what do you go through???

[jay83196]

Just wondering what others go through to bait(or if I am crazy and the only one to go through all this

I started my day at 7 am got my bait together loaded 4 wheeler, hooked up trailer to truck left by 830. I drove for little over two hours (more if I stop for gas/food) unloaded wheeler drove 2 mi to bait first location (cant get truck that close to any of the 3 baits)parked wheeler walked 75 yds with 4 pails, scent, grease etc (took two trips walking)through thick woods.

Baited, sprayed scent around, pored grease on logs, swapped camera cards ( all said about 20 minutes). Drove back to truck loaded wheeler drove truck 3 mi to next spot, unloaded wheeler drove wheeler 2 mi to next spot I call the swamp where I also walk through 75yds of field/woods and then 20 yds of slime and bog to get to my bait. Baited the same as above and drove back to truck. I reloaded my wheeler with fresh bait buckets drove wheeler 4 mi to last station walked 75 yds through woods baited again. I then drove back to truck, loaded wheeler on trailer put empty bait in truck took rubber boots off put backpack away took pistal/ holster off cleaned up a little and enjoyed my 2 hours drive home looking at my camera pictures. To do do it all over in 2 days again... All said 4-5 hours of driving and 3-4 hours baiting 3 times a week..

I wont even include the 2-3 hours a week collecting and organizing bait/cleaning pails. I love almost every minute of it well except for the heat, rain, pist off wife, slimy sticky messy bait, leaky spray bottles, the feeling I get when I realize I forgot some key instrument vital to my success once I am up there, and $$ spent! However the tossed logs and picures make it all worth it...I think

Somebody make me feel better and tell me they drive or walk further, forgot a wheeler key at home once, got lost etc etc Lets hear some good blooper stories...

[Boar]

Well I dont drivew further, But at 530 in the morning I'm up an driving 8 miles to my first site, with an half mile walk with two buckest tha that weigh in ecess of about 40 lbs a piece an a 20 lb pack of goodies, an since itsts not getting hit i get to haul all of out after scent the bag.

after mork i drive ten miles to my second site to haul in two of the same buckets only to haul them out along with the 20 lb pack. thats a quater mile one way walk. thidr site after that is anothe 6 mile an about a 300 yrd walk witht eh same only to be hauld out. today in 95 dgree heat, was a bit ch! but ive lost ten pounds an my arms are ripplin! But Stay theing the cxourse it will happen. you got some awsome loking site an real nice bear jay, good job hope it pans out, good luck bu. Boar

[jay83196]

Don't get me wrong I enjoy it and lucky to be going some days it gets kinda like a chore but its a ton of fun most of the time.

[HNTNBUX]

When I go up in the morning it will be my first time to bait this year. My buddies have been up twice so far and we are hit 3 for 4 after checking for the first time. We usually wait one week before checking the first time and then follow up with Saturdays and Wednesdays. Every year I get Wednesday and usually take the first Friday as well. This year works great as I will only bait once until I am up there to set up camp and hunt next Wednesday.

I drive to one spot with my truck, three hours, and can run logging roads to all of our bait sites on the four wheeler. Most of our spots are about 100-200 yards from where we park the wheeler except one which is a lot farther. We usually start with four buckets and gradually reduce it to one by the time hunting starts and we have good luck with bears during shooting hours.

To me the only miserable part of baiting is the drive or if the bugs are bad. Otherwise I love it. Maybe I should try parking farther away as I could stand to lose 10 pounds or ...

[leech~~]

Well I dont drivew further, But at 530 in the morning I'm up an driving 8 miles to my first site, with an half mile walk with two buckest tha that weigh in ecess of about 40 lbs a piece an a 20 lb pack of goodies, an since itsts not getting hit i get to haul all of out after scent the bag.

after mork i drive ten miles to my second site to haul in two of the same buckets only to haul them out along with the 20 lb pack. thats a quater mile one way walk. thidr site after that is anothe 6 mile an about a 300 yrd walk witht eh same only to be hauld out. today in 95 dgree heat, was a bit ch! but ive lost ten pounds an my arms are ripplin! But Stay theing the cxourse it will happen. you got some awsome loking site an real nice bear jay, good job hope it pans out, good luck bu. Boar

Boar, you really have got to come up with some kind of shoulder yoke to carry your buckets on, they have worked for people all over the world to carry water and everything else!

[uptracker]

Wow, I usually only bait with a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full with about a liter of jelly on top...let it sit in the sun to melt a bit the day before baiting. I bait every day at the same time each morning.

IMO, I want them competing for it. I don't want them to have 4 days worth of food each time I bait. I want them to come in right after the 4wheeler leaves the area.

I also let only one other guy bait with me or we may switch on and off each day. So, the bears get used to both of our scent. We wear the same bait clothes each time we bait. These clothes are not washed once until the end of the season (or a bear is killed). We do this so when I go into hunt, my partner can come with me, bait, I get in the stand and my partner leaves the area after a bang of the bucket. Usually works like a charm.

On a side note, if I have a sow and cubs come to a site consistantly, I will not hunt that site. I may continue to bait it though depending on how much of a pain it is.

[jay83196]

I always worry if I bait too little they will just go elsewhere and lose interest...maybe I'm wrong I would love to bait less at a time but I can't do it daily only every other or 3 times a week.

[certified jumbo]

We baited the first time last sunday. Got up at 7 AM drove two hours to bait. We baited 4 spots. But we had to hang stands, cut logs and the whole 9 yards at each station. We finished up at 7 PM. The big fiasco's were a flat tire on the truck and forgetting the trail camera on one of the baits 2 miles in on clay mud messy trail and finding some of the county roads were washed out from the 6 inch rain they had and a bridge is down, causing us to take a 25 mile detour one way!!! But we did get everthing done and it looks good and our deer trail cams had as many bear pics as deer pics. I will get the trail cam pics back on Friday when we do it all again. Oh....forgot to mention 80$ just in gas money that day.

[certified jumbo]

Jay - We also baited fairly heavy as we can only make it up so often.

[HunterLee]

I have it way to easy compared to you guys. I hunt close to home in No quota, so its a six mile drive and a 75yd walk with one pail of goodies and a jug of grease. I have been on it everyday since i got my first hit a couple days after it opened.

Only one day of no hits, but it took 4 days of camera problem, and swatted cameras to get a pic. Now today I got two maybe three differnt bears coming in between 730pm and 10pm.

Got two other spots that are a little longer walk but no action on them. Hoping to get another bait going, but we don't have alot of bears so time is my friend.

[DRH1175]

I have a 3 hour drive to my hunting area. I baited today will again on Saturday again next wed it is a lot of work but what else choice do i have. I am hunting in Chisholm and live in the north suburbs. I did see several other hunters on 35 today so we must not be alone.

[uptracker]

Wow....I think if I were to only get drawn every few years and had to drive 3 hrs to bait once or twice a week, I'd probably just get a guide... -or- take a week off work during the open season and drive the 3 hours, start baits and stay and hunt. I've had bears open most of my baits within two days and I feel they stay on a daylight pattern the best within the first 5-7 days after they find it, unless you really have them competing i.e. less bait per day. You could start out with 5 gals, two days later go down to 3 gals and a few days later drop to two gallons. The key is having bait that is better than someone elses 2 miles away. Bread and grease usually doesn't cut it. Neither does oats and molasses.

I had a buddy a few years back get a small can of jelly, bread and leftover bologne. Can you guess how long that site was good? I also stay away from fish and meat scraps. That's good bait in Canada, but not in my area...especially if it isn't super fresh.

I also believe that a bait site gets better with age. That is, the more consecutive years I run a site, the better it gets. Even if I don't have a tag, I usually run a well established bait site. This is in MI though, I'm not sure if your laws would allow it.