Fish guts for bear bait???

[WhiskeyWoods]

A buddy of mine is going hunting this year and thought he would use fish guts but I told him that I don't think that I would use that. I have tried using meats in sites in the past and have usually found the meats have been left alone compared to the breads and sweets. Any opinions or stories on using fish as bait??

[bogwalker]

I used bags of fish heads, guts etc. my first year. A friend with a resort gave me the stuff from his fish cleaning house. First time was the last time. Stink, bees not worth it. I had one bear come in.

[cherokee]

I have a stink bait brewing right now out of fish guts. I may use it but think I might discard it as it is too much of a stink to deal with. I would recommend against it.

[shortfatguy]

Bears in this area don't really eat fish. At the Vince Shutte bear sanctuary, near Orr, they tried feeding the bears fish and only a couple of the bears, out of the many that show up there, would touch the fish. I think all it would do is create a horrible smell when your down wind from your bait and attract a lot of flies!!

[buckhunter21]

I will never do it again. It starts to smell so bad that you dont want to even go near the site to bait it, it just gets rancid and we never did have a bear come into the baits we tried it on.

[Boar]

It might get a bear to investigate but overall he'll just keep moving on to more pleasant pastures. Cubs might hang around. It's a mess an a stink an just plain nasty. You could try the fish about a hundred yards away from your crib then run a scent drag to your crib. Ya just dont want that stuff anywhere near you crib. Boar

[jay83196]

I was going to hang a small sack with guts in it in the area of my crib when I set up to get them in.

[matchset]

i always run a stink bait at each of my baiting sites... try to mix fish guts/heads with liquid smoke; that really helps diminish the horrid smell. a variety of smells attracts different types of bears...they'll let you know what they prefer!

[jay83196]

Does it work well, how big and what do you put it in?

[matchset]

yes it works great! i like to use a gallon or so mixture of fish guts; and maybe 4-6 ounces of liquid smoke. if you can get ahold of a gunny sack, or cheese cloth those tend to work the best. i like to tie it off on a small tree that i can easily bend over; about 12ft off the ground. this really gets the bears going; because they don't have opposable thumbs, and can't grip that small of a trunk to climb it

[Matt Breuer]

I said this in another thread, but we do the same thing basically. We hang some fish guts in a gunny away from the site a hair. We cover it in anise and it rids some of the smell. In the heat, by the time the beetles get to it, the scent it gone. Usually takes a week to completely get the smell out of the area. It's a great initial attractant. Once the smell is gone or the bag is dry, take it out with you...

[HunterLee]

I tried some fresh frozen suckers i had left over from smoking, I had a bear in every night so I thought i see if he liked them. Nope, he just flipped them out of the hole and ate the donuts. It was fun to watch him on trail cam doing it though.

[Matt Breuer]

Yeah, my rule is no meat in the pit...

[harvey lee]

The years I did my own baiting, we always poured a 5 gallon pail of fish guts and such very close to the bait pile.

I would half fill a 5 gallon pail with guts and then fill with water and cover and then let it sit in the garage for the summer. Watch out when you pour it out as it is bad.

We would place our bait, cover it with cut logs both ways and then pour the fish guts next to the pile. We only did this the first time we baited the spot to get the bear there.

After that, only bait went there and never a smell while hunting.