Bear bait??

[Boar]

This is always a favorite topic of mine, what do you guys/gals bait with? I run one crib with doughnuts blueberris an cream pellet mix some dog food and make a burnt honey syrup, I really like to use bacon burners an built one at my work that straps to a tree with little oven racks an exhuast holes, fueld by sterno heat. works great, cant wait to try it out this year. Its really dry up here this year, natural forage should be burnt up by now, so keeping them on bait site should be easy. I hope, Good luck this year an be safe. Later boar

[Code-Man]

We always would go to Kenny's Candy in Perham and get licorice and put it out. They'll sell the rejects really cheap and by the 55 gal drum if you got one.

[Fish to Win]

Boar, thanks for starting a bait topic, it's always fun to hear others bait techniques

I stuff donuts and burgers into a hollowed out tree that fell over years ago and it makes a geat bait site. I am lucky enough to get the bait from a local store that gives me all their waste, saves $$- I also get a lot of cracked corn in which I soak it in 15 gallons of chicken grease and the bears love that-

I tried the bacon/anise burn last year w/ no luck, do you think that sterno burner might add an unfamliar smell that the bears don't like??

I also am going to wait 1 week after the bait date just to avoid burn out as the last years it seemed like it was getting hit fewer times the later it got before the opener

Good luck- and enjoy baiting and the hunt!!!

[roosterslayer]

i have lots of sweet rolls, fryer grease, and a combination of peanut butter, sweet corn, sunflower seeds, beef fat, and a few other things i cant remember right now. i spoke to the land owner that gave me permission to hunt this year and he has seen two bears so far and most of the berries are dried up. so i am really pumped!!

[Hoytmystic]

I use a combination of things. I start by making a crib and pouring 5 gallons of fryer grease all around the crib. I put popcorn, sugar cereal, cinnamon bread, candy, beef scraps, 1 gallon of jelly over the top and I also add a little fryer grease to the bait to. I cover it up. I do a honey/bacon burn on the bait. I spray jellydoughnut spray all over the bait when I leave.

[Boar]

Nice variety, I might have to give kenny candy a call next year. Instead of sterno a guy can use a large uncented candle too, but the bacon grease I think is just to overwelming for the nose, but big bears dont get big cause their dumb. A cheap syrup to make an burn at a site is to get some anis a the grocery store, MCcormic brand has a recipe on the back of their strawberry flavor, 1 cup water to 3/4 cup sugar double or triple the measurements fo amount desired, bring to a boil of 240 degreesfor for 60 seconds or longer for thicker syrup, an there ya have liqorish syrup to heat up or pour over or eat if ya want. Have fun, later boar

[Boar]

Oh yea, I dont know about waiting till second week, it,s really dry up here in RLF MN an all natural forage is tough to come by I think, so any bait site is gonna be a gold mine to the bears, but the trick is to just give a taste to keep them interested till season. I start out with a little heavy leaving alot of scent till I get hit, I try to get a track by digging up the ground for a print, if its a good track I cut back with about a icecream bucket or lessjust to intice him to comr back. The bear I shot last year had a 5 1/2" pad an once he hit the sunday he stayd around the site cause of the small amount of food, if i had bunches of stuff so he could eat till full I think he would burn out an not care if another bear fed, but I also have private land an little or no competition with other sites. I guesse if you have competing sites i would'nt wait. Lter boar

[Fish to Win]

Boar-

I did load the site up about 50+ pounds each visit and it baited every 3 days- I was getting hit by atleast 3 bears because I saw 3 in one photos of of my trail camera- so I thought I better feed all of them- They always cleaned me out but it seemed just before the opener it was hit less and less-

[Neiko]

That is what happened to us right before the season it would die off. This year we are going to try putting out a little to keep them interested.Hopefully they will come in earlier thinking that all the bait was taken earlier. If they know there is plenty of food there then they can wait for darkness when they feel safer. It will also save on baiting and cost. We will probably be running 7 sites so it can add up.

[charliepete2]

I've got about 4000 pounds of bait. I use cookie dough, cinnamon frosting, strawberry pie filling, hard candy, rolled oats, chocolate syrup, granola and a few other things. I buy the most aromatic stuff I can find. I bait once a week. I put out about 150#'s a time. For the last few years every bait I've run has been active, it's just a matter of finding a bear that's coming in during the day. My buddy and I put out three baits per guy and hop around until we find a bear coming in the light.

[Dock Boy]

Where do you go about getting 4000ibs of bait we always have a tough time finding large quantities.

[Boar]

I think 2tons of bait requires year round collecting, unless ya have a good connection. Yea it seems everyone has different ideas an techniques, this is whats great about this topic. Thanks, later boar. Ps Bauer honey in fertile mn, is advertising bear bait for sale. Dont no how much though.

[kelly-p]

Quote:

---

I put out about 150#'s a time. For the last few years every bait I've run has been active, it's just a matter of finding a bear that's coming in during the day. My buddy and I put out three baits per guy and hop around until we find a bear coming in the light.

---

My view right or wrong??? and the way I was taught to bait is that "big baits" (20+ pounds)show the big bears that there will be food for them 24 hours a day there and they quickly become nocturnal. If they do not come in at dusk it is no big deal to them because they can eat at midnight when no people are around. The sows with cubs and the yearlings will still be coming in at dusk but the big boys will be laying out in the swamp waiting for total darkness knowing that there is a pile of food waiting for them whenever they get there.

Until 3 or 4 years ago we saw very few "big baits" in this area. Now they are numerous. If we find out someone has put out a "big bait" in an area the other hunters abandon our baits that are within 3 to 3 1/2 miles of the "big bait" and move somewhere else until the big bait is cleaned up.

[Boar]

The first bear I took was 180-200 lbs. took him on sept. 30th after mounth an a half of baiting. I had cubs coming during daylight and dusk but not him. I knew he was hitting the bait due to his tracks but he would'nt show him self. I try every thing, two people in an one out to try an trick him into thinking I was gone, but still did'nt show. He finnaly sucumbed to the bacon burn trick, just to much for his nose, he showed up at five thirty an I stuck an arrow in him. When I think of what I was feeding him, it was two five gallon buckets full of pizza an bread an grease. Plenty for all an take your time coming in cause it'll be there. The cubs had their fill an left enough for him to. He was always nearby to cause the cubs were very fidgitty alot of times an often leaving abruptly. Thats was a great hunt. The bear I took last year was 325 an established dominance at the site by really destroying the place, totally demolishing the crib leaving the logs lying up to ten feet away, almost a drag to half to rebuild every time. I put no more than icecream buket of bait in the crib. I definatly got the Idea that that was his crib an he did not want to share. Later boar

[metrojoe]

Bear bait can be bought in bulk. I knew a group of guys that would drive out to Wisconsin somewhere and buy 55 gallon drums full of a mixture of candy, cookies, and pastries. They also had boxes of different goodies available.

I made the mistake of using too much bait my first year. I'd check my baits every few days and I wouldn't recommend using any more than you can fit in a 5 gallon bucket. When you’re hunting and can check the bait everyday I'd use only a gallon or so. The bears will quickly figure out that the early bird gets the worm.

Some hunters don’t establish baits prior to the hunting season. I think the reason you see a die off right when the season starts is from other hunters dumping baits on opener. This of course creates competition for your bait.

All this baiting talk makes me wish I was out there this year.

Good Luck guys.

[charliepete2]

I buy my bait in bulk from a guy who speculates on truckloads of the stuff to sell to hog farmers. Most of the year it's not worth anything, so buying at the right time can save you money. You just have to have a place to store it.

I suppose everybody has their own theories on baiting. I hunt in areas on public land that have plenty of competition. I don't ever want to see my baits cleaned out. The bears will just find another place if I do. I also don't want to put down tons of human scent in the area. I don't ever want to jump a bear off the bait. I do all my baiting in the heat of the afternoon. I'd rather keep my intrusion limited and provide enough bait for multiple bears to start using it.

I'll stick by my results. It helped my buddy harvest a 500# Boone and Crockett giant a few years back and has given us the opportunity to take bears every year since I started hunting them. I won't take credit for the plan though, I just copied the strategy of the guide I used on my first bear hunt. He ran 20 for 20 that year with about 3/4's first time bear hunters.

In my opinion it's intrusion and human presence that makes bears nocturnal. Lets face it, the majority of big bears are mostly nocturnal anyway. Bears don't get 15 years old coming into baits in the light on a regular basis. I think your best bet is to have lots of competition for a bait. If you get multiple bears on a bait the bigger ones come to run the younger ones off. That's when you shoot the big boys.

In any case no one says you can't trim down the amount of bait as it gets closer to hunting time. Once you get them coming in and hooked on your bait, you could trim down the amount of bait so the competition was more fierce. In my experience it hasn't really mattered. Some bears are strictly nocturnal, some aren't. Your best bet for shooting bigger bears comes from having multiple bears using a bait and having the bigger ones draw confidence in coming in from running the younger ones off.

[CANOPY SAM]

This truly is a topic worth discussion. Fascinating input thus far, but here are a number of other factors to be considered when choosing the perfect bear bait...

I believe one has to take into consideration what motivates a bear to choose one food over the other. I've spoken to several very reliable bear guides over the last several years and most agree with the following philosphy; bears can be quite finicky when it comes to dinner - at least smart ones!

Not every bear will just climb into a pile of rotten food.

Let's take Yogi for example. Everyone knows that Yogi was smarter than the average bear, and he would never eat out of a pit, barrel, or garbage heap. Yogi only chose select tidbits from a neatly organized and well stocked picnic basket. And more often than not he prefered to eat either at the picnic table, or right on the picnic blanket itself. Of course, Boo Boo would reprimand Yogi for any attempt at absconding food from innocent campers at Jellystone, but Yogi, being the larger more dominant alpha male bear just disregarded Boo Boo's poo-poo's and helped himself anyway.

Now please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm not mistaken Yogi had a passion for fried chicken. Specifically fried chicken legs if I remember correctly. So, even though the Ranger was constantly spooking Yogi off the bait pile, Yogi would tenaciously seek other picnic baskets that contained the delectable fried chicken legs. And ducks! Yogi liked ducks!

With this critical information in mind I intend to approach my bear baiting from an entirely different angle this year. I've slowly collected, over the last few months, some of the most mouth watering culinary delights known to beardom.

I have in my posession several buckets of frozen Buluga caviar, 10 pounds of prime rib (cured and boneless of course), several baskets of pop-overs lightly dusted with powdered sugar, two oriental ducks basted in orange sauce (also boneless and cured), a mix of lovely Belgian chocolates (bears won't eat Swiss), a chest freezer full of several varieties of marinated chicken legs, and last, but not least, two bottles of 1964 Don Perignon' to cleanse the palate between each course!

I won't be digging pits, or building those silly cribs. Cribs are for babies, not big fat old bears! I've pre-constructed collapsable picnic tables, and I'll be covering them with the old standby checkerboard table cloth. I've got 5 wicker picnic baskets just like on TV, and come tomorrow afternoon you'll find those beautys full of goodness just waiting out in the woods in a lovely sunny spot under a tree.

The way I see it, I can't loose. Any bear with a sense of class and dignity won't be able to resist.

I just hope the Ranger doesn't come along and ruin it for me.....

Good luck everyone, and be careful out there. Don't shoot Boo Boo.

[Try Too Fish]

Hey Canopy Sam

I think I will forget Bear hunting and join your picnic!! Sounds better than eating bear Save me some of that prime rib!!

[tealitup]

Tell me the GPS of your bait station and you will see me in your tral camera.

[Boar]

Boy, It sure is encouraging to know that the bears are waiting to be fed, or the word is out that boar has the best bait, cause for the second year in a row my crib has been hit without bait in it. A bear has ambled by an checked out the big pile of logs. Plus its the same exact site I've used many times before which will still hold scent of bait past. oh yea I just got my skull back from last years bear, 19 3/8" I figured high teens but was hoping for magic 20 for B@C club. Man thats cool. Awsome bear. Later Boar

[north red river]

I've been using mainly doughnuts and old fryer grease and I really had them coming in for about a week and a half or so..yes I started a little early and now they suddenly stop coming in! Should I move the pile or change baits? What should I do to get them back in?

[roosterslayer]

first dont admit that you are cheating,I dont think too many here will be willing to prvide tips to someone that knows what they were doing was wrong and did anyways. Sorry for the attitude, just my opinion.

[north red river]

I had some stuff I needed to get rid of so I put it out! It's not like i'm doing it so I can shoot the bear early. I'm sure you've never bent the book a little bit right...

[kelly-p]

Would that be like fishing a week before season opened because you had some minnows you needed to get rid of? The bears probably left so they'ld be gone when the tickets were handed out.

[north red river]

looks like i'll look else where for advice.....I'll bet you guys don't break the speed limit either.