I have been on a search for some cans for bear bait. I have not been able to find what I have been looking for. I have finally came up with an idea and was wondering if anyone has tried old milk cans. I still have the lid and have cut out the center portion. I figure that the bear will have to work a little to pop the top off and the lid should keep the coons out. The bear should have to work a little to get the food out of the can also. I beleive that the hole should be more than big enough for the bear to fit its paw into. The bears here are usually not much larger than 300 pounds or so. Has any of you baiters ever used old milk cans before? If a bear can chew this can up, I don't think that I would wan't to stick him with an arrow.

Nope, never heard of that.

If they are plastic, thin tin or alum even small bears can/will chew them up. Last fall I put out a large heavy plastic barrel...I know better but it was all we had left in camp and they were robbing the log roll blind and we were just feeding the forest..anyhew it lasted only a few days the scat, paw and teeth markes indicated mostly small bears where coming in. Now if reasonably solid the only concern would be volume cap. (meaning how much bait they'll hold between your visits) and can you chain them to a tree. If not they tend to roll it away on yeah and weight seems to have little bearing they are powerful little critters. My baits quite often I have to unravel them as the bears try to roll them off but being tethered just end up shorting the chain length. They also dent the crap out of them once the volume of the bait goes down, these are 45 gal steel drums!

As to hole size IME & O while you don't want them to gorge all your bait with ease, you still need to feed them. Make sure that they will have a large enough diameter hole to spoon with the paw, snout and tongue...by your description they sound ok in this manner. We have tried on further hunting locals where we could only bait weekly smaller holes (2" or so) and the baits were not nearly as effective. The only way to ensure that lid will stay on and not be dragged off or destroyed is bolt/clamp/whatever is required to make it so only you and tools will get off. Most my barrels are the ones with the ring/bolt to ensure the barrel/lid stay intact but I have also fashioned a few with a piece of angle iron, decent sized nuts and bolts. Just weld the angle iron the nuts in a couple of spots and thread on a bolt..shes now bolted down and ensure your lid stays put.

Again this is just my opinion but if light duty or unchained you may come back to find destroyed/barrels gone or if they can't eat they may be or become on the cool side. If given the choice between a barrel that'll maybe last a few days on hot bait site or log roll pit, I'd stick to log roll pit!

Best of luck

The can is acctually one of the old antique metal cans that will hold about 10 gallons. The hole in the top is about 10 inches across and gets larger as you go into it. I have cut the bottom of the lid so the bear can see and smell what is in the can. The lid is chained to the handle on the can so the bear can pop the lid off and scoop out the contents. The purpose of the lid is to keep the racoons from crawling in and snacking but still should easy for a bear to get the heavy duty lid off and scoop the food. The can is indestructable and will be chained to the tree.

I've never baited bear but plan to bait and hunt them in the future. I use milk cans to collect sap for maple syrup and we have some that are rusted and no longer are useable. I'm looking forward to seeing if your idea works, I may have to borrow the idea. I don't believe bear will be able to chew through them, they're pretty thick metal cans. If it works let me know, I think you're on to something good.

Paul