Bear: To burn or not, that is the question...

[Perch Jerker]

1) Burning scent baits while hunting. What do you burn - straight honey, honey with 'additives' (anise, natural vinilla, fruit scents), bacon/sausage grease, other?

2) What is your fuel - sterno, charcoal, candle, other?

3) When during the hunt do you burn? First night? Second night? Third night? If the bait is getting hit during the nighttime hours?

Personally I usually wait until the third night (trying to keep things 'normal' the first two) and have only used straight honey.
However this year a bacon grease burn might be put into play. Who's mouth doesn't water when they smell bacon/sausage cooking ?

PJ

[Dan Thiem]

Be careful with bacon grease.I had a bad experience with the stuff.
I might have done something wrong. It started out smoking just fine.But then WOOF, the whole thing is a big ball of flame.In my panic to make sure the forest don't start on fire I rushed to put it out and managed to spill the stuff on my hand.BAD BAD BAD

[Perch Jerker]

What sort of 'cooking' setup did you have?

Big coffee can with smaller coffee can?
Coffee can with soup can?
What fuel?
How far away was the flame from the top of the grease can?

What setup would you use to prevent a grease fire in the future?

PJ

[deerdragger]

I tried doing a honey burn two years ago - used a small camp stove (w/bottled propane). I did it while hunting, the third night on the stand.

I learned not to use much honey as it will bubble and spill over the edge (messy and hot).

I didn't have any luck with the experience and it kinda made me wonder...if a bear came in, I'm guessing he'd be looking straight at me as the huge white plume of smoke came from my stand. Ideally, I suppose you do a quick burn and let the scent do its majic.

[Dan Thiem]

PJ, it was the big coffee can/little coffee can.The smaller can was supported by a coat hanger thru the side of the big can.And I was using a sterno for heat.They really do get very hot.I don't know how the grease started on fire.Like I said, it was working just fine,(lots of smoke).The only other thing I didn't like was when it starts to get hot ,and before it starts to smoke,it makes the typical sizzling sound that you would get from frying bacon.It gets sort of amplified when in the can.

[Swamp Scooter]

Honey burners. i burned honey every time I baited during the day and then oonly put out a paper cup of honey in my positioning bait when I was on the stand. The bear keyed right in on the honey cup.

If I was not successful I would have burned it more while on the stand.(10am opening day I got one)

I use the single burner camp stove with the propane tank. VERY LOW heat. Larger paint can with a tall and stiff wire handle. The one thing I did to keep it from exploding was to punch a couple of vent holes half way up the can. That way the air draws better and the smoke goes up.