School me on black bears ***Update page 7: Getting better!

[NBK]

Drew my first unit A wisconsin bear tag.
I will be hunting over bait on our own land (240 acres) here in northern wisconsin.  Season opens 9/04 and I will take off that week to hunt.
My real enjoyment though is that I now have "something" to throw myself into... The preparation, education, etc. for the next seven months.
So I will start by asking the best resource I know to "take me to school on black bears"!  Any and all advice and tips.  Any good books to lay the groundwork?
I waited eight years for this tag and come mid September with or without a bear I want to know I did all I could.  
Thanks.

[Seth Stevens]

Congratulations on the tag!

Bear baiting is a tremendous amount of work but a lot of fun! Some friends and I, ran our own baits in Canada for 15+ years, with great success. In that time, we ran over twenty five different sights. Some were tremendous, some not! Wind direction seemed to play the biggest role in whether a sight worked or not. we looked for topography that would allow the wind to blow into as much cover as possible. Ridge tops were better than bowls.

Many of our best sites were in close proximity to water. Either streams or ponds.

We baited mostly with pastries and would try to get as much scent as possible in the area. The items that seemed to help the most were, cooking grease from a local restaurant and Ultimate Bear Lure. UBL is an intense cherry smell. It has a waxy consistency that doesn't wash away. We would pour it on rags and hang it as high as we could reach.

The grease is the real key. When we started using this, we went from several bears per sight to as many as a dozen. Pour puddles of it below the bait. As a bear comes in, it will track it back along it's trails. Others will find it and follow.
Also, throw some up into fir trees around the sight. It will have a wicking effect.

There is no such thing as too much scent!

Good luck!
Seth

[akdd]

It helps to get a lot of scent it the air to get them coming to your bait station. Here is a link to info and some videos.
 http://baitem907.com/bear-baiting-videos-info.html

[twitchstick]

I am not an expert and have only hunted bear once and helped bait once. Here is my two cents if it helps. First off I finding working a bait more of a marathon than hunting, it takes a lot of work/time and bait. Start finding bait sources right away. I used old bread form a bakery I could buy a truck load for $11 and some doughnuts from a friends doughnut shop. It can take a lot of bait. Bear will only eat grass the first while after they leave the den. I started baiting in areas that were on south slopping areas where the grass grows first near water. I started with a stink bait of dead fish strung in the top of the highest tree I could find close to my bait site. I poured fryer grease form a restaurant all over my bait and for 2 ft. around it. The bears pads will soak up the grease and leave a sent trail to you bait site. I did a honey burn every time I baited. All the bears I seen always approached the bait site from the same direction the wind blew the smoke from the burn. They love that smell a lot IMO. Everything I learn about baiting came for nice folks here on Tradgang so I'm sure some of the experts will chime in soon. Good luck and take some photo's for us.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Seth has some good advice!

When can you start baiting? Start as early as you can and use a variety of bait. Fall hunts can be tough as you compete with natural food sources which are far more plentiful than spring time. Use lots of bait. People that say to limit bait to increase competition are cheap and usually have heard the info elsewhere. I love when local hunters here have that attitude and wonder why they are seeing limited # of bears.

Again…go back to Seths post!

[ak213]

We have a couple of bait sites here in Wyoming and the best advice I can give is to get in touch with someone who traps beaver. Ask them if you can have the carcasses and use them for bait. I freeze the beaver and then chop it up into fist size pieces and mix it into grain or dog food. Beaver is like crack for bears! It won't hurt any if it begins to rot either. Good Luck and congrats on the tag!

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Oh yeah…hunt bears like you would deer. Try to be elusive and use the wind.

[TURKEYFOOTGIRL]

First make sure to read all the rest s to what you can bait with and how. I  Use lots of old fryer grease and sweets out west.
 I hunted that uni about ten years ago on public land. I baited 5 sites for a moonh before season and they were all hit every day. That year baiting was first. As soon as the dog season opened I never had a bad hit again. If on public get it one early! I did have a great chance on a Biggin by screwed up.  Enjoy it! Its a bit o work if you don't live there.

[Allen Wood]

Put trail cameras on your baits so you will know what size of bears are coming in and what you want to kill. I hear they like grape pop poured on corn awfully well.

[Orion]

First thing to do is read the regulations.  Animal byproducts, animal fat grease, beaver carcasses, etc. are not permitted in Wisconsin.  

Then get a good book. "Do-It-yourself Black Bear Baiting & Hunting," by Dr. Ken Nordberg is one of the best.

Good luck.

[STICKBENDER98]

Good advise above, start with checking the regs.  I have used day old donuts & pastries from the local bakery and went to the bread store and got barrels of out dated bread.  I used molasses to spread all over the bread and logs used to cover the baits with, will do the same thing as the cooking oil or bacon grease when they get it on their pads.  Go to your local feed mill or elevator and get animal grade molasses its way cheaper there.  I have also used anise oil extract mixed with water in a spray bottle to spray the brush and trees around the bait.  (it smells just like black licorace and is very strong) most trapping supply places will have it.  This has worked both times my partner and I have drawn tags in Newberry area in the U.P.  Congrats on yor tag and good luck this fall.

[frassettor]

Michael,

 I just started applying for my bear permit here in WI. I will be watching this tread closely. If I can be some assistance to you in the preparation, it would be my pleasure. Whether it be just help trim shooting lanes, help with a stand, whatever, just let me know  Besides, its always nice to get together with other Tradgangers. I will PM you with my number.

[kstout]

All good suggestions so far.  I baited here in Michigan last 2 years with granola.  There is a place here that sells it by the ton, it must come from factory waste.  I bought a box with 1160 pounds, peanut butter with chocolate chips. Here you can't use a container, on public ground, so we built log cribs.  Placed 5 gallons of granola, with bread and doughnuts.  Then poured mollassas on top.  Once the local apples started to ripen, I mashed up apples, and mixed them with mollassas and poured some on the top of each bait.  We are allowed to bait 30 days before season here, and these baits were completely cleaned out, every time we checked them.  Had pictures of 5 or 6 different bears on the baits.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Lucky 7 Bear Bait out of Mn has awesome bait and ships!

[Dan bree]

Sounds. Kind of gross but used tampons works on bucks ?  Lol.  But I know bears like jelly donuts  . Just like me  ! And the there  lighter.   Got the tip from  one of the wensels  don't want to say  which  one !

[The Ole' Bowhunter]

I consider Richard P. Smith's book Bear Hunting to be the most informative book about black bear hunting.  Also, Bernie Barringer, the Managing Editor of Bear Hunting Magazine has his book out, "The Bear Baiter's Manual which should be on every bear hunters bookshelf.  Als, but not least,get on the internet and check out Code Blue scents and Power Start Drip Bag.  Lastly, get a subscription to Bear Hunting Magazine...you'll be glad that you did.

[centaur]

Dog food, gummy bears (no pun intended), and grease are good baits; they have to eat it there; can't carry it off.

[jrchambers]

sorry in advance if I repeat some ones coments as I didn't read them all.  I have been baiting in ak for the last eight years.  the first thing I learned was the more bears you get on your bait the more other bears will find out about it.  if you have time let the firs one or two hit it for a while before you hunt hard.  
I do two thins to make this happen,  I take a grease jug and poke some holes in it and go for a hike in a clover pattern from the bait.  several hundred yards out then a couple left or right and then back to the bait.
the second step for me is to saturate the soil with grease so that when the dig or step in it they track it all over the woods leading back to the bait.
the third is hang a jug so a average bear can just reach it.  I poke a small hole each time I check the site the last just a little lower than the previous.  this way hopefully the first bear will grab and bite the jug dowsing him with stink so he can spread it anywhere he goes.
I have noticed it takes 3 to 8 visits for a bear to get used to humans being present.  they are not stupid, the probably know you are there, so every time I check the site I will leave my shirt in the stand, same goes for when I hunt,  if you are a chewer leave a dribble of fresh dip when you check or hunt, the will get used to it.  
as far as bulk bait use what ever is cheapest or the least difficult to transport.  I like fruity cereal, the Costco kind, light and cheap.  they will actualy taste fruity if you let them eat long enough.   I try to leave a lot at first then when they are frequently hitting I lessen it to about 2 gal a day and I make some noise when I bait up before sitting.
I like to hang some tin cans around the barrel and other bait areas so that they make some noise while feeding, that way other bears hear activity and I can sit and listen when sneaking to the stand.  
they will get to where they hear that then the younger ones will be less patient for dark and the older ones will give in when they hear the others eating.
after all of that rant I am not saying forget the wind as you may tag out quick in the right conditions but a close stand set to me could be worth the wait, I mean 10 yards or less, I have shot them at around 5 to 3 yards, talk about a chip shot.  
my best piece of advise is use a trail cam know what bears are hitting and when and use all the time you can as you will get to have some unreal time watching the ones you shouldn't shoot when you know what you should.

[NBK]

God I love this site.  Great input, keep em coming!

[pete p]

NKB, we've got family hunting ground in northwest wi and close friends in central wi.  the story is the same....lots of good hunters are seeing more bears than deer nowadays in your state. i think the biggest factor in your hunt will be the hound hunters...i know they rotate it yearly who goes first the dog packs or the bait sitters. i think if the bait sitters get first crack this year you wont have much of a problem. either way, you got private land. i think a great big ole bear is as smart or maybe moreso than a mature whitetail...and thats coming from a whitetail addict. good hunting and keep us posted!