Filler Bait for Bear

[cherokee]

The information obtained from this site is priceless. What do you guys/gals recommend for a good filler bait. In addition to the pastries, trail mix, frosting I have I need something else to add quantity to my sites.

What is recommended, corn, sunflower seeds, oats? any thoughts.

[buckhunter21]

Ive always used old bread or buns that I get from bakerys. We usually get a bunch of garbage bags full of old or bad bread that they were just going to throw out anyways. They usually come in full loaves so we just rip them apart into smaller pieces but im not sure thats even nessecary and then pour honey or molasses over it to give it some flavor. We have also used oats before too but since we have started getting the bread every year we have just stuck with that.

[jay83196]

Dog food?

[cherokee]

Right now I don't have a good source of getting day old bread. I bet dog food mixed with a bunch of frosting that I have would work great.

[Boar]

A local elevator can sell you a bushel of oats for the going price , mix that with fryer grease, get cheap dog food, any hot stuff pizza joint might give ya their throw out. Butcher shops sell meat scraps cheap, Also elevators sell molasas but its the concentrate form I think. Boar

[icehousebob]

What's worked for me was oats, but we fermented it first. We put water on it and left it in the sun to sprout. Then we poured on stock grade molasass that we bought in bulk from a cattle feed supplier. This would start to ferment even more and could be smelled a long way off. The oats went into the bottom of the pit with the other stuff on top. We had bait pits licked completely clean of all the oats and we got two bears on the first day.

[jay83196]

When using bread do you soak it in grease or just open a bag and toss it on? I heard don't want to have big chunks of stuff in your pile so the bear can't drag it off and stays close to bait to eat? That true or do they like big pieces, and if using meat would it be bad to cook it part way so doesn't rot so fast, I've heard they almost like the meat nasty rotten more?

[buckhunter21]

When we use bread we always break it up and throw it in the bottom of the bucket and then put our other sweet stuff on top of that, then after we fill the bucket we pour either honey or molasses over the top of everything so it runs to the bottom and soaks into the bread. Im sure putting grease on it would have the same effect, but we did notice sometimes when we gave the bears too much bait they would leave the bread with nothing on it and eat the stuff that had honey soaked into it so it does make a difference.

As for meat I have never used it, I always just stick with sweets.

[Boar]

Jay I cant expresse enough that storing bread, especially pasteries in five gallon buckets then pour in grease till it just cover the pasteries, over a short period of time the bread an pasteries soak up the grease. Then top it off. With the pasteries the grease an sugars bond an really carmelize the whole mess, and it keeps forever, ya dont have to freeze it. The grease preserves the bread, you might get a little mold on top if air leaks into the bucket but the rest will be good an a little mold dont hurt anything, they dont seem to notice, Now I said a little mold, not alot of mold. Little. Yea big chunks tend to be drug off into the woods to be consumed. I carry a machete to hack up the bucket mold of pasteries. Boar

[jay83196]

Thanks boar, If I don't need to worry about storing can I just pour grease over bread or dog food when I bait? Or should it soak, and how much do you soak it totally submerg it or just saturate it like spreading butter on a piece of toast type of deal? I vision too much grease being a soggy liquid mess?? Ever use peanut butter, would think that works well for scent etc?

[cherokee]

Boar I just scored on 100 loaves of bread and I already have half my freezer stuffed. I have dried bread in the past and it stored great. I like your idea as this will take up less space. Just need to find a ton of grease.

A couple years ago I dried bread. A lot of it and when it came time for baiting I poured molasses, syrup and powdered sugar on top of it. Bears loved it.

Some great suggestions.

[bogwalker]

Jay, When I started this mix I originally mixed all my bait together including meat in bakery grease in a bucket with a tight fitting lid. The stuff lasted for years. This was too much grease. I still have a few buckets of the stuff that is probably 7 or 8 years old. What others found experimenting is that packing down bakery goods etc. then put a layer of grease (bakery grease works the best because it solidifies) a couple of inches thick on top. I would not suggest doing this to dog food. This is an economical way to store some kinds of bait without refrigeration. There have been some variations of this method but I eventually bought a few old freezers for bait that could otherwise spoil.

[cherokee]

I just made a five gallon bucket stuffed with 20 loaves of bread. Managed to find some grease that I've been collecting and poured it on the top. Sealed with a cover and put next to the other bait. Good to go!

Appreciate the tip on this one.

[Boar]

Jay I guesse it's personal preference really, less to carry if its in one container, this is how I store it so its just esier. I kinda look at it this way, how good is that dinner roll soaking up gravy on the side of your plate durring thanksgiving dinner, oh yum! if you just pout it over the bread, pasteries alot runs off an is kinda lost but the bear will still dig for it. I challenge you guys to to take a bucket, fill it with dougnuts about a third of the way full, pour in fryer grease till it just covers the doughnuts, let it soak up then top it off, in a couple weeks open it up an take a wiff, the dig into it an tell me that its not the gooyist chewiest bear bait in the woods. The nice thing about this method is that it soaks so much up an yes there is grease left over but not to much to make things messy, if so you dont have enough pasteries.. Plus it stacks nice, I have noticed that if I stack over three high the pressure squeezes out grease an i get a mess. two high seems to me the limit. I have about 100 buckets full an counting an also have 4 32 gallon rubber garbage cans plumb full an three 32 gallon totes. You think I have enough, Just got 200 lbs in today also. Its grab an go. I dont like to pack down hard then grease dont get to the bottom I want the pasteries to soak it up. Just push it down firm not pack it tight. Later boar

[Archerysniper]

I use popcorn I beg any place that has popcorn dispencers for the stuff left over.

[bogwalker]

Archerysniper, Do you only use popcorn? Do you put anything on it? I have used it in the past but I either end up with wet popcorn or dozens of crows eating it from between the crib logs.

[LightningBG]

When people are talking about using grease, are you just using regular fryer grease (like from restaurants)? or something special?

[bogwalker]

When people are talking about using grease, are you just using regular fryer grease (like from restaurants)? or something special?

Restaurant fryer grease. The longer they use it the better it is.

[jay83196]

Mix fry grease with sweets? Would think the grease would overpower the sugar... I can see bread to give it flavor and smell...hmmm...

[Archerysniper]

Archerysniper, Do you only use popcorn? Do you put anything on it? I have used it in the past but I either end up with wet popcorn or dozens of crows eating it from between the crib logs.

I use the popcorn as another filler combined with bakery goods or pizza's, never had much luck with dog food or oat's and molasas. another good filler I have used is apples they love them.

[Matt Breuer]

Apples, oranges, melons. Any of these leftovers get tossed in a bait! Apples seem to be favorites of bears.

I 453rd bread as a filler. We have all 3 deep freezers filled with day old bread, buns, pastries, etc... It all goes on the bottom of the bait pile, then the sweets, molasses, or grease go on top. We used to soak the break in grease and over time it would carmalize, making for awesome bait, but it's SO time consuming. Popcorn was mentioned earlier, it's another great filler, when you can find it in bulk. I've only used dog food once, and it's because I was out of bait late in the season. Worked fine. Very expensive compared to free bread though...

Someone mentioned pizza's. Here's another one... go to your local pizza shop and ask if they'll save the dough at the end of the night for you. Places like Pizza Hut, etc.. throw it out. Our local Pizza Hut just leaves it out back for me so I can pick it up when I get off work, if nobody beats me to it. We let it sit out for a day or three, and it actually rises and begins to harden. It's a HUGE filler when completed. If you sit it out too early in a swampy shady bait area, you'll end up taking it out with you 3 days later, so be careful. The stuff is already infused with butter, so it's rather good stuff.

[Boar]

Jay just try it youll see what I mean. The sugars an grease marry an well you'll see what i mean. The carmelization of it is awsome an so far havent found a better bait an the smell in more intense than when seperate. Boar

[jay83196]

Boar, so take bucket fill with donuts or bread and pack them in there close to the top and fill to top with grease? How long should it sit to get desired effect? Does bread work or just sweets? Thanks

[Boar]

Bread just soaks up grease which is fine cause its keeps forever an bear like too but the doughnuts is where youll get the camelized effect. Just fill up the bucket with doughnut about four inches from the top, leave enough room to pour in grease, the grease will seep to the bottom so give it a little time to do that, heck go do something an come back, then top it off. Just make sure you leave some room to close the lid so you dont squish out grease an get soppy mess. Just let that bucket sit. I dont know how long it takes to marry, check in a couple weeks I guesse, My main points here are 1. It stores foreever without freezing. 2. It makes awsome bait. This way is not everyones way, I just feel you'll like the end reults. later baor

[fowldreams]

This is going to be the first time bear hunting and was wondering has anyone tried cookie dough? The reason I ask is a lot of the big sellers of bait, like lucky7 I see on there websites they have cookie dough, just curious.