Couple of question on baiting bear

Hey guys,

Just drew a tag for zone 13, and I am a rookie to this whole bear hunting thing. Figured it was time to give it a shot, since I have access to some private land in area 13 that borders 1,000’s of acres of state land which seems to hold alot of bear.

My question is how many bait sites do you reccomend I set up?? Also, how long before the start of the season should I start baiting, and how often should I keep these baits fresh?

And if you’ve got any hot bait ingredients that have worked in the past for you, I’d like to hear about those too.

Thanks in advance.

For bait… typically anything you like to eat…. bread, pastries, candy, the sky is the limit.. Bears like too. I know most guys start baiting around late August…. I can tell you one trick I learned from an outfitter in Northern Manitoba…. he hangs a air freshner, like the GLADE ones, in rasberry or strawberry, at his new baits. It helps get the scent out, to help the bears find your bait…once they find it, if they like it, they will be back Good luck and look forward to pics and story !!!

Big G is right, Baiting starts in August.(check your rule book for the legal start date.He is also right about any thing that people eat they will eat. I do like to use beef trimmings once I have a bait that is active. (I seem to kill more Big Boars on these baits) I like to use James Valley “Knock out” to open my bait sites up. I also use a one gallon sprayer and mix vanilla,anise,syrup, and some water and spray as high as you can into the green foilage, then as i leave i keep the sprayer running and will go up to 1/2 mile before i shut it off. As far as how many baits that depends alot on bear population terrain etc. To few baits in an area is way better than too many.Location is everything! you can draw bears from a long distance but if they don’t get there till after dark it does you no good! also if someone baits between you and where your bear is bedding you will spend alot of nights seeing nothing. you will be baiting the same bears and will have a tougher time getting one to show in the daylight. I personally only hunt evenings and try to bait between 10:00Am and 2:00 pm as to not disturb any bears on the bait. Bear bait can be expensive. we do have a supplier in Cannon falls But again he is kinda high priced but if you need some let me know and i will give you his number.Good Luck on your Hunt!!

Thanks for the info!

I was thinking about taking some Carp with my bow for a little practice this summer and using them for bait…Figured if I vacuum sealed em and froze them until their ready to use, they could create quite a smell and bring those bears in from a long ways a way.

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Thanks for the info!

I was thinking about taking some Carp with my bow for a little practice this summer and using them for bait…Figured if I vacuum sealed em and froze them until their ready to use, they could create quite a smell and bring those bears in from a long ways a way.

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I have used fish as a “stink bait” to open a bait up. But only at a distance from my bait pile! rotton meat with maggots and rotton fish haven’t given me the results that i wanted. and the smell when hunting your bait downwind is enough to make you gag!

One little nugget that I would offer in regards to what sort of bait to use (or not to use) is to avoid chocolate. Yeah, they love it, but after a couple of days of eating it they will experience significant digestive issues (think rootbeer fountain) and they will stop hitting the bait. I’m sure someone will chime in stating that they’ve had good luck with chocolate, but I’m just sharing my experience.

Give ’em options. Meat scraps (in moderation or you will hate the stench), popcorn, grease, frosting, etc. Let them tell you what they like.

There are a number of other baiting tips that you may or may not be aware of – things like leaving one of your sweaty t-shirts hanging near the tree you will place your stand in to get the bears to accept the fact that they must smell you to eat the goodies. And/or spray a little bug spray around the stand site each time you bait – thereby giving you the option of wearing bug spray when you sit the stand and not scaring them away by the smell.

Speaking of bugs – get yourself a Thermocell bug repellant device. Those things absolutely, hands-down work. They are amazing for bear hunting.

Thanks again guys for all the replies.

Couple more questions for you all..Any idea on how far I should place my bait sites apart from each other and how many I should start with???

Also, how much bait do you reccomend placing at each site for starters, and how often to rebait??

Thanks guys!

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Thanks again guys for all the replies.

Couple more questions for you all..Any idea on how far I should place my bait sites apart from each other and how many I should start with???

Also, how much bait do you reccomend placing at each site for starters, and how often to rebait??

Thanks guys!

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It sounds like you know your area pretty well. Do you know what kind of competion you may have from other hunters? As far as distance between baits and how many to put out I start with 4-5 baits per person that will be hunting. some probably will not be hot and some may have sows with cubs. I don’t like to bait any closer than 1 mile between baits. My cameras still show some of the same bears at these baits. It makes it hard to know what bait to sit if your bear is hitting 2 or more of your sites. If I have a bait that has a sow with cubs i still bait it butt just won’t hunt it. This will hopefully keep her from taking over one of your other bait sites. If you have the time to bait 3 or more times per week I would give them just enough to keep them coming back. On my very remote sites that only get baited once a week i load them up with 200 -300 lbs once they are hot. the only problem is that when you keep alot of bait they tend to feed after legal shooting hours.

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Do you know what kind of competion you may have from other hunters?

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From what I have heard from the landowner, there hasn’t been any pressure in the area we are planning to hunt for a few years.

I figure I will probably be able to bait maybe twice a week. With that said, any idea how early I should place out bait prior to the season, as well as how much bait per site???

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Thanks again guys for all the replies.

Couple more questions for you all..Any idea on how far I should place my bait sites apart from each other and how many I should start with???

Also, how much bait do you reccomend placing at each site for starters, and how often to rebait??

Thanks guys!

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It sounds like you know your area pretty well. Do you know what kind of competion you may have from other hunters? As far as distance between baits and how many to put out I start with 4-5 baits per person that will be hunting. some probably will not be hot and some may have sows with cubs. I don’t like to bait any closer than 1 mile between baits. My cameras still show some of the same bears at these baits. It makes it hard to know what bait to sit if your bear is hitting 2 or more of your sites. If I have a bait that has a sow with cubs i still bait it butt just won’t hunt it. This will hopefully keep her from taking over one of your other bait sites. If you have the time to bait 3 or more times per week I would give them just enough to keep them coming back. On my very remote sites that only get baited once a week i load them up with 200 -300 lbs once they are hot. the only problem is that when you keep alot of bait they tend to feed after legal shooting hours.

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When you set up your baits how much bait are you using? On your remote baits thats you putting that much bait out on, are you getting them to come in during the day instead of at night??