2015 Idaho Live Hunt

[idelkslayer]

I hadn't really planned on doing a bear hunt this year. I killed a small black boar last spring and prior to that had killed a similar sized black boar and a cinnamon colored sow. Bear hunting over bait is a lot of work and I planned to take 2015 off. Then in December I got a call from one of my best friends and he told me about a new product he had invented for bear hunting and wondered if I would be willing to use it and tell other people about it to help him get the word out. It is called the nightguard 2000. So I thought that rather than make a plug for him in the form of a review I would do a live hunt and let everyone see how it works. But first some background.

James and I first started bear hunting in 2008. He was the first to be successful and without his early success I might have given up on the venture. We started baiting in the fall of 2008, like I said he was successful and I wasn?t. He had found a really good area loaded with bears and my site never got hit but after he killed his bear he let me sit at his site until the season ended. The next spring I tried a different spot and didn't get any hits until the season had ended. That fall a large sow and her cubs frequented my bait site but no other bears came around. James got another bear in the fall of 2009 and that helped keep me excited to try again. In 2010 I finally found an area that had some sign and set up a bait site. I killed a 5 foot black boar that spring when I was walking in to check the site. 2011 I was unable to return to my successful site and didn't get a bear in my other spots. James killed another couple bears during this time.

When I moved in 2012 I made it a priority to find a really good site to set my bait. Another friend and I hiked several drainages looking for a good spot that had a good combination of cover, shooting lanes and proximity to water. Distance from the road is another important consideration. Too close and someone else may find it or in the least disrupt it, too far and it could be a lot more work than it needs to be. We found a spot about 1 mile from the road that had some bear sign. Several bears were soon working the site and I ended up killing a cinnamon colored sow at last light after my third day of sitting in wait. In 2013 I returned but all of the bears were only coming at night. In 2014 I tried again and shot a small boar at last light on the only day I sat in my stand.

Like I said I was planning on taking a break from bear hunting this spring until James told me about the nightguard. It is an automatic door that mounts into a 55 gallon drum. It can be set to open and close at any time you want but comes with the default of opening 30 minutes before sunrise and closing 30 minutes after sunset. The idea being two-fold. First, by having the door closed at night it will prevent night bears from cleaning you out and will make your bait last longer. This translates into fewer trips to the site and saves on bait and gas. The second purpose is to force bears to come in during daylight hours aka legal shooting hours.

James is an electrical engineer and has been working on this for last 2 years. Prior to this I saw a few of his other bear baiting ideas in development and this is the culmination of 5 years of experimenting.
His website is https://nightguard-auto-bear-baiting...r-baiting-door
or just google nightguard 2000
So I'll begin the live hunt with my preparation for hunt.

 

[idelkslayer]

The first thing I did when the nightguard arrived was mess around with it a bit to get familiar. It was very user friendly and the packaging was bombproof, which doesn't matter if you watch James' video of him throwing the barrel mounted nightguard of his deck and down a hill a few times just to show that it is durable. You can see that on youtube. Just search for "nightguard2000". Anyways I hooked up the battery and set the local time, latitude and longitude and the open close times and then I let it run until the battery died. It took over a month even though the battery was only at about 70% charged. I had it on my back porch during January when it was in the single digits and occasionally below zero.

The next order of business was to mount it into a barrel. I only had a 30 gallon barrel and the nightguard wouldn't fit and it took me until this last week to finally find a barrel and get it ready. Laying the barrel on its side I placed the nightguard into it and drilled the mounting holes. I then used the holes I drilled to draw a center line and then 2 parallel lines 3 inches away as the vertical sides of the opening. I measured six inches up from the bottom of the barrel for the bottom of the opening and then another six inches above that for the top. This made a 6?x6? hole. After cutting the hole I filed the edges smooth to prevent cutting myself. Then I bolted the nightguard into place.

You may be wondering why I painted the barrel in camouflage. It is to make it harder for other people to see. First and foremost it is to make it harder for other hunters to find my spot, especially hound hunters who might use my site as a starting point for chasing bears. I also like to be discreet to keep non-hunting people from finding and vandalizing it.

The season starts in 2 days and I have to wait until the opening day before I can place the barrel or any bait so in my next posts I'll talk a little about how I choose bait sites, the bait I use and other considerations. This will fill the time until I am actively running the bait and start getting some action.

 

[idelkslayer]

 

[idelkslayer]

 

[idelkslayer]

Since I already have my location selected I'll go over what I look for in a site and how I ended up with my current location. Idaho allows each hunter to operate 3 bait sites but the most I have ever done is 2. Logistically it is time consuming to operate even one site. An important consideration is drive time from your home to the site. I need to be able to drive to my site, dump bait and return home during the evenings. If my location is more than an hour away the time and expense involved becomes too much. I typically check my bait site twice a week and once the bears start coming in I'll up it to 3-4 times per week. One thing I've learned over the last 6 years is that if your bait runs out, the bears will leave and are not likely to return. With the Nightguard2000 I'm hoping that I can extend the time between trips to restock the bait. If I can do that then in future years I can reduce the number of visits per week and look at trying areas a little further from home (and other hunters). James has been having success with a site that is over 1.5 hours from his front door and replenishes the bait only once per week.

Here is what I look for in a bait site:

Older forest that chokes out the underbrush growth. I don't think it is the lack of underbrush that attracts the bears but I think the thick upper story makes them feel comfortable and concealed enough to move during daylight hours. In the past I have tried sites that had a more open canopy or even along the edges of small clearings surrounded by thick forest. None of those areas produced bears as reliably as those with the thick light blocking canopy and open understory.

Water. Idaho regulations require that a bait site be at least 200 feet from any water and 200 yards away from maintained roads and trails. I like to be as close to water as possible. Why? Because my experience shows more activity close to water. I also try to find a location that is about ? to a mile away from the nearest road. This makes it less likely that someone else could find and disrupt my area. I pay attention to human activity and try to find someplace with less traffic. This especially applies to other bear hunters. I need to find an area that is far enough away from other hunters and bait sites so that the bears can't go back and forth to multiple sites. The more time the bears spend exclusively in my area the better chance I have of success.

Elevation. I try to find a spot on a ridgeline to help disperse scent to as much area as possible. When I have narrowed down the general area, I look for a set of trees in the right configuration. One tree is for attaching the bait barrel, the second for a trail cam and the third for a treestand. I try to place the tree stand as far away as possible and still maintain a clear line of site. My current location is a 30 yard shot to the barrel. Another option is to find an opening to an opposite hillside and sit on the ground. When using a treestand I place it in a tree with a lot of live branches to conceal myself. I hate hunting from treestands and I know I can't sit still in mine very well so having a lot of cover helps hide my movement. This year I'm going to try and find an opening so I can sit on the opposite hillside but if I can't find a good spot I will be back in the treestand again. I was on the ground for 2 of the 3 bears I've killed and prefer to be on the ground.

Places that bear already like to be. Keep an eye out for physical evidence. Anyplace where you have seen bears in the past or seen their tracks. Look for natural food sources. In the spring it can be hard to find sign but one enduring indicator of past presence is scent posts. These look like blazes on trees where the bear has scratched and chewed through the bark down to the bare wood of a tree. Then they rub their bodies against the blaze to leave scent. This is done by both sexes but primarily the males during mating season. When I find an area with several scent posts I feel like I've hit jackpot. More often than not you can find hairs stuck to the sap from the tree. When I go out to set up my site I'll take pictures of some of the scent posts in the area to show you what they look like.

So to summarize I look for old growth forest with little to no understory, proximity to water, physical sign of bears, a lack of other bait hunters and close enough to home to effectively check and stock the bait supply.

 

[idelkslayer]

Today I'm talking about the types of bait I've used along with the pros and cons as I experienced them. When I pack bait into my site I typically carry (4) 5 gallon buckets full of food. Two are strapped to an external frame backpack with a trash bag full of popcorn and I carry the other two in my hands. I also try to keep my rifle handy in case I spot a bear along the way or if a bear is on the bait when I get there. Last year I hunted with a .54 cal. Lyman GPR muzzleloader and this year I will use it again. I killed my first bear while walking to the bait site.

Meat: Idaho regulations ban the use of all game animal meat and parts whether wild or domestic in origin, so saving bones and meat scraps from deer and elk is out of the question. I have however acquired beef and pork scraps from local butchers in past seasons. I prefer to wait until bears are actively hitting the bait before using meat because I want them to eat it before it rots. My experience has been that bears won't eat rotten meat, slightly tainted yes but rotten, no.

Fish: Idaho regulation bans the use of game fish as bait so only non-game species such as carp can be used. I'll start catching carp next week and I'll do two things with them. First I'll take 2 or 3 and put them in a bucket with a closed lid and let them get nice and ripe. The rest I'll put in the freezer for later or use fresh. Same as with the meat I've seen bears completely pass up rotten fish and not touch them all season, but they produce a lot of smell which does attract bears to the good stuff. I'll hang the rotting fish in a tree about 20 feet away from the rest of the bait.
Popcorn: Bears don't really like popcorn on its own but it makes a cheap and lightweight filler. If you don't have a barrel then make sure your site is out of the rain because the popcorn will shrivel down to just the kernel if it gets wet. I like to buy the cheapest maple syrup I can find and pour it onto the popcorn and mix in strawberry jello packets for added flavor. I mix sweet feed in with popcorn also. If I can get it I will pour fast food restaurant fryer grease on the popcorn instead of the syrup.

Livestock feed: sweet oats, molasses oats or any other grain mixed with molasses. You can also buy feed molasses by the bucket and mix it in with any of the other baits. 40 lb bags cost around $8.

Apples: In the fall I go to old homesteads or find apple trees growing in the right-of-way along roads and highways and take as many apples as I can get. Of all the foods I've used this was the most preferred by the bears. I went through over 100 gallons of apples in 2 weeks a few years back for just a sow and 2 cubs. This isn't a spring time option though.

Fryer grease: If you can get used cooking grease from a restaurant it will be the best thing you can use. I have seen bears eating wood from stumps that I've poured this onto and they'll even lick and eat the dirt to get this stuff.

Bacon grease: I save my bacon grease all year and smear it on overhanging tree branches to get the scent up where the wind can carry it.

Leftovers: I've been saving the bones and scraps from every chicken and pork rib dinner for the last 4 months. I keep it in a contractor garbage bag in a chest freezer. Any other leftovers or vegetable scraps from preparing meals also go in that bag.

The nightguard 2000 is fully waterproof so none of the liquids (oils, grease, syrup) should have a negative effect on its performance so I will use all of my typical baits without worrying about damaging the nightguard and we'll see how it holds up.

Other things that work: plums, bread, donuts, corn, grapes, almost anything really.
Things that don't work: raw potatoes, oranges, banana peels, peppers.

 

[idelkslayer]

I still have 2 days until opening day so to keep this going I'll talk about another aspect to consider when hunting bears over bait, scent.

Of course you want scent from your bait to spread and attract bears but when it comes to human scent there are basically two schools of thought. The first is to go to great measures to prevent any human scent from contaminating the bait site; the second is to not worry about it. I tend to accept the latter.

Some hunters do everything they can to make sure that they do not leave any human scent at their bait site because they are afraid that it will keep the bears away. The difficulty in doing this is too much for me. Other than trying to locate my treestand downwind from not only the bait but also the routes that I expect the bears to travel on their way to the bait I don't do much to cover my scent. I try to make my scent just another part of the bait site. If my smell is always associated with the food from the first time a bear visits the site then my theory is that he will not care if he smells me when I am actually there hunting. I have gone so far in the past as to hang a sweaty t-shirt in a tree above my bait. This may only work in areas where you know that there is some distance between you and any other hunters bait sites. I am far enough away from others that I'm not worried about a bear deciding to get his groceries at a less smelly location.

There are other ways that scent can affect your hunt though. If you are using a trail camera, always check your batteries and swap SD cards as the first thing you do on each site visit. Do this so that scent from your bait does not get transferred from your hands onto your camera. It hasn't happened to me yet but I have friends that have lost cameras when a bear decided that if it smells like food it must be food and destroyed their cameras. You can get around this by buying or building a bear proof camera box but so far I haven't needed one.

Another way scent can make a hunt interesting is if some of the food scent finds its way to your stand tree. I try to keep food scent away from my tree but since I usually approach the tree after placing bait some scent gets on my hands and then the branches and screw in steps I use to access my stand. After that happens you will find claw marks climbing the tree up to your stand. If you have a foam pad on you stand, the bear will tear it apart. I no longer have a foam pad, due to this exact scenario but my greater concern is that I'd rather not allow the bears to know where I intend to sit. This isn't a fear or safety issue I just don't want them to pay any attention to that tree or anything in it. I don't want the bear to hang back where I might not be able to see him while he examines my stand to make sure it is empty before approaching the bait. This year I will keep a pair of gloves and wear them when I place bait so that none gets on my hands. Hopefully this will prevent the transfer of scent that could give away my location.

I couldn't think of any way to work the Nightguard2000 into this topic but you can still visit the website and give it a look and then keep following this thread to see how it works out.

 

[idelkslayer]

On Saturday I drove out to my bait site with the intention of hanging my tree stand and/or hopefully finding a location across the draw from which I could sit on the ground and have a shot of 200 yards or less. There were several places from which I could have an across-draw shot but it would have required me to move my bat to a more open hill side. I had hoped to find a small shooting lane into thick cover but no such luck. So I will stick with what works and hunt from the same tree that brought success last year. Unfortunately I was half way to my site when I realized that I had forgotten to bring my tree stand, a very detrimental occurrence if you intend to hang said stand. Rather than go home I forged ahead hoping to at least assess the accessibility of my site.

Last year I had to snowshoe 1.5 miles of road just to get to where I normally park and start my 3/4 mile hike to my site. That may not sound bad but doing it with a barrel full of bait and then 100 lbs of bait can wear on you. Also it is very difficult to get up if you trip and fall into deep snow while wearing snowshoes and packing a barrel. This year has been more mild and I was able to drive within a 1/4 mile. I started the hike by trying to find the cross canyon shot but didn't find a spot that I liked so I continued up the ridge to try and spot critters before visiting my bait site. Reaching a higher ridge I sat and glassed 19 elk (including 2 bulls still packing both antlers), 12 deer and 2 moose which I watched for an hour. I really wanted to spot a bear but I never saw one or any tracks either.

In a previous post I mentioned bear scent posts and said I would post a picture of one. I took pictures of some older scent posts as well as some that are new from last year. The bear rut occurs in late June through mid July and I found a couple new scent posts that were not present last May. From one of these I found several long bear hairs stuck in the sap. So in the picture below is a scent post including a picture of me holding a bear hair in my hand that I pulled from the tree.

Opening day is Wednesday, I'll be taking bait out on Friday Morning.

 

[idelkslayer]

 

[idelkslayer]

I placed my bait on April 17th and returned on the 24th to check on it. So far no bears, but my first hit last year didn't come until the 29th so no cause to worry yet.

The only negative is that I did find out that 2 other hunters are set up in the same drainage as me.

 

[rmanwill]

Nice read. Getting me excited for my spot and stalk hunt in less then three weeks. Baiting would be fun, but we travel 13 hourrs one way, so spot and stalk it is. We do have pretty good success and I am looking forward to eleven days in bear camp.

Keep the post going.

 

[rmanwill]

Any luck? How's the new door device working out.

 

[idelkslayer]

I checked the baitsite on Saturday, no luck yet. But I haven't seen any tracks or scat anywhere either. I've heard of only one hound hunter who has chased any bears so far. If nothing hits this week I may start to worry. As it is I'm building up a good stockpile of bait at the site.