bear baiting... night time eaters ? tips ?

[Sendero_Man]

I did this from day one of baiting. Not on an established bait.

 

[LawShark]

If you use a stand that sits in the same place everyday the bear gets to know it and checks it before coming in. Try moving the stand to a new spot. An outfitter I know and used has had no luck turning a nocturnal bear. Beaver has only worked for him in spring bear in Maine.

We have trail cameras set up and have noticed on bear feeding on corn we left for deer. The big bear only come out at night. We can't try any of the above since no scents food or bait can be used in PA.

 

[axe3761]

if you only have one or two bears hitting your bait you will never turn him. if you can get lots of bears there even better. the little guys come in first cause they know theres food there but they also know there are other bears that will eat them too. if the little guys come in and eat most of the food, the big ones will have to start coming in earlier to get fed. use doughnuts and apples, beaver is the best bait bar none. oats cooked in molasses works well too. use a solid mesh cage to put the beaver in and chain it to your bait site. make it just about impossible for him to get it out. your beavers will go along ways and youl drive him nuts trying to get it out. i have found also that big nocturnal bears will come in very early in the morning and leave soon after. my trailcam confirms this on nocturnal bears more than once. they will get to know your smell too. play the two man in, one man out trick on them too. im in sask and hunt the northern forests...not sure how it works where your from. bears is bears.

 

[Yotekiller]

I helped out a friend with the two men in and one out trick once and he shot the bear 15 minutes after I left.

 

[Derek M.]

Best outcomes I have seen are put stand as far away from bait as you can and still see to hunt it. I would like to be 200 yards away myself.

Use really sweet bait and not much of it (chocolate syrup, little debbie cakes, donuts). When the big bears keep coming back to the bait barrel and smell what was there but nothing remaining to eat, they start checking it earlier to the point it is daylight because they want their share.

In Alberta my guides always used beaver and I agree, the bears took that long before any sweets. They'd cut a small tree and hang it 15-17 feet across 2 standing trees, rope the beaver over the cross branch and hoist it up to where it hung 3-4 feet down. The bears had to climb the tree and walk across it to get the beaver. I watched 2 boars (maybe siblings) in the 350 pound range get a beaver and run off with it about 75 yards. I could hear them crunching the bones. They eat it in its entirety.

My guides always used a lot of bug spray from day one around the bait so when I doused myself with the same bug dope it didn't matter. No bugs on me and no scared bears. My largest BB is over 500 pounds. My smallest is about 200. I've killed them in NB, AB, BC.

Curiously, my guide in New Brunswick tried beaver and the bears did not touch it. They preferred a loaf of bread!