Question for you bear hunters

[jonsimoneau]

I have no experience with bears. I was just wondering, for those who bait, how do you determine where to place a bait site? I imagine there is more to it than just randomly placing bait out in the woods.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Not swamps and the places many misled hunters think a bait should go. Bears don't like wet feet any more than other species. Typical travel corridors, ridges, or nearby rivers and streams is a good bet. Use stink first then just quality bait after. Once you get one bear hitting the bait it's easy to attract others.

[Bowwild]

I did two DIY bear hunts in Ontario in the 80's before you had to have an outfitter.  That doesn't make me an expert but it did both successive years' bear tags.

We scouted two-track roads off main roads. We looked for bear sign. Mostly scat. When we found fresh sign we looked for places 75-150 yards from the 2-track.  We looked for good tree stand spots considering local wind and sun for evening sits.

We then baited those sites.  We'd place baits (about 6-8) 2-3 miles from one another. We were careful to discretely mark them so others wouldn't find them.  After 1-3 days of baiting we always had 2-3 active baits and had shots of bears the first time we sat in the stands. On two, 5-day hunts we killed 5 bears.

We used old pastries in "onion bags" wired about 5 feet up a tree. Sometimes some meat scraps mixed in.

Using Sterno we would burn honey or bacon in a coffee can before each evenings sit.

[TURKEYFOOTGIRL]

On public land I've tried to find places other people were too lazy to go. Seems to work

[Broken Arrows]

Find a Summer or early to late fall food source. around here North West facing slopes with lots of wild cherries. In the spring find the first grass growing  they will be there. In those areas go off the beaten path 4 wheel roads where most humans will not be or just driving through. Finding a place where the maybe a natural travel route are great places to place baits. Our state is a no bait state so we find the food source and do a spot and stock.

[STICKBENDER98]

As said above look for the travel routes, and the out of the way places, but if you're hunting where it's legal to hunt with dogs, and you're baiting find places on topo maps "close" to roads in area where dog hunters don't like to run their dogs so you wont have a hunt inadvertently messed up.  I like to find openings in big cedars where you can see but the bears are still comfortable, not only with brush around, but if the weather is warm, it's a little cooler in those shady spots.

[huronhunter]

Most of my set ups are to find hi ground with a food source ( oaks and other mast crops ) and where they go into a large swamp area . You also need to have a water source near by ( within a 1/4 mile ). When I set bates , I start with granola and pie fillings . I also use old cooking grease .the grease will get on the Bears paws and they will track it throughout the swamp .this will bring in multiple bears the a site . Another item I use is vainenilla I pull it in a small hand held pump sprayer , ( I use a 50/50 mix of water and Vainilla and liberty broad cast it on the foliage for a scent attractant .  
Bears will be in the swamps to get away from warm tempetures and will come up out of the swamp in the late afternoon when it starts to cool down . Good luck on your adventure .

[jonsimoneau]

Interesting stuff guys.

[Herdbull]

Try to position the bait at least one or two trees between you and the bait. Or at least not the closest. When big bears or dominant bears move in, usually the closest tree to the bait is the security tree. You don't want that tree to be the tree your stand is in.

I used to dig a hole to place bait in while hunting, which would allow the bears eyes and often ears to be abstructed to the hunter. But, now I refrain from doing this because the bears tend to lean in toward the hole, but to keep balance, the bear's shoulder blades and front elbows push a little rearward and obstruct a larger portion of the vitals.

[Pheonixarcher]

This is all great info guys. I'm going on my first bear hunt this fall in the UP of Michigan. I'm stoked. Keep the tips coming.

[Ray Lyon]

Paul.  Whoever is doing your baiting should  put some bacon grease on the logs used to cover the bait (no containers allowed for baiting on public land in Michigan). The bear will leave a scent trail in the woods that will attract more bears to the site.

[Pheonixarcher]

Thanks Ray. That is one item I should start stock piling right now.

[STICKBENDER98]

Check with local restaurants to see if you can get their used fry oil also to go with the bacon grease.  I've had good luck with getting day old donuts from the local bakeries too.  I use anise oil the same way huronhunter uses vanilla, mix it up with water in a sprayer and spray all over to help cover your scent, and spray up into the trees around your bait and let the wind carry it.

[ChuckC]

Depending upon the terrain, if there are natural,, I will call them funnels, that might steer a bear.  Such as,  a creek with a beaver dam large enough to cross over, or a couple large lakes with an isthmus between them, that might "funnel" more traveling bears past your bait site, try them.  

If you can use a honey or bacon burn I would do that, at least the first time. ( in Wisconsin you cannot, however, I am pretty certain you can burn maple syrup or flavored syrup, like, with strawberry jello mixed in ).

ChuckC

[Hummer3T]

I like semi open ridges (natural corridors), place with good trees for stands, open under story for shots and going in and out with less noise (but not too open for cover and a barrier/ screen from public, I always carry my bait in for 200-400 meters (re: public and for animal feeling security)and for me I like the bait in full sun (heating-lifting smell ) and prevailing winds towards other corridors.

[Pheonixarcher]

Last year, I helped my buddy set up a couple bait sites in the same area we will be hunting this year. He echoed the sentiments about the dog hunters. Hunt closer to roads and unit boundaries as the dog hunters tend to avoid them. The powdered jello and anise scent are things he tried as well. Also had a few carp and lake trout to add to the mess. Oats mixed with molasses shoved into a hollow log seemed to work well, untill the Bears completely demolished the log! One good trick that he used was to buy 50lb bags of the cheapest dog food he could find, and cover it with the used fryer oil. When only baiting once a week, more is better. Of course when he was up there to hunt, he'd rebate every other day or so. Lots of bear activity and pictures, but unfortunately, the weather was terrible the whole first week he was up there. No rug for him last year, so this year is redemption.

[Tom Phillips]

I have found that spent FRYOLATER grease in the fall works excellent in front of bait for bear's to walk in and track around in woods helping to increase chances of other Bear's locating bait via grease scent tracked into woods by other Bear's.ALSO Bear's LOVE to dig up ground and in many instances it appears a roto-tiller was at the bait site !!!!!

[Broken Arrows]

When we could bait here I would bait once per week by bring in 8 to 10 five gallon of all of the above little treats making noise so the bears could hear me coming and move off on their own. I could only hunt weekends so the day I hunted I would bait in the morning then leave and come back in the afternoon to hunt making enough noise so the bears would leave then I would get settled into my ground blind, after about a hour the bears would start showing up thinking I had come and gone again then the show would start.

[Tim Finley]

We used to bait with meat and pastries we would use about 9000#s of meat and a heaping pickup load of sweats .A restaurant that we knew had a bacon cooker and we collected all year and got about 60 gals. of pure bacon grease I stopped using it when I found out the bears could not digest it. Some baits were started with a 55gal. drum with oats and grease and only about a 7/8 inch hole in the side, that barrel would become shiny and the ground really tore up. The best deep fryer grease was from Kentucky fried Chicken it would be just a yellow color almost like the chicken. I used to open the spout of a 5 gallon can and drive down the trails pouring a scent trail about a 1/4 mile long the greasy trail even lasted after rains.
  I had 7 baits for my family and myself but in camp we had about 60 it was a big job I don't do it anymore the fun wore off...Tim

[Barry Wensel]

There's a lot of great info listed here. I'll add a couple other things. As mentioned above, hunting land contours and structure when picking the bait site is very important. I also like there to be a slight slope above the bait because a bear feels safer looking down to a bait. I also like it to be semi-open. Thick enough so he feels secure yet open enough so he can see a dominant bear below him on the bait. I also like to take raw bacon slices and throw them up high in saplings. I prefer saplings too small for them to climb. They'll end up straddling the sapling and bulling it over with their weight/chest, walking the tree right up to the bacon strips. Another thing I like to do is to set up secondary satellite (smaller) baits in a triangle pattern with the top of the triangle being the primary bait. If you only have one bait and a big boar is with a hot sow he will often sit off to the side and let her feed her fill first. Once she's done and she starts to leave he has to make a decision to follow/leave with her or feed himself. With a smaller satellite bait set-up he can come in to feed at the same time while she's feeding without a confrontation. One other tip I want to mention, often a big sow will be mistaken for a boar. If you question if a big bear is a sow or boar look for the bite marks between the shoulder blades on the top of her back. If there are bite marks present that indicates it's almost always a sow. The bite marks are "love bites" he gives her when in the act of breeding. Best of luck Jon.  BW