How far is your bait drive?

[nik]

I am just wondering how far people drive to bait their bears. Me and my buddy did some scouting yesterday in the no-quota zone near Thief River Falls. Round trip ended up being 730 miles. I think I have reached a new level of obsession.

[jay83196]

Round trip 260.

[lichen fox]

Round trip 140 miles...3 times per week.

Nik....730 miles X $.55 per mile = $401.50 per trip... X 3 weeks baiting, (if you only make one trip per week), = $1204.50 in mileage expenses...plus bait, lodging, meals, etc...bear baiting can get expensive, but if you enjoy it, it's well worth it and if you can split the expenses with a hunting partner it leaves more in the budget for refreshments after the hunt!!

[nik]

Thank god my girlfriend doesn't visit this site. She would kill me seeing those $$ you just referenced. Usually we hunt area 51, which is much closer to my house. No tag this year means lots of driving. Luckily the old Honda Civic can get the job done. We are finding ways to cut the expense this year and we are only going to bait a couple of times before we hunt and our season is going to be shorter than most years. I can't get enough of it, so the the expense is worth it. No matter what the total comes to.

[lichen fox]

Nik....

I live about 10 miles north of TRF and we have more hunting property's in the Viking area....I don't bear hunt there, just deer & birds...my brother takes care of the bear hunting around our cabins...what area did you settle on to bait?

[nik]

We settled east of the Agassiz.

[lichen fox]

That's a really good area....we used to hunt that area from the zone 12 line and west to the Thief Lake area on years we didn't get drawn for quota...but now if we don't get drawn we don't bear hunt that year.

[Boar]

I've never tallied up the distance, gas ect, but I, thankfull my wife loves the meat an supports me in it, pluse her part time job at meritcare helps fund the trecks back anforth. Head up to the north site this thursday, gona half to tacometer that one. Boar

[cherokee]

Three hours one way. Brother-in-law lives near Longville and we base out of his house. I'll slip him some cash for gas to bait a few times so it definately cuts down on my trips

[mrklean]

ever thought about tryign to find someone to bait for you? i think you would be suprised what some people would do for fellow sportsman and probalby for little to know money

[nik]

ever thought about tryign to find someone to bait for you? i think you would be suprised what some people would do for fellow sportsman and probalby for little to know money

Any takers out there???? LOL. I am just having some fun with your statement. I could pay someone, or barter for baiting services, but I find the hunt is much more rewarding when I do it myself. I learn more as well. At least I will have my preference point for area 51 next year and it will be easy compared to the drive I have to do now.

[cherokee]

nik, I'm with you. I went down that route once before the family really got into bear hunting, paying someone. I find it much more rewarding to do it myself. Not knocking the people that do this for a living as baiting is not for everyone and there are many great guides out there that offer a needed service. Kinda been a do it myself guy all my life.

[lichen fox]

And remember, the only person you can "pay" to bait is a licensed bear outfitter!! But, I wonder, if you were supplying a case of beer and 1.75 of e&j per week, if that would be considered payment, or not...you could always say that the beer and booze was for the bear!!

[cherokee]

Fox you are correct. I hunted with a guide out of Cook my first time out. How does that work if someone in your party is also hunting with you and you split the cost of bait and gas. Where is the line drawn? A case of beer?

[lichen fox]

That's why I hunt with a non-beer drinker...it leaves more for me!! On the other hand, when it comes to the E&J...well, let's just say, it's best to have PLENTY!!

[jerkbait]

Lichen, in another post you told me the loop you make through the forest. Do you see alot of other bear hunters down there in the forest. I am looking at areas south of Williams in the forest and I am curious as to how many others may be out there. Don't want to step on any toes my first time out.

[lichen fox]

Jerkbait, it depends on how far you travel in....you'll notice alot of baiters in the first 5 or so miles of forest...the area around the faunce campground is loaded with baits every year. We have one bait in that area that has been hit every year, but all the bears we've had come in at that site are for the most part runts....Most of the bear hunters seem to travel in on a road 5 to 10 miles and that is pretty much the case no matter if they enter on the black river, moose river, Dick's parkway, rapid river or faunce roads...we don't start baiting until the 1st of September and we can pretty much see where everyone else is making it alot easier to get far enough away from other hunters...when we find a spot we even go as far as driving 3 or more miles past the spot to make sure there isn't someone with a bait to close to us....we've pretty much hunted the same bait sites for the past 20 years in that area but you always have one or more sites that have been destroyed by logging or someone has set-up a little to close, so we usually end up adding a few new sites every year. As a rule, it usually takes us about a week and a half for the bears to get comfortable and start coming in at shootable times consistantly. So we usually aren't actually hunting until the 2nd or 3rd week of the season and by then 80 - 90 % of the other hunters are done or have run out of vacation time...If you're planning on starting your baits on the August baiting opening date about the only thing you can do is watch for places where vehicle tracks have pulled off to the side of the road, etc...and if you're heading off on a logging road that's grass covered you can pretty much tell if anyone else is in there...but remember, if the grass is really packed down on opening day most of the traffic is probably from berry pickers...keep going and see how far they went in and if possible find a place beyond that that has had no traffic....sometimes you'll do alot of driving and it starts looking better and better, (less traffic) and then you'll come across someone elses's bait site...oh well, turn around and start over! It's all part of the hunt...Good Luck, It's a big forest and if you take some time you'll be able to find yourself a fairly secluded spot...as for us, we pretty much know where most of the guides set up from year to year and also most of the other bait sites that are popular with other regulars, such as us....

[jerkbait]

Thanks for the advice. I am thinking of putting a couple sites down in the forest and maybe one up by home in some state land. There has been a bear hitting garbage cans this summer. Not alot of bears supposed to be in the area, so I am hoping that there is not alot of baiting pressure. Have you ever had trouble with anyone taking your trail cams? Do you use trail cams?

[lichen fox]

We use the regular trail timers, no camera's...we have had only one or two trail timers stolen over 20 years of hunting and that was many years ago...Don't depend on a garbage bear still hanging around in a month or two...they may or may not...likely not if there is adequate berries somewhere....on the other hand some bears just like garbage and will always be a problem...if they are still raiding garbage whenever you purchase your license you could ask the C-O for a nuisense permit to take them out and help yourself and neighbors at the same time!

[Quackaddict9]

We settled east of the Agassiz.

I have a farm near Agassiz and have seen real brusiers up there and neighbor has people leasing a field close to Agassiz- they shoot big ones up there each year. You should find some nice ones.

[jerkbait]

We use the regular trail timers, no camera's...we have had only one or two trail timers stolen over 20 years of hunting and that was many years ago...Don't depend on a garbage bear still hanging around in a month or two...they may or may not...likely not if there is adequate berries somewhere....on the other hand some bears just like garbage and will always be a problem...if they are still raiding garbage whenever you purchase your license you could ask the C-O for a nuisense permit to take them out and help yourself and neighbors at the same time!

Yeh, the thought about the nuisance bear cross my mind. I need to chit chat with a few of the nieghbors and find out if it is still hanging around. Our garbage has not been hit for quite some time now.

[Boar]

Jerkbait, there alot of pressure up there, Williams, Long Point, Rossevelt, Firgure you could pretty much hunt out your backdoor. I know I could get permission on land at roosevelt, mulled it over but its a two hour drive, I could easily make a weekend of it, Maybe someday. Fox You never had much of problem baiting late? Figured it'd be hard to pull bear off others bait, baiting that late. Lokkes like I'll be doing that at strandquist, August 28th is the earliest i can get in. Might have to buy a scent ball to hang. One positive is oncce a bear shows up I can thump him without waiting till season opens up. Later boar

[nik]

Hey Quackaddict-Have any problems with those pesky bears on your farm? If so I can get rid of them for you. LOL

[jerkbait]

Boar. What have you heard about Long Point area? I live on sandy Shores and my nieghbors say that there are not alot of bear in the area. He says we may have 1 in the area every few years but not on a regular basis. Like I said earlier, we had 1 getting in garbage and wrecking bird feeders back in May. Jim told me that I should head down to the forest if I wanted to bear hunt. My original thoughts were to hunt around home on the state land in the area. Would be nice and close then. Any info would be aprecciated.

[lichen fox]

Boar, no we've never had a problem getting hit in the area we hunt even with a late start...there are alot of bears in that area and we don't try to set up to attract a bear off another bait. Our strategy is to find bears that aren't on another bait...We try our best to set up at least 3 miles or more from any bait sites, (or signs of bait sites). And as I've said before, by the time we really get rollin' most of the other hunters are done, so we are the only doughnut shop still open!

Jerkbait, you're not that far from Zipple state park and I know that they have a pretty healthy bear poplulation in that area...What we've found over the years is that you're better off hunting a fairly large tract of woods-swamp...look for solid blocks of 300 to 600 acres or more. When scouting be aware of possible fall foods such as berries, hazelnuts, oaks,(acorns), etc...and if you're adjacent to farmland you'll find bears like oats, (especially in the milk stage) corn, sunflowers, & soybeans...if there is no food supply, you probably won't have any bears hanging around...We also always try to be fairly close to a good supply of water...river...ditch...swamp as there are usually some pretty warm days in Sept...a bear has a heavy coat and during warm days they'll need alot of water to drink and to lay in to stay cool.