My Bear Season

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully your fall season is more productive.
I buy an expired 5 gallon peanut butter to add to bread and mix in a little molasses or corn syrup.

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Originally Posted by smitty55

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.

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Good info Smitty. I often hear this too about playing the wind. But don't follow it myself. I still subscribe to the thinking that the bears know you're there and they will always circle the bait and swing down wind of you eventually. If you read my latest thread from this spring's trip, same thing happened to me again. They always seem to circle around me and come in downwind.

http://tbwpodcast.com/episode-263-be...nd-strategies/
24minutes in. I don't agree with everything he says but this part always made sense to me

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Originally Posted by firedeptlt

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.

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As you figured out, hunting is a lot more than filling a tag. There’s a lot of learning and experimentation required in order to become a better hunter. Personally speaking, i probably love the journey more than the destination.

Thanks for sharing OP.
Have yet to have a bear respond to a distress call. That is a future goal to accomplish hopefully.
We also use a hanging grease drip just out of reach, over the barrel.
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Originally Posted by firedeptlt

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
cdn tire

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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.

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That's quality popcorn then. As for those scents, everyone has their own recipe and things they feel work. I say, it all works. More scent can't hurt as long as it's consistently there from day 1. I've never used store bought liquids myself. If I want to add sticky sweet liquid I will heat up 2 parts white sugar, 1 part water on the stove top. Add some jello powder or tang. Stir until the sugar dissolves and becomes a syrup. Cheap and easy. One thing I have started consistently using is anise oil in a spray bottle. But i'm not sure it really helps much. What i'm finding to matter more than any call lure, is location. We have sites where we can put out a barrel of plain popcorn with zero scents and bears are on it within a day or 2. Then other spots can have everything you can think of and still hard to get bears on.