My Bear Season

Before I get started I just want to say that this is an account of how MY bear season went. Nothing more.....

Overall it was a very slow year for me. It was the first year for me using a barrel. Usually I use a three sided crib, place the bait on the ground and cover with logs. I am still on the fence about the barrel.
Anyways... I got the barrel out later than I originally wanted and that may have put me at a disadvantage right from the get go. There are other bear hunters in the area. Probably a few miles as the crow flies and I know for a fact they had their bait out a good nine days before me. Could this have drawn and kept the bears away ? I'm not sure but is a possibility I guess. I did not have a bear on my bait until the 28th of May. It was my target bear. Unfortunately, none of the few bear visits were during the day ( until after the season of course ). Last year the bears were a lot more active during the day. It was undoubtedly a slow year where I was.
I did have the opportunity to pick up a new piece of kit this year but unfortunately it was towards the end of the season. I was able to find a bear call ( made by Buck Expert ). Now a little about myself.... I love using calls. I don't know why, just do. Anyways, it was a trial by fire and I'm really impressed. Easy to use and with a little practice should be pretty valuable. What I don't like about it is that it has the capability to replicate a cub in distress call. A sow responding to a cub in distress will chase her existing cubs up a tree before investigating giving the illusion to a hunter of a sow without cubs when she comes in. For this reason I won't use a cub in distress call ( again this is just ME... not suggesting to anyone that they shouldn't use it that it is strictly MY own preference ). First day out of the box ( with literally no practice ) I had a couple of bears responding to the call ( sow in heat I think is the one I used ). They didn't show themselves but I could hear them in the bush huffing and grunting.
Anyways back to my season. It was a year of a lot of firsts for me. First year using popcorn and fryer oil. Needless to say I was less than impressed with the results. Not to say I won't try them again ( I still have a boatload of both items leftover ) in the fall. I will say that even with Covid if a person takes the time to source out bait you should be able to find all you need for free. I did have problems finding additives though. I really like the Moultrie Raspberry Doughnut liquid but only found one jug for the whole season. That Hunting Store in Richmond, Ont. really added to their inventory this year with A LOT of bait and attractants from SBBS ( they won't carry much for the fall season though ). I will say that I have the fattest raccoons now as they were well fed.
All in all I can't complain about being in the bush this spring ( aside from not seeing a single bear in person ). Seeing as I still have a tag I will be doing my first fall bear hunt and who wouldn't be excited about that.

thxs for the story

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Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers

thxs for the story

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x2... it was a good read. Best of luck in the fall

Way to go-never give up,thanx for sharing

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Originally Posted by firedeptlt

I did have problems finding additives though..

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Sounds like you made a good effort this spring. What sort of additives were you looking for? Something to flavour the popcorn? Or a call lure scent?

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Originally Posted by LowbanksArcher

Sounds like you made a good effort this spring. What sort of additives were you looking for? Something to flavour the popcorn? Or a call lure scent?

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The majority of my bait comes from a bakery in a grocery store. I get all the stuff they are going to throw out or compost. Unfortunately a lot of that is bread. Beggars can’t be choosers I know. So when I do get a box of mostly bread I like adding the Moultrie Raspberry Doughnut liquid. I could only find one jug the whole season. To that the call scents l like using from Canadian Tire were unavailable and unlisted on their website ( I really like Bloodtrail, Burn Sugar and a mixed bear scent ). I did, however, find some sow in heat scents at That Hunting Store.Attachment 41926
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That Hunting Store

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I don’t have a pic of the Burn Sugar but it is from the same company as the Bloodtrail.
The popcorn I get is from a commercial producer. It is butter flavored and a caramel popcorn.

they don't need any exotic staff or attractant , THEY NEED GOOD FOOD

I do realize that. I tried grains, deer corn, dog food kibble and honey last year and needless to say the grains went to seed without being touched.
Don’t get me wrong…. I am MORE than willing to try something else. I’m still on the fence about building an expanded metal box and using a beaver or something.

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Originally Posted by alfoldivandor

Sorry I did not mean to offend you ,
I just shared my experience with you .

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No offense taken whatsoever. I appreciate the help.
My camera is still up and the bears are hitting the leftovers HARD. It’s neat ( and frustrating) to see the different ones out there. There is a monster ( or what I consider a monster) among them. He is standing what looks to be 4-6 inches above my steel barrel.

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Originally Posted by alfoldivandor

I keep it simple


they don't need any exotic staff or attractant , THEY NEED GOOD FOOD
And wait to the bait site get hit have a camera on baiting site then sit there and shoot the bear ...

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I will agree that they need good food, the way I look at it is if it's not fit for human consumption for the most part a bear won't want it either. Rotten meat and moldy bread won't get touched. I'm big on sweets, I want to give them something special that will keep them coming back and I want it to be a big treat as well. For me that's bakery products and best of all it's all free. At one point I had two local grocery stores keeping their expired products for me and a couple of Timmies in Ottawa where the owners would "allow" me to "visit" their dumpsters on the way to work in the morning. Some days I'd get two heavy black garbage bags of day old and expired prime bait. Most of the time it was easy to tell just by feeling the bag and except for the odd coffee filter and grounds it was always real clean.

However, the may not need what your refer to as exotic or attractants, but they sure do want it over plain bait. This definitely applies to plain bread products where I will spray them with vanilla and sprinkle raspberry jello crystals on them or cheap bulk fruit crystals. Without fail they always get consumed before the plain stuff, but still after the other prime bakery sweets like cakes and pies or donuts. For some reason I've never figured out why bears don't like bagels, I would come in to bait a site and all that would be left is bagels, even when I sprayed them.

But by far I got my best chuckle when you said "then sit there and shoot the bear", I'm still laughing at that one. It's one thing getting a bear to hit your bait, that's always been the easier part of it for me around here, I'm in farm country so it's quite different from up north in pure bush. Regardless it still all starts with strong sweet scent attractants initially, just look at what all the bear bait supply places are selling now. Not a fan of stinky call baits overall, but I can see them being used initially in big northern country. I don't even need a camera to know that my bait is hit. Want to know if you have any bigger bears coming in? Hang a bait high enough that only larger bears can reach. Scat can give a good clue as well.
The real issue is getting bears to come in during legal shooting times, baits only getting hit at night is so common and often there's nothing you can do about it if it's just part of a big lad's normal travel circuit. Then sometimes the worst thing you can do is hunt the wrong wind and get busted by a shooter, that bruin may never visit that bait in daylight again but 15 minutes after you leave he'll be in there like a dirty shirt though. That's almost when you wish you didn't have a camera out there lol.

Ultimately, what I've learned through experience, and then reinforcing those beliefs by seeing how outfitters use their bait sites for clients, it's their livelihood so they have the most to gain from doing it right. Two things stand out the most to me. There may be the odd exception but it's always an evening hunt, they offer fishing during the day as part of the package. Sure there could well be bears on the bait at dawn but there's no way you could get clients on stand without busting the site big time. The other main thing is that they won't hunt a bait site when the wind is wrong. Think about it, it can apply to deer stands too.They know better. That should say lots to anyone learning to hunt bears, they have a better nose than deer.

Then of course there is always lady luck, sometimes, somehow, things just come together. Big sow strolls in an hour before dark on a bait I had only moved less than two weeks before on a small 50 acre property a guy at work owned right at the edge of a good chunk of non farm land. I had some great activity at my initial bait site on a rocky knob right along the edge of a 5 acre field, but it was all after dark. There was a short ridge that ran through some good hardwoods above that field so I moved the bait to the bottom of the ridge with my stand an easy sneak in from above. She came in out of left field and finally sat down in front of the bait with her back to me. One shot through the base of the skull and she hardly moved except to collapse. I had a car hood rigged up with a 12V winch and battery along with a 3 wheeler that Kevin had.
Cheers

The purchased scents are a good initial attractant if you want, but don't need them after they find the bait. I use dollar store vanilla myself. After they find it, just keep food at it. Although at times if there is a good source of natural food near them, it can be hard to get them to come regularly.

But I agree with the last poster, getting a bait to be hit is the easy part. Getting a shooter bear to come while your there is much harder.