How have you refined your bait sites?

[Tikkamike]

Each year I learn a little something or decide something isnt worth the effort it seems like. My first year my bait site was a gooey sticky mess, old fruit and bread, cookies, cakes etc.. I packed in a lot of stuff that made little or no difference. I have experimented with several barrel designs and camera angles. I have found that with the plastic barrels I use if the feed isnt easy to get to the bears will make it easy to get to which means destroying my barrel., I could go to metal but that is a lot of extra weight so I prefer the plastic. I like my barrel to stand on end with a chain around the top and one around the bottom and a couple holes 2/3 the way up the barrel that way it still holds a lot and they can still reach the bottom. I also like a hinged door at the top to make it easy to pour the feed in. I now use pre packaged feed almost exclusively because its not messy and its easy to pack however I do usually top it with a couple gallons of burnt honey because they like the sweet stuff but it soake to the bottom so if something happens and I dont get up soon enough to restock the bait the sticky stuff on the bottom gives them something to play with and possibly hold them off a little longer till I can get up there... .. after a run in with an unwanted human visitor my barrel is now painted camo also. I have pretty well refined my scent set up that I like to use and have not made any changes to that. Another change I will be making this year is adding a second camera. I am not sure exactly how I will set it up but I am thinking video mode for the second camera would be a fun thing to play with.

I am curious to know what things people have done to change their baiting techniques.

 

[brentc]

I used to use dog food with cooking grease but it tends to get moldy when it gets wet and it dfissoves easily. Now, we use molasses mixed horse feed to because it doesn't dissolve and it keeps the bears around longer. All our barrels are metal for now. We transport to our stations by boat for the most part so weight isn't much of a concern. For everything else, pretty much use any sweet stuff that's on sale and bacon flavoring if we can get it. Cheap maple syrup, jelly, jam, etc. We also use a fair bit of used cooking oil.

 

[Tikkamike]

I use a similar feed. it works very well. I am fortunate enough to have a buddy who is a bee keeper and I have an almost endless source of free honey

 

[HARPERC]

In an established bait I always like to improve my approach to the stand. Groom the trail to come in and out in the dark with no sound. Find a place to see the bait site before final approach to my stand if its not dark.

We have a bit different habitat, more limbs and brush, and our stands were in trees mostly, but a rake for reducing clutter underfoot, and a limb saw for cutting "windows" and shooting lanes is something I like to do on my end.

If the bears have a specific route established into the bait, or if a particular bear likes to run in and grab something, then run out to eat it, sometimes a few small limbs here and there can offer an opportunity.

It has to be subtle or it will move the bears as well.

 

[IdahoCTD]

This year has been a bit interesting for us as well. We had 3 bears on the bait (turkey and popcorn) and then all of a sudden they never came back. It's been 8 days now. I know we were one of the first to get a bait up and I'm thinking someone has a better bait in a close proximity. The one bear we shot earlier was into the turkey more than the popcorn so I'm wondering if meat isn't better than sweets. BTW the popcorn has fryer grease on it. I have syrup and can get some oats or horse feed as well to try.

If anyone has tried both at the same time what is better......meat or sweats? I have always run more sweat stuff in the past and haven't really used much meat.

 

[HARPERC]

I like sweets in the spring. Fat in the fall. One big fall bear came to a bait that hadn't been hit in awhile, so it had everything on it Twinkies, Ding Dongs, a hunk of roast bread, some apples, probably 300 lbs of bait there. What's he pick up? An end of the season sour green tomato from the last of the garden. Who knows?

 

[Barrelnut]

Tomato might have been somewhat spoiled and fermented. Bears like fermented stuff/alcohol. I Have heard, but never tried it, pour a fifth of cheap sour mash whiskey over the bait, or into those oats. They will come from miles away...

 

[HARPERC]

It was really in good shape firm etc. Just put it out before heading to the stand. Left teeth imprints very gently all around. I picked it up and gave it a toss. Just one of those curious things you see along the way.

 

[Barrelnut]

Yea, green tomatoes are actually pretty fragrant. Probably caught the bears interest.

Also, my grandpa was a revenuer in Tennessee in the 40's. He told me that corn mash made great bear bait. I have wanted to try it but we cannot bait here in Oregon...

 

[HARPERC]

We had no luck with corn. Tried it a couple of times, and then we lost our baiting as well.

Basically, had no idea what we were doing with it, and made a mess of it. Timing etc. but I believe if a person got a handle on it there is something to it.

I've been feeding some deer, and if I was going to bait these days Black Oil Sunflower Seeds would be the first thing I would try. The deer can't get enough in the fall, it's like 30% plus fat.

 

[Tikkamike]

This year has been a bit interesting for us as well. We had 3 bears on the bait (turkey and popcorn) and then all of a sudden they never came back. It's been 8 days now. I know we were one of the first to get a bait up and I'm thinking someone has a better bait in a close proximity. The one bear we shot earlier was into the turkey more than the popcorn so I'm wondering if meat isn't better than sweets. BTW the popcorn has fryer grease on it. I have syrup and can get some oats or horse feed as well to try.

If anyone has tried both at the same time what is better......meat or sweats? I have always run more sweat stuff in the past and haven't really used much meat.

I dont use much meat either. I have been using a beaver (1) to start my bait each season. I usually throw it in frozen then four everything else around it so its kind of hard to get out but enough of it is sticking out to put off some scent and the beaver is the first thing to go. In my opinion its about the best bait you can get. A guy here in town swears younger bears like sweets and older bears like protein... I dont know if thats true or not

 

[IdahoCTD]

Tomato might have been somewhat spoiled and fermented. Bears like fermented stuff/alcohol. I Have heard, but never tried it, pour a fifth of cheap sour mash whiskey over the bait, or into those oats. They will come from miles away...

May have to make some jail house mash and see if we can get some drunk .

 

[Tikkamike]

Well I got my bait in yesterday.im going to try to go up Sunday and see if anything has hit it

 

[sdkidaho]

One of the best setups I've seen for drawing them in and judging size was this:

5. What do you use for bait and what kind of baiting system do you use?
This is probably the most important and often overlooked element of having a great hunt, the details of what an outfitter does here is vitally important to the success of your hunt. We have experimented with all kinds of baiting systems using every imaginable type of bait. We have found that the best method is with a large volume and variety of bait that never runs out. We use meat; pork and beef, oats, cooking grease, candy, honey and beaver carcasses. At every site we have two 50 gallon barrels and a wire mesh cage. One barrel is filled to the top with small meat scraps and the other one is filled with the oats, grease, candy and honey. Both barrels have small holes cut in the top to limit how quickly they can empty the barrel and they have to take turns eating. When you have 20+ bears at a bait like we sometimes do you have to slow down the eating somehow or they might clean it out. The small holes also stop ravens from eating all the meat. The wire mesh cage is for the beaver carcass. It is chained to a tree and it allows the bears to rip pieces of beaver meat off the carcass but never walk away with the skeleton. The final vitally important item is a crib system that positions the bear for a perfect broadside shot. Bears cannot eat at our baits without giving the essential shot that a bowhunter needs.


6. Do you have any way to help me judge a bear's size, or sex? I don't want to accidentally shoot a small bear or sow?
Yes, we have a practically foolproof and simple system of judging what a mature, 5+ yr old boar looks like compared to all the others, especially how it differs from a large breeding age female of the same body weight At every bait site we have a log lying on the ground that is cut to a certain length. A sow will never be as long as that log from nose to butt. A good size, or for bowhunters a Pope and Young class boar, will be as long as that log or longer. It is that simple. Tips about things like little, round ears, a crease on the head, a hanging belly are all subjective and confusing for a novice or even experienced bear hunter and contribute to many sows being accidentally killed. A big older, breeding sow can have many of the same looking characteristics as an old boar but they will never have the body length of a big old boar. If you want a big male bear, body length is the best way to judge it. We also have dozens of trail camera pictures that we can show you and go over every detail of what a sow looks like compared to a boar.

You can see it here:
Alberta Black Bear Bowhunting FAQ Alberta Canada Black Bear Bowhunts Mike's Outfitting
And his video on how he sets up his site:
[ame=http://youtu.be/T0tE3rtQuVo]Black Bear At Bait Sites Bear Hunting in Alberta Canada with Mike's Outfitting - YouTube[/ame]

I like the logs he puts on the ground cut to a certain length to give you an idea of how long the bear is. That along with the height of the barrels whether upright or on their side gives you a good idea of what size the bear is.

Granted this is an outfitter and this is what they do for a living, but a guy could certainly duplicate some of his ideas.