Place to buy molasses?

[lungdeflator]

Im in Bemidji. I will have access to free oats this year and want to try the oats/molasses mixture for bears. Where does a guy buy molasses around Bemidji?

[Basseyes]

Our local feed mills do so I would guess a local feed mill in Bemidji would have to have it. They use it to mix in feed for cattle and horses. Down here they sell it for something like $12 for a 5 gallon pale of it.

[harvey lee]

I would guess a bakery or any feed mill.

Last time I went I visited the local baker and he gave me some mollasses and some sweet pastry cream for donuts.

[jay83196]

Does the molasses work that well? Do you just soak things in it for the added flavor? I used it last year didn't seem to work as well as the grease or honey. I wasn't but maybe each bear is different. Do people use grease, molasses and honey just mix it up?

[icehousebob]

I bought the stock grade molasses at a feed mill. It was bulk, so I had to have my own drums to pick it up. Much cheaper than human grade. I mixed it with the oats after soaking the oats in water and letting it sprout. After mixing in the molasses, I let it set in the sun in buckets until it started to ferment. Smells like a distillery. Great aroma. We put three 5gal. pails in the bottom of the bait pit, then fruit, bread, rolls, etc.Covered the pit with logs and poured old fryer grease on the logs. The honey we had got spread on a nearby tree, so the wind would carry its scent. Also, the bears will claw the tree while licking it off, and you can get a good idea of its size by how high the claw marks are. Smooth the dirt around the pit so you can get good bear footprints to also help judge size. Good luck.

One more bear hunting idea; since the hunt is in warm weather and the bears have to be cooled quickly, we lined a small covered trailer with styrafoam board and made it into a large ice chest. We put the bears in and packed them in 100 pounds of ice that night. Next morning, we skinned and quartered them and added 100 more pounds before heading home. The meat turned out great.

[Boar]

Your local co-op elevator, bring some grease jugs or buckets with lids. might as well pick up a bushel of oats while youre there. Say icehouse bob, when you soake your oats, just till they prout right? How long dose this process take begore you bait? Boar

[friz]

Steal your kids old super soaker water gun and spray the molasses high up into the tree canopy. If the molasses is to thick, blend in some fryer grease so it shoots good. Works good for me opening up new bait sites as the smell is high up and carries a long way.

[icehousebob]

Boar, we didn't saturate the oats, just got it all good and damp with water and left it a few days in the sun. You can check it by putting your hand into it to see whether it is heating up and the oats is softening. Then pour in the molasses with a bit more water to ferment. When your neighbors start thinking that you've set up a moonshine still, its ready.

It occured to me that if we had any distilleries around here, the leftover mash would be great bear bait.

[harvey lee]

I simply poured it over the logs over my bait pile. The bear would rip the logs apart.

[cherokee]

I can almost smell the bear pit now.

[don62]

I get mine at the coop in blackduck..

[Matt Breuer]

I get mine at the elevator across the bridge by the co-op. Nice guys, and they've always got good stuff. Even have pre-mixed bear bait. It's good mix. Just follow the road that goes past Ink Spot Press by the post office, go over the bridge and take a left...

[lungdeflator]

Thanks Matt thats what I was lookin for. Do I need my own buckets?

[Matt Breuer]

Yes. You can try getting buckets from places like PB Sub Shop or the Beyond Juice place. Sometimes they've got buckets for $1.