Nocturnal Bears

Starting to plan my spring bear hunt and figured the earlier the better. I have only really been an active bear hunter for the last 3 years. The 25 years prior to this I would buy a tag and once in a blue moon would take a bear while out doing something else. My point is I am a relative newbie to intentionally hunting bears and have been lucky enough to fill tags the last 2 seasons and even managed to get each of my sons a bear this past season. Lately I have been brainstorming ideas on how to get those wily monster bruins that are primarily nocturnal to show up in the daylight. From what I have read the consensus seems to be that less is more. By this I mean use small amounts of bait every day or two so that there is competition to get the food before it runs out. I would love to be able to do this but unfortunately distance is a factor and I typically can only get out once every 7-10 days to freshen up the bait. As a result I have been putting out enough food to last this length of time. Cameras on my 2 baits last year had about 8 different bears on them with a decent amount of daytime activity but the monsters only came out at night.

Actually there was one exception where I think I might have the smartest small bear around visiting one of the sites. The site is water access and the shooter typically sits on the ground behind a boulder with his/her back to the lake. This one little guy (no more than 100lbs) would be on the camera every night about 2am and was always soaking wet. I interpret this as he was swimming in and coming ashore at or close to where the shooter would normally be - smart little bugger.

One idea that I have been pondering is to use a small AM/FM radio wired to a photocell and one or two IR motion detectors so that any movement in the dark would trigger the radio tuned to some annoying CBC talking head for 5 or 10 minutes. I was thinking that I would put the radio, wiring and a deep cycle battery in a PVC NEMA type weatherproof enclosure and lag it somewhere 20 feet up a tree. Thoughts on whether this is a worthwhile experiment or other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Great post Joe! Hopefully you get some solid answers or at least some ideas.
I don't think there's a bear hunter in Ontario that at some point has not suffered through this!
All the bear related posts in the last 4 or 5 years show quite a few successful hunters but very few if any were real record class bears. They're out there!
Finally a post with some depth!
Maybe I'll stop bashing the MNR for a while!
Not likely ... but there's hope! :whacked:

I think the radio thing is a good idea. I would leave the radio on all night long...from dusk to dawn... Bears may think that the only time to avoid humans at the bait site might be during daylight hours....
I for one would give it a try if the bear I wanted to target was only coming in at night.
Looking forward to reading some more of your successful bear hunts.

Yeah, hook that radio to an outdoor timer for all night noise, then off during the day, might help ya out

Based on my experience with bears and being nocturnal. In the spring, if the rut is on the big boys will be following the sows around. I find in general, the spring is far better for daytime activity. juvenile boars also hit the bait far more often in the day as well, or whenever their competition isn't around! Which may be in the middle of the day or morning.

In the Fall, the best advice I can give you is pick a spot that's as remote from human activity as possible in the thickest ugliest bear bush you can find. areas with little light penetration like cedar swamps are great. I was never able to just visit my bait sites every few days so I would fill a barrel right to the top with dog food popcorn and deer feed. Bears come in and out of the bait far more regular and comfortably in my opinion, based on trail cam picks anyways.

Bump to top.
Still waiting for someone to chime in.

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

Bump to top.
Still waiting for someone to chime in.

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Who is the someone?

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Originally Posted by fratri

Who is the someone?

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Someone would be absolutely anyone.
Species was asking for help and was hopeful that some of the bear experts out there would give him some ideas and direction on the nocturnal bear dilemma. I too am very interested in what the cure to this might be.

So come on guys, get your hands out of your pockets and start typing.

It seems lots of people have lots of 'tips'...I entered "nocturnal bear hunting" in google and got over 1million hits.

Took a quick scan thru some and found a whack of 'experts' providing a vast era of opinions...a lot of them contradictory.

I guess if you took the time to read thru a bunch of them and picked out what makes sense for your situation you have at least a place to start.

No expert here as I have only taken a few bears and have been quite happy to take the first good eater bear that shows up even though I have bigger ones coming in after dark. Like others have said I think creating more competition by limiting the amount of food put out may be the easiest trick but Like Joe I drive up on Friday aft, put 100 -150 pounds of feed out and hunt Saturday and Sunday then repeat the process the next weekend.

The entire hunting industry has ditched the flash on trail cameras in favour of IR instead due to the belief that the flash scares away game at night. But in this case, it sounds like that's exactly what you'd want.

I'm not a bear hunter yet I've talked with enough guides that I'd suggest baiting with beaver supposedly it's irrestible.

Lol, I’m a firm believer. The more food, the more bears and I believe the videos I posted here since 2013 or OTB will verify it.
I know the reason why I don’t kill bigger bears.I kill the 5-6 bear that I see and it’s usually around 6 PM.
Food for thought. Why do some bears live to 15- 20 some years? They circle the bait and know your sitting so they wait.
The bears do like beavers, lard and moose scraps.
My favourite time to hunt is in the spring during the rut.

Hey when does that new marijuana law come into affect - July I think I heard.
Maybe I might try some brownies.
A few days on those and they'll be back in the daylight for sure. :whacked::silly:

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

Hey when does that new marijuana law come into affect - July I think I heard.
Maybe I might try some brownies.
A few days on those and they'll be back in the daylight for sure. :whacked::silly:

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LOL Sk33T3R
I may have to try that too.
Some bears, they are just simply to smart.
There is no scientific method on how to bring them out early. Some of them will never moove during daylight.
I thought I knew a lot.
But this guy give me the running around, I learned quite a bit trying to kill this old bugger.
I know better for next time.
It is probably one of my oldest bear that I killed, the only way to learn is spend enough time on the treestand,
And learn from your own mistakes.
Attachment 36665

basically I'm just bumping this topic back to the top - I think it's a good one!
Skull - I think we can both agree on this.
99% of the hunters - even very, very, good hunters - don't realize how cagey a 10+ year old bear can be.
Friend of mine got a MNR ear tagged one - 22 yrs from the tag applied date. Estimate to be 3 or 4 when initially caught and relocated from North Bay.

How hard is a 4 yr old buck or an old doe? Nearly impossible for most.

Most guys are just sloppy and careless when dealing with the big ones so they lose right from the get-go.

I have my own theory on nocturnal tendencies.
IMO fancy bait recipes and additives are less important then conditioning, ambient temperatures, stable weather pattern, and distance from bedding to bait. And a carefully executed game plan.
This year we've identified why some baits routinely get legal visits and some don't. Adjustments are coming to the don'ts.

Thank god for the video trail cameras. The intel from 1,000's of videos has given us some insight on what our next move should be in this game of chess. The interaction of the bear with our baits and more importantly our bait presentation allow us the knowledge to react and change and modify. Sometimes we out think ourselves and take a few steps backward BUT the cameras correct us and get us back on path. Videos are entertaining for sure but we're entering a world of facts - not fiction or rumors passed down from folk lore. Every How-to article I have ever read always reads like all the previous ones. Fact for sure is that most of the 10+ year old bears die from old age.

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

basically I'm just bumping this topic back to the top - I think it's a good one!
Skull - I think we can both agree on this.
99% of the hunters - even very, very, good hunters - don't realize how cagey a 10+ year old bear can be.
Friend of mine got a MNR ear tagged one - 22 yrs from the tag applied date. Estimate to be 3 or 4 when initially caught and relocated from North Bay.

How hard is a 4 yr old buck or an old doe? Nearly impossible for most.

Most guys are just sloppy and careless when dealing with the big ones so they lose right from the get-go.

I have my own theory on nocturnal tendencies.
IMO fancy bait recipes and additives are less important then conditioning, ambient temperatures, stable weather pattern, and distance from bedding to bait. And a carefully executed game plan.
This year we've identified why some baits routinely get legal visits and some don't. Adjustments are coming to the don'ts.

Thank god for the video trail cameras. The intel from 1,000's of videos has given us some insight on what our next move should be in this game of chess. The interaction of the bear with our baits and more importantly our bait presentation allow us the knowledge to react and change and modify. Sometimes we out think ourselves and take a few steps backward BUT the cameras correct us and get us back on path. Videos are entertaining for sure but we're entering a world of facts - not fiction or rumors passed down from folk lore. Every How-to article I have ever read always reads like all the previous ones. Fact for sure is that most of the 10+ year old bears die from old age.

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I believe in conditioning, though you will need good stand placement and food they want. The bears will pattern you when your placing bait and when you stay. I have been using my atv to bait, shutting the bike off to walk in to bait and leaving on the bike. The camera has shown bears will approach after the bike leaves from 10 mins to waiting until dark. When going to the stand to hunt I also use the ATV, approach as baiting shut the bike off and sit on the bike and wait. After 10 mins start bike and start to leave, hide the bike and approach stand on foot from a direction you believe the bear will not use. As for nocturnal bears I will bait with atv at night ( same routine)when I think the bear is showing up according to camera.(Hoping to change his pattern) If the bear keeps showing up at night and some will, I will walk in and bust him off the bait (last resort). Busting at night has worked for some bears but also has had some bears never return. I think it depends on how threaten the bear is of you. Some are not threaten at all and will switch patterns to avoid the night bustings. I hope this helps

I will try to drill a 1.5 in holes in the logs tree trunk and fill with honey honeycomb from beekeeper ...
set up a sooting position 200 m away , have a shaded line of sight so the Bear can fill safe have a white back board
for better visual in last legal time , set up the tent and stay there for days don't make nose, will get used to your sent ,
(don't sh..... your pants ...)

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Originally Posted by LowbanksArcher

The entire hunting industry has ditched the flash on trail cameras in favour of IR instead due to the belief that the flash scares away game at night. But in this case, it sounds like that's exactly what you'd want.

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Just an FYI for guys wanting to go down the path of night time disturbances.

About 7 or 8 yrs ago we installed solar powered motion detection spotlights on 4 of our baits. A dud!
Bears got used to them real quick. Cost us quite a bit of $ to try it. If it would of worked it would have been
money well spent. The extra light did help some of our videos with exposure. I'm sure the bears appreciated the extra light too while they tried to sort out which food scraps they were eating. We never tried music! Bears adapt and learn or disregard whatever they decide. NOT what we would like them to do. They are a great animal to hunt and can be very frustrating at times. I know if I put in music I would get a bear in that would surely do a two-step or a rumba and that would drive me nuts!

I have about 10 automatic feeders that I've designed and they work great! too great! they learned real fast when it was door open - dinner time. We condensed all the bears down to a 4 hr time frame. from 4pm till 8pm ..
the sows would show up a 3.30 and stay till 8.30 and control the bait site. they would run off each other until only the snarkiest, dominate sow was left. she also ran off all the boars. that was our worse bear season we ever experienced. All 5 baits were the same. I used up almost 2 bags of dollar store glass marbles with my slingshot. I hit dozens of bears, most multiple times. knocked cubs right off some barrels.
SO be careful what you ask for sometimes.

Don't try to fool them! JUST FEED THEM. cutting back on the feed will create a little more competition. competition between them is good! competition between you and them ... you will lose!
If you live in bear country then you can play all you want because you have time.
If you're on a 1 week hunt and start playing with them - ....... your loss.

Lol, I was waiting for your report on the auto feeders. I never have sows that take over a bait. They try but a sow will only have so many fights with all the different boars before they decide to leave. Lots of food will feed lots and lots of bears.

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Originally Posted by Greenhorn

Lol, I was waiting for your report on the auto feeders. I never have sows that take over a bait. They try but a sow will only have so many fights with all the different boars before they decide to leave. Lots of food will feed lots and lots of bears.

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Very few people can compete with your set-ups. You seem to have great sources for lots of bait. You also have too much time on your hands (playing with bears every day you retired old phart :thumbup: ). In your case I guess nothing needs fixing.

I envy you in some ways BUT for myself and the vast number of bear hunters we just couldn't do what you do.

So we put on our thinking caps out of desperation.
Bait costs money. Bait also needs to be hauled long distances. This same bait needs to be stored somehow for rebaiting runs. Rebaiting runs cost even more money and TIME.
Sometimes the cash expense and time just doesn't fit in with DA WIFE or DA BOSS or DA VACATION SCHEDULE.

We need a system to maximize our returns and results with the least amount of time and expense.

So I can safely say that going down that road called bear hunting I would have to say I'm a well worn traveller. Maybe a cripple in some ways. I've seen many would be bear hunters fall by the wayside after a few seasons. How can they not like this shyte.

This is what it takes to be a bear hunter. You must like sweating and toiling. and physical work, and hot humid days, and mosquitos and black flies, and deer flies, and horse flies. The smell of well rotted call lure excites us. we wear clothes that even a rag factory wouldn't take, all covered in guts and grease. And you must be mentally prepared to have more disappointments then successes.
Anyway I guess I just described myself and you too!

Keep us posted Brent - always a good read!

Here is a thought.. Baiting the bears is simply conditioning them to come back to the same spot (ideally every day) to feed and most of us weekend warriors fill up barrels on the weekends and hunt ,drive back home and repeat next weekend. This process works well for most of us that are happy to take the younger meat bears but the older wise ones simply wait for us to leave before coming in to eat.
So I think I will try adding something really sweet like pie filling ,marshmallow goo ect ect to my corn/oat/grease and molasses mix in a small amount (5- 10 lbs) when I re-bait on the weekends. The thinking will be to condition the bears to anticipate this super treat that will get eaten the quickest after they hear/smell me refilling the bait and cause more intense competition to get there first and maybe bring in bigger bears before dark.
I am no pro and haven't been at this as long as most of you but in my mind it kinda sorta makes sense . LOL

That’s the beauty of the spring hunt. The rut is on and the boars will follow the sows all day long.

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Originally Posted by Hunter John

Here is a thought.. Baiting the bears is simply conditioning them to come back to the same spot (ideally every day) to feed and most of us weekend warriors fill up barrels on the weekends and hunt ,drive back home and repeat next weekend. This process works well for most of us that are happy to take the younger meat bears but the older wise ones simply wait for us to leave before coming in to eat.
So I think I will try adding something really sweet like pie filling ,marshmallow goo ect ect to my corn/oat/grease and molasses mix in a small amount (5- 10 lbs) when I re-bait on the weekends. The thinking will be to condition the bears to anticipate this super treat that will get eaten the quickest after they hear/smell me refilling the bait and cause more intense competition to get there first and maybe bring in bigger bears before dark.
I am no pro and haven't been at this as long as most of you but in my mind it kinda sorta makes sense . LOL

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John you're right on with the weekend warrior statement. Yes the method works great. Lots of bears and adventures for those doing it. And good eating too boot!

IMO
But here's something to think about. Bears are solitary animals. Once mama kicks them out then they're on their own till death do them part. They are not herd animals. As a bear ages and fends for himself he becomes more withdrawn and more solitary. It gets worse as he gets older and older. When a bait is placed in the woods for ALL bears to access this is not a natural occurrence. Sure a big bear will drop by but the amount of traffic and competition often sends him packing. When that 500lber found your bait he already weighed 500 lbs without any help from us. He knows how to survive and where to find natural foods. Our baits are a nice bonus but sometimes isn't worth the hassles. Where does a big mature bear go to find food and peace and quiet.
One thing that really seems to ring true is that most of the guys successful with bigger bears usually say that he was the only one on the bait or there were 2 or 3 mature bears on it (mature boars will tolerate other mature boars). As soon as the gangs and families show up then the big ones seem to either fade away or come during a slow timeslot. Prime time for bears seems to be the last 2 hours before dark. All bears like that time frame. If they're all competing for that time frame then it's no wonder Mr big comes later. Also it's cooler at that time. Go back and check out your pics. Ever notice how all the big bears are panting and gasping. They're so fat that their core/surface ratio retains heat better then a smaller, thinner bear.
anyway just my opinion on a subject that never seems to get solved on a consistent basis.

Thanks for the insight Skeeter ,it makes a lot of sense . I am happy eating the 170 -200lb bears and only see the real bigguns on camera at night although some big guys seem to like the time before sunrise. Tried a few morning hunts sneaking in an hour before sunrise and only succeeded in pushing bears off the bait including the biggest ever we had on camera and he did not come back until the next year.
I would love to watch a 300lb or bigger bear work his way into the bait as it would be like watching the 14 point buck closing the distance to the end of my arrow.

here's a little more to ponder. the "treat" idea is a good one but you need to make sure he gets a little to know what he's missing. If the lesser bears clean you out then you're really not dealing with the big guy directly.
My lofty goals are to change my presentation to eliminate all lesser bears.
to create an oasis for just mr big and maybe a friend or two of his.
boars will tolerate other boars. then the treat idea will hopefully create competition and get an early visit ...

problem with big boars is "it's all or nothing" ..... I can deal with it!

I was wondering about that set up. It’s intriguing. One thing about sweets, a lot of older bears have broken or cracked teeth. Sweets may cause them discomfort. These bears prefer pure fat with a aneise oil.
I have one spot that has a monster, not one video of him in 4 years. Drove by all the sites a few days ago. The snow is crazy high. A late spring here.

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Originally Posted by Greenhorn

I was wondering about that set up. It’s intriguing. One thing about sweets, a lot of older bears have broken or cracked teeth. Sweets may cause them discomfort. These bears prefer pure fat with a aneise oil.
I have one spot that has a monster, not one video of him in 4 years. Drove by all the sites a few days ago. The snow is crazy high. A late spring here.

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Brent you're right about the teeth. But Not all big bores have bad teeth. maybe 25%. and too much sugar will turn them off. Problem you need to figure out is which bear do you have on your bait. One of the 75% or one of the 25%???

Most hunters think there's a magic food recipe that will work wonders. Anything they try has already been tried by thousands of guys before them - yet they try! kinda like that definition of insanity.

I try to just give them calories. I do not mind a little sweet but my bait is more bulk/calories then sweet. The big ones really like just a plain old bland blend and I have a taxidermist that can do a great mount of even a gum rotten old critter!

anyways I hope I don't come across too strong. My chiming in is not to offend anyone but just to add some insight to a guy that's been huntin bears for a while, has had success, but now wants to up the ante a bit and try for a bigger specimen. They're out there! Most hunters are hoping and waiting for a mistake from the big one. Good luck! Sometimes it happens but there's 100x's more sad stories then successes. An old saying - If you're huntin deer you're not hunting bucks. and if you're huntin bucks then you're not hunting big bucks. They are all different animals. Bears are the same. So are you bear huntin, boar huntin, or monster huntin? any way you cut it - ya gotta love bear huntin!

something to watch from my files

https://vimeo.com/263250970

Holly that is some nice big bear.

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

something to watch from my files

https://vimeo.com/263250970

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