Bear baiting question

schoolhousegrizz · Apr 22, 2018

After you guys have bears coming into your bait. How much bait are you setting out per night to get the big one to show his face before night?

elkhunterUT · Apr 22, 2018

A good approach is to restock your bait at the same time but in late afternoon/early evening if possible and make a bunch of noise and then leave ASAP. This becomes a dinner bell for the bears.

Then when you are actually hunting over the bait, have a buddy go in with you and restock the bait while you climb into your stand or ground blind. When your buddy leaves, it will usually signal the bears to come in.

You don't have to restock your bait every day necessarily-just don't let the food source run all the way out so they lose interest. It all depends on how many bears are hitting & how quickly they are eating the bait.

Good luck-hunting Bears is so much fun!!

schoolhousegrizz · Apr 22, 2018

Thanks elk Hunter. So even if I have 3 to 5 gallons of bait there per night should technically be enough I guess. I will probably set the bait out around 4ish.

elkantlers · Apr 22, 2018

>A good approach is to restock
>your bait at the same
>time but in late afternoon/early
>evening if possible and make
>a bunch of noise and
>then leave ASAP. This
>becomes a dinner bell for
>the bears.
>
>Then when you are actually hunting
>over the bait, have a
>buddy go in with you
>and restock the bait while
>you climb into your stand
>or ground blind. When your
>buddy leaves, it will usually
>signal the bears to come
>in.
>
>You don't have to restock your
>bait every day necessarily-just don't
>let the food source run
>all the way out so
>they lose interest. It all
>depends on how many bears
>are hitting & how quickly
>they are eating the bait.
>
>
>Good luck-hunting Bears is so much
>fun!!

^^^^ Good info

I like to dump a couple gallons of Horse feed with molasses along with my other bait. I spread it around a large area so they have to work for it. This will keep them around the bait site for a while. I have seen them use their claws like a rake trying to get it all.
I also noticed that the bears don't eat much bait when they initially find it. I think they need to get their gut used to it at first. After a week they will eat everything you leave for them. Even trail cameras and ground blinds. lol

Hawkeye · Apr 23, 2018

Good suggestions and info. To those of you who have tags and bait sites this year, please post up some photos of your sites, bait and the bears that are coming in to your sites. I am trying to learn more about the baiting process to prepare for a hunt in the future.

Thanks.

-Hawkeye-

Muleman1 · Apr 23, 2018

Set up a good crib to make them work for the bait other wise they'll eat you outta house and home buy some molasses and pour it all over the sight along with some sweet mix the molasses will get on there paws and attract more bears to the site

Bocephus · Apr 23, 2018

With these suggestions you are well on your way in becoming a Master Baiter!

elkhunterUT · Apr 23, 2018

Here are a few pics from last year of one of my bait cribs without bait placed & a couple with bait & bears hitting it.

http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos_2018/173410eaf7010959c43c497af93295f5b141a.jpeg

http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos_2018/5818772926da78c3547c6a8f44989731632cc.jpeg

http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos_2018/719674ac0983e43a64c5f94a58e69ba913c56.jpeg

schoolhousegrizz · Apr 23, 2018

LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-18 AT 06:29PM (MST)[p]Thanks! So would you not put rocks and logs over the bait?

elkhunterUT · Apr 23, 2018

You can definitely put logs & rocks over the bait if you want, but those bears will make short work of that if you don't bury it really good.

I didn't cover mine because I wanted to keep their interest & planned to restock somewhat frequently. I also made a bear lollipop to add to the bait site to keep their interest if they ate all the food. You can google bear sucker or bear lollipop for the recipe if you want to try that.

What unit is your bear tag for?

schoolhousegrizz · Apr 23, 2018

San Juan, maybe I will Google the bear lollipop. Do you just spread the bait over a wider area so they have to walk around a little bit? How did you get yours to last longer?

Bocephus · Apr 23, 2018

I've been gathering bait for the last month and a half. Nothing will kill your bait quicker than letting it run dry. Little Caesar's throws their pizza out every night, local donut shops throw their donuts out every night. Burger joints will let you dip into their used fry grease. Get something that really stinks to initially bring in bears. Fresh meat scrap is always a favorite. The easy part will be getting bears to hit your bait and get pictures of them. The hard part will be getting that big old boar to come in in daylight while you are there to kill him. Stay til dark thirty, most big bears will come in at that last last gasp. I have seen a big bear completely clean up a 50 gallon drum of pizza and donuts in one night. The best time to kill them is when they first find the bait. Have fun, that's a great unit! Make sure it's the bear you want, bears tend to shrink once they are on the ground dead.

elkhunterUT · Apr 23, 2018

San Juan is a great unit no doubt & you should have a great time!

Along with donuts & breads as your staple on the bait, add in a bunch of popcorn (cheap, good option) or dog food or something that takes the bears a little longer to pick at & eat. That will help keep your bait longer.

Keep us updated on your hunt-excited for ya!!

schoolhousegrizz · Apr 24, 2018

Thanks, will do.

elkantlers · Apr 25, 2018

Is this a shooter?

elkhunterUT · Apr 25, 2018

Looks like a good one in that pic-any other angles of the same bear?

Definitely has some thickness in that neck!

How about this one?
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos_2018/512856c714f5a424fabbf7540a4cafa15e1.jpeg

schoolhousegrizz · Apr 26, 2018

Looks like a shooter to me I know they're hard to judge but that looks like a pretty good bear

Bocephus · Apr 26, 2018

No doubt I would be dropping the string on that circus bear!

lang · Apr 26, 2018

LAST EDITED ON Apr-26-18 AT 05:37PM (MST)[p]Once you have multiple bears hitting, we've done better putting less bait out and increasing how often you bait. Getting bigger bears in early enough to shoot seems increase with competition.
Yes, I would shoot either of the above bears without a second look!

Gator · Apr 27, 2018

Save your bacon grease all year long then heat it up until it's liquid again and then pour over some cheap dog food. They will hit that until it all gone.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
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huntnmulies · May 11, 2018

All the sweets you can gather. Pastries, popcorn, fry grease is what I used in the past.

_rutN_ · May 14, 2018

I love these posts, some good advise and I like hearing all your input. Curious if any of you have a suggestion(s) for the below situation...
My favorite bait site is well established. Typically have 20+ different bears visit first week, increasing through the season. I'm not bummed about having this many, but it is absolutely challenging to keep bait in my barrel and keep the interest of big bears. Trail cam pics indicate it's absolute chaos and constant pecking order shuffle. My barrel design is intense, grates they have to reach thru and scratcher bars to help eliminate scooping out more than a couple claw fulls at a time. Still with 20-30 paws in it doesn't last, that is the minor issue. Bigger challenge is not being able to pattern the bear(s) I'd like to hunt whatsoever. It's almost like some the big boars give up... "that's it I'm out, i'm not putting up with 6 b!tchy sows sassn me, I'd rather just go chew grass" It could be they know where other baits are and when competition heats up they go raid others they have less confrontation with. In the past, bait sites with less bears and 1 big dominant boar which established himself as top dog... easy to pattern/hunt/opportunity to harvest him. This site is always a riot & fun to sit on it, see so many bears, just not the 1 or 2 i'm targeting.