience - pretty much every bear we get on bait will find it within two weeks. Bear baiting is work if you have to go very far to replenish the bait. Our bears are very likely to circle the bait trying to determine if someone is there. We like to put stand locations on the edge of a hill, overlooking a bait down in a flat. It seems the bears are not quite as likely to circle up over the hill to check wind.

I am definately no expert. We dont have a lot of bears where I hunt. We might get two or three working a bait - not ten like you see on bear hunting shows. Where we hunt, they dont walk over and look at you in the stand and go to the bait. Our bears are more cautious than a big buck. Stand time is what works for us. We get pics of them all day long when we arent there. When we are there, they come in 15 minutes after we leave at dark - that is not coincidence. We spend long hours in the stand and sometimes things just fall in place. This year, my son in law and I were hunting baits about a mile apart. We hunted three days straight - only coming out for two hours at lunch. Didnt see a bear - but plenty of pictures fifteen minutes after we left. Fourth day, we both killed one in the last ten minutes of daylight. I dont know what was different about that day - but something sure was.

I can explain the bear coming in on the 4th day. The bear has a great nose and probably knew you were sitting on the bait the 3 previous days as your smell was greater then. When you bait and then leave your smell dissipates and is not as strong so the bear comes in. After 3 days the bear gets use to your smell at the bait and comes in. We have saw this a lot with hunters we put on baits. As I said on my previous post that is why we use liquid smoke every time we bait. The bear gets accustomed to the strong liquid smoke smell as a sign that fresh bait has been put out. Then when it is being hunted and the hunter uses the liquid smoke and sprays it every 15 to 20 minutes, the bear thinks that there is fresh bait and it is ok to come in and eat.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

first off , it is legal for me to use with stipulations, which I understand and will adhere to.

First week of December the season opens, and I want the black bruin that is ruining a lot of good apple and chestnut trees. I hear all kinds of things, dog food, bird seed, peanut butter, anise, sugar, honey, maple syrup, cool aid, bacon..... what have you used, how fast does it work, and how the heck to do you get the bear to hit the bait during daylight hours?
this group has to be the most helpful, and full of knowledge so I beg for help.

I am in the same boat as you, I have a couple nuisance bears, and they would be my target, but adding bait will just draw in more bear. So while you now may have 3-5 bears using your land, and baiting them you may get a shot at your problem bear, but you will then probably have 6-8 bear from adding the food. My best deterrent, dont put out bait, and they wont hang out. My county allows deer baiting, so in the fall, they have more corn piles they can eat, then they can handle. As long as other people are putting out bait, the bear hang out there, and not on my land. Sure they will pass through, and you may have some damage, but baiting will only bring in more bears.

 

[Red Picqua]

they are very curious creatures..
1. Not one thing moldy
2. sweet they eat
3. they like a challenge.
4. NOTHING CHOCOLATE IT WILL KILL THEM
5. liquid smoke for attractant. it gets on the bear and they track it around.
6. They are very habit orientated.
7. if possible don't over bait. causes nocturnal.
8. drill holes in a log.. shove peanut butter down, makes them work at it.
9. hang a bait bag if legal.. let them work at it.. trying to get it. sweets only.
10. don't bring a bunch of people to the bait site. they can smell better than you could ever imagine.
11. grease..don't over do it. 5 gallons of french fry grease.
12. granola... corn... and jelly beans. but don't go over board on jelly beans or gummi worms. make em find it. you want to keep them there. not just fill up and leave.

 

[dogghr]

All the above posts give good options. Bear baiting is not legal in my state. But rumor has it the best bait a person could use, assuming of course it is legal where you hunt, is fill a gallon plastic milk jug with cocacola, tighten on lid, hang from tree limb out of reach of wanted bear, and prick hole in base of jug. The slow leaking pop is a sure fire attractant, or so I've heard. Hanging a slightly opened tuna fish can nearby also adds to the charm. And neither is seldom noticed by a nosy hunter or others. Enjoy your harvest.

 

[mikmaze]

thanks guys, I made a bait site today, used 100 lbs bird seed, 50 lbs corn, 2 lbs grape, and 2 lbs strawberry jam, 3 lbs peanu butter, 1 galllon aunt jemimah's maple syrup, 10 lbs white sugar mixed with half a gallon of water and 2 small bottles of anise extract. in NJ I have to hunt on the grond and not in a blind if over bait, or more than 300 feet from the bait. I found a good spot on a hillside overlookinig a swamp thicket, I trimmed only what was needed to make a shooting lane to a bait pile. I have a good tree to lean against and wait 50 yds from the pile. I have heard ofbacon cooks too, can of sterno under a tin can with raw bacon in it, sterno cooks the bacon while you hunt and puts out scent, so may add bacon grease to the mix as well.

 

[NE PA QDM]

I have them in my neighborhood (which is surrounded by hundreds of acres of swamp on all sides) daily.
Nothing gets them to come into my yard and ransack my garbage cans more regularly than:

An empty bag of McDonald's. A Big Mac and fries, to be exact.

Anecdotal, yes. But bears in PA love them some McDonald's.

 

[JFK52]

To the fellows who bait bear. Do you find this interferes with deer patterns? I have bear on my land and could hunt them with about 5-7 accumulated points depending on the year. I have never considered this option because I believe it will mess up my deer hunting. I have no evidence to support this idea.
I guess if I really want to bear hunt, I will pay to sit on bait on some other land. Let the guide do the baiting and put you on a stand that overlooks bait. It might take more points to get into some of the better WI counties for bear, but would be well worth it to me. I am guessing that a 5 day baited hunt would run in the $2K area, depending on where one would choose to stay and eat.

 

[mikmaze]

The Bear does mess with the deer at my spot, if there is a Bear around, you won't see deer. just one more reason to take him out. I do keep saying Bear, and not Bears, as there is only one that has moved into my area. I have already accepted that in trying to focus on the Bear, I give up on seeing a Deer, but with only 6 days to take out thie bruin, I will focus where I feel the need is. I still have the remainder of the season for filling the freezer, heck our deer season starts first week of September, and goes to second week of February. No limit on Doe.

 

[yoderjac]

Baiting is illegal here, but based on bear activity, I would try young fawns that can't run yet. They seem to attract bear here. If you could get a pile of them, I think you would have plenty of use.

 

[SD51555]

Paper bags of lime from Tractor Supply. Got hit every time I put them out under a garbage bag for later spreading.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We can't bait in Pa., but we used to hang the skins from bacon ( the whole sides ) on wires hanging from trees to get close pix of bears. That worked so well the bears would lay down wind of the hanging site and as soon as we would hang new bacon skins, they'd come right out like we rang the dinner bell. We stopped doing that about 20 years ago because we drew bears in so well that they scared the deer off. These days, we don't want bears hanging around. I wouldn't care if they all moved out of our county.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Bears suck! And the ones that don't play football still suck. Momma with cubs is off limits according to our state. Just gotta live with the stuff they wanna tear up.

 

[mikmaze]

I did put a trail camera on the bait site, but man do I wish I had a cellular setup, dying to know if it found the site yet. Going to be tough to leave it alone for a week before checking. I do have a deer stand in the area that I have decided to give up on till after bear season just to stay clear.

 

[SwampCat]

I did put a trail camera on the bait site, but man do I wish I had a cellular setup, dying to know if it found the site yet. Going to be tough to leave it alone for a week before checking. I do have a deer stand in the area that I have decided to give up on till after bear season just to stay clear.

Can you not get back for a week, or are you waiting a week on purpose. Bear can clean out a bait in a couple of days and move off. I have had two bears eat/ruin fifty lbs dog food, and fifty lbs corn every two or three days. But, I also know it is sure enough labor intensive if you have to drive quite a ways to the bait site. My baits were 100 miles away, and it was an eight hour days from the time I left my house, stopped to buy bait, drove up there, drove to each of three baits, replenished baits, ate lunch, and drove home. I did that every three days for a month. Fortunately, the area I hunt does not have a quota. Most of our bear country in my home state of AR is under a quota. You have to call in every evening to get the number that has been killed to ensure the quota has not been filled. It took two and a half days to fill the quota this year. There were multiple people that spent a month running baits, and if they didn't kill in the first two and a half days, they were done.

 

[mikmaze]

waiting on purpose, gotta give tha bruin a chance to find the bait and don't want to stink up the place with me smells........ once he finds it I will check in more regularly.

 

[mikmaze]

Well nevermind first off the timestamp I believe I have AMPM flipped. But this guy showed up three days after I set the bait. First night he spent 3 hours on the bait second night 3 and 1/2 fourth night was over 4 hours.
and on a separate camera I placed specifically to catch him messing with my Chestnut trees and sure enough I got him over there as well

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[SwampCat]

Good sized bear. Any daytime pics?