recurver67

I just found out I was drawn for the fall bear hunt in my state . I can't wait, although I've never hunted them before. We plan on baiting because the cover is so thick. I have a few questions .How many weeks should we start baiting before the hunt. Will predetor calls work that late in the year(9/25-10/26). Any other tips would be apperciated. Thank you Jerry

shed33

Jerry,

First of all, congrats on your bear draw. I primarily spring bear hunt here in my state on or over natural food sources, primarily spring glades which bears can be patterned in. I have harvested 3 bears in the fall while bow- hunting whitetails mainly do to stand sites that funnel pretty much every critter from elk to bears to bucks through them, but I have to admit I don't have the experience of baiting like many folks on this site have. If your looking for good bear baiting advice, you will probably do very well in the big game forum as well. Best of luck.

Shed

ash2042

Thats great recurver67. A couple of things on baiting. When using grease, molasses or any other liquid puor it onto the ground, make the ground soft. If one bear comes in he will step in that liquid and that sent will then cross many bear paths, which in turn will bring more and more bears to your bait. When you start baiting you can put out alot of bait, just to get the bears coming in, once it comes close to season just put out a small amount. The reason being you want the bears to compete for your bait. Basically, the early bear gets the bait. If you put out alot the will come after dark knowing there is plenty, if you put out a little they will come in earlier(before dark). Put your bait in something a barrel or bucket and cover it with big logs, this way coons won't eat to much of the bait and if you come back and the logs have been moved, more than likely it was a bear. These are just a few tips hope they help.

Elkcrazy8

Get a 5 gallon bucket of sardines and milk started now. It will stink to high heaven but will draw the bears in. Check your PM and I will send you a message.

recurver67

Thanks for all the tips . I'll be reading up on any info I can get. The only problem is the hunt is almost 4 months away. But that will give me time to get educated on bears.

Spot Light

I find tht baiting depends on the area. Where I hunt I only have to bait 3-4 weeks out tho develop a regular feeding routine for the bears. I know some people that have already started baiting for the fall. I find that sugar pastries (doughnuts) work well for the early summer. Try a mollasas burn with a propane torch on an old frying pan, it will smoke alot and attract the bears from a long way out. And if you have bears comming make sure that they always have food for them when they visit the stand. If you use meat and fish products, I find that the old stink pile will attract them, however, fresh meat and fish will be thier favorite and keep them comming to the bait. Also in my area a bear will travel up to 25kms (15mls) to the bait stand, so keep your baits a good distance apart for multiple bear encounters.

Good luck and let us know how you do.

Elkcrazy8

We can't bait until the season starts. One site took me 4 days to get going. And the other site got cleaned in one week. All 1000 pounds were gone.

WARedBear

Congrats on being selected for the bear hunt. I love bow hunting for a bruin. Nothing like the excitement of climbing up your bear stand to see claw marks from where they climbed up to take a peak.......talk about getting your juices flowing. I am in Washington so the rules might be differeent...we can't bait anymore but when we could.......My partner and I started baiting the July 4th weekend for a Sep 1 opening date. We would bait every week. It usually took 3-4 weeks to get hit. About the second week in August we would bait every week depending on how hard the site was getting hit. We usually would bait everyday the last two weeks. We would sit in the stand the last two or three nights to see what we had coming in. You can get a general size of a bear by measuring the pad imprint, add an inch for how he would square out. Example: clear out a good area so you can get a print, doing what was mentioned above with the grease is a good way, get a good bear foot print, measure the large pad, say 4" add 1" and the bear hide would square out to 5 feet. I have found that different areas, different bears, like different food. You can't go wrong with pastries, baked goods, pies, cakes, cookies, and pour honey or syrup over plain bread. Use those crackly cookie containers out on the trail with a few cookies in them to let you know when a bear is close.

recurver67

Thanks Waredbear,Some good ideas. The cookie wrapers will be there.