adams

I was wondering if anyone had any experience bear hunting. We defeated the anti's in Maine this fall as they tried to ban the hunting of bears over bait and I realized now may just be the best time to hunt for a bear. I'm planning to hunt with my bow over bait near camp in Hancock county Maine but would like to do it myself. I find I'll get more enjoyment setting baits traveling back and forth, hanging stands, basically the whole deal. Problem is I've never hunted bears before let alone baited for them. I'm looking for any suggestion, tips or pointer to get me started in the right direction.

Any good reading suggestions are also appreciated.

Thanks,
Adams

messenger516

I am sucessful every bowseason taking bear. Whatever you have for land, find a good spot just outside of swamp or thick cover and put some cakes, sweetfeed, grease, ect. I have scouting camera's which i use to tell me what comes around the bait station. I go to bagle shops to get old cakes and bagles, one thing they do like is fryer grease from restaurants. I would stay away from table scraps and meat cause that draws alot of coyotes and racoons. If and when you start baiting go in around the same time. they'll pattern you and most will stay away BUT then again some will wait for you to come so be careful never run, just back up slowly and wait till later. If every thing goes as planned and your in your stand when one does come out, it's an experience you'll never forget.

snowman69

well messenger is right meat will draw more yotes in, do what we do go to one of your local fast food places(mcdonalds burger king etc) ask the manager when they clean the deep friers and see if they have a problem with you taking it I didn't have any troubles getting it because he told me that all they do is leave it out back and it gets picked up.(nothing like fast food smell to bring a hungry bear is) also are local archery shop sells insense sticks for bear hunting and they stink like fish and I mean stink.

messenger516

McDonalds good idea. Breakfast places that cook alot of bacon and sausages is also good and thier more willing to give out waste fryer oil.

i shoot stuff

i hear that bear meat isnt good is this true?

BearGuy.

I shoot stuff,
Contrary to what you might hear from a few people(who of which probally have never had bear) bear meat is awsome! Just make sure that you cook it like you would cook pork. You don't want to eat rare bear meat, it could make you sick,,,,just like pork. Some of the stories about bad tasting bear I think come from what people use for bait. If you use old rotten meat scraps, and dead fish, well guess what the bear will take on a taste like. Kind like a deer from say Iowa and a deer from Texas, they will both taste different, even though they are the same animal. I bait with all sweats, here is a blend that works for me. I get a few bags of dairy ration (sweet horse feed) and a bag of oats. Mix them at about a seven to one ratio..seven scoops of dairy ration to one scoop of oats. Now get a few gallons of molasses. Put in enough so that it makes a gooey mix. I use a old cement mixer to ease the mixing, but a large bucket and a sturdy stick will work fine. And as some of the other posts have mentioned, old fryer grease. I don't mix it into my bait, instead you want to douse the ground where you want to start a bait. When you go to start a new bait, which as messenger stated, should be close to a swamp, or some kind of water and food source. Look for a good trail coming out or into the swamp and follow it. Look for sign, does the trail split up, are there rocks turned over from bears looking for food, old stumps tore apart from bears digging for bugs, bear scat, and scratch or bite marks in trees. I set my baits on the intersection of two or hopefully three or more bear trails. The really good ones will have a tree close to the intersection that has scratch marks in it. This is a marking post for the boars in the area. It marks where their territiories cross. Each boar will come by and give the tree a scratch as far up the tree as he can reach to show the other bears how tall he is and that this is his territory. The next bear comes by and says..no this is my territory and he gives the tree a sctratch or a bite mark to show how big he is and so on. Sometimes they will even end up killing the tree doing this. If you find such a spot you have hit the jackpot. I build a crib out of logs in a "V" pattern stacking them on top of each other, and place the bait mixture in the V where the logs come together. Cover the bait with a 5 gallon bucket, you will want to check your local regulations on this, some places don't let you use a bucket. Cover the bucket with heavy logs or large stones to keep the critters from getting to the bait. Now on the ground in front of the bait cover it with a few gallons of fryer greasy. Use a lot, make shure that the ground all around the bait is saturated with grease. Most of the time I will use at least 5 gallons of the smelly stuff. Not only does this trick make the bait site really smelly, but every bear that comes in to visit your bait site will get grease all over their feet, and some will roll in it. Now where ever this bear goes he leaves a scent trail right back to your bait site for other bears to follow. Wa-la' now you have multiple bears coming into your bait site. Also every time I go into bait I spray some kind of strong scent. I use a mixture of liquid smoke, anise, and maple extract. Spray this on a tree next to the bait and on the logs creating the "V" every single time you bait. This will signal to the bears that the bait has been refreshed, and when you are hunting this strong scent will act as a cover scent too. Another tip is if you think you will need to use bug spray (some people hate to wear a head net) when you are hunting, spray the same exact bug repellent on the bait bucket as you will be using to keep the pesky skeeters away. The bears will get used to this and it will not alarm them at all if you decide to spray up before you hunt, remember you will be hunting hopefully by a swamp so there will be skeeters. This will take ususlly a few days for the bears to find your bait, but once they do you got em'. Some people like to put a bunch of bait at a site thinking this is the way to keep alot of bears at your bait site. And if you can only bait them once a week or so this might be the way to go. But for the best results use only enough bait for one bear. I use about a quart or so at a time and bait it about every 3rd day until two weeks before you want to hunt. Then I bait every other day. I only use a small amount because I don't want to fill the bear up so he dosen't have to feed again for a bit, I want to keep him hungry and coming back for more. Another reason for using a small amount of bait is that the other bears will come along and smell the bait, but since another bear has made it there before him it is all gone. Now that other bear will start coming in earlier to beat the other bear to the bait. You want bears to compete for your bait. The more bears you have competing for the same bait, the earlier they will be coming in to beat the other bears to the great snack you have put out for them. So instead of having a bear come in at last light, you will have them start to come in many hours before dark. Most of my hunters take their bears around the 5:00pm range, and where I hunt it dosen't get dark till about 8:00pm. Now the next thing is how to make shure you don't harvest a bear smaller than what you want. A trick that I use is cut a log 6' long and lay it on the ground next to the bait. Now you have something to judge how long the bear at the bait is. A 6' bear is a good bear and should weigh somewhere around 225#-250# range and is a good bear to take. Don't believe most of the pictures in mags that show bears weighing over 350# and don't look much bigger that a black lab. Most of the weights I see on bears are streatched out a bit to make the hunter feel better. Most outfitters use this trick to make their averages bigger than they really are. A 250# bear is a very respectable animal. Now say a bear comes in is much longer than that 6' log right beside him, well you have a dandy there. Also I tie a ribbon or mark something in the crib "V" that is about 30" high. This will also help you determine the size along with the log. A 30"+ bear that is 6' long is a good shooter for anyone expecially a first time bear hunter.

Whew.,,,,I got kind of long winded there. And I could go on for a while yet, but this will give you a good start. Oh, also if you don't have bears finding your bait site after a few days, take a burlap bag and put some old fish scraps (I know, I said don't bait with such stuff, but this is for smell factor to help bears find your bait, not for them to eat) or some old smelly meat, old table scraps...ect. Just about anything that will smell really bad when the sun bakes it for a while will work. Tie the goodies up in the burlap bag, put it on the end of a long stick, the longer the better, and get the bag up high and hang it on a limb of a tree next to the bait. The burlap will alow the wind to blow through it and send the smell a long way through the woods. Once the bears find your bait you will not have to do this again. Just keep baiting on a regular schedule, same time of the day every time you bait. I find that baiting in the middle of the afternoon, just before you expect to be out there hunting works the best. If you bait too early in the morning sometimes you will get bears coming in to feed at the bait site before you get there to hunt.

I am sure some people will not agree with some of the things I said. Everyone has their own way of doing things, but this is what works for me. I do this as a living in Ontario, and if it didn't work I wouldn't be able to keep on doing what I love doing.

Hope you find some of this information helpfull, and good luck with your bear hunt. And congrats on defeating the Ant's. You guys and gals should be proud of that one!!

RoyalWapiti

BearGuy, your living my life, I always told my friends I want to summer in Canada and winter in Iowa. I do the wintering in Iowa, but am stuck doing the summers here too!

I'm looking for a place to hunt bears, does Minnesota offer non-resident hunting? I have two boys and for the three of us to go I can't afford a fully guided hunt.

I went on an elk hunt in New Mexico a few years back and saw more bears than elk, I always wanted to go back for bears, but am not sure I am up for the 25 hour drive to hunt bears. Minnesota, Wisconsin, would be closer, so would Ontario, but then I must hire an outfitter and get into the cost issue.

adams

Thanks alot!

You've got me started on the right foot. I'm supprised at how little is published on bear hunting. That's ok though, between what messenger and bear guy have given me I think I've got plenty to get me going.

Thanks again,
I appreciate it

snowman69

I think bear is good meat depending on what type of bear. I have had polar bear and it was horrible but the reason for that is because it has a diet of meat and only meat where a black bear is mostly vegitation. I think that the more meat they have in their diets will determine how the meat will taste more meat =bad tasting meat, mostly veg=good meat hope this makes sense

TerryM

You have some excellent advice already here. I use a combination of butcher scaps and smelly stuff to start the process. After that a 5 gallon pale of old lard/grease from a donut shop works great. They keep coming back to lick it. I always try to set up along a creek, swamp or river. I would recommend you place your tree stand around 20 yds from your bait and set it up so the bear is presenting a good shot angle. A sturdy permanent stand will allow you to reuse it year after year and not make noise when setting up and leaving at dark. As for bear meat, like anything else if you bag a huge male bear that can be 8 years old or more it won't be as nice as a smaller young one but nobody can pas up the big boys. That's why man invented sausage