LAST EDITED ON May-29-11 AT 12:50PM (MST)[p]I used to bait bear every year, here in Utah and once they closed down over the counter bear sales, I baited in Idaho every year for over 15 years.
I really got upset when someone purposely ran their dogs, off one of my baits, in the early days. I felt if there was a dog track or scent around my bait, it would shut it off for a length of time. How foolish and wrong those feelings were. I now take both of my dogs to my baits sites when I hunt, and have learned they have no effect on the bears.
There were several times in Idaho, where the dogs came running by my bait, as I was baiting, but by then I had figured out, that it really has very little effect on your hunt or your success. It is however something one can blame for his failure.
Most houndsmen turn their dogs loose in the mornings and have most of their dogs recouped by late afternoon. Most bears hit a bait in the evening and that's when most guys hunt. And I learned by experience that houndsmen can run a canyon in the morning and you most likely will have a bear there that evening if you have a good bait site and know what you're doing.
This past week (part of) I went out to bear country, where my son's friend had a tag. He had a bait not far our camp and about mid morning, on one of the days I was there, we could hear the hounds coming and they crossed the road very near our camp and chased a bear into the canyon. We walked to the canyons edge and listened as they chased the bear for out of sound range, and that took a long time, as it was a deep canyon and we were right on top. Almost all the day the houndsmen stood on the edge of the canyon and yelled for their dogs, as they tried to retrieve them, until it was almost time to go hunt.
My son went with his friend that evening, to his nearby bait and watched his friend miss a 20 yard shot, at a tank bear.
I have watched this time and time again, and thus I really think it has little effect on ones success. Now if the houndsmen began their chase early evening, then it would be a much different story.
I have come to understand if we (I am a baiter) and they (the houndsmen) all work together, we can help each other out and we have no need to fight.
While on this past trip, we saw a nice bear, in the middle of the day. We saw and told a houndsmen and they went down and gave chase. They had a great run, but the bear out foxed them, like they do to most of the time.
Have a good one. BB