Bear barrel holes - SQUARE or RECTANGULAR holes - ONLY!

This is just a public service message to all you new and not so new bear hunters.
Yes it's from one us old buggers that don't know nothing.

This is an FYI if you're making round access holes in your barrels. DON'T!

It's just a matter of time before the hole size and head size match and you've got a bear caught by the head.

I have seen this twice. Once, up by Parry Sound, While checking baits we had one hung up. The bear was shot since it was big, totally out of control, and was tossing the barrel around pretty good. Release was not an option. Another time by North Bay my good friend lost a barrel and thought someone stole it. He looked all over. That fall the deer hunters found the dead bear in a swamp with his head stuck in the barrel. I'm sure it happens more then we know.

I would really like to see the MNR here in Ontario actually make it illegal to use a round hole in a barrel.

I'm not a fan of regulations .. but .. this is one I could live with!

When a bear is hung up in a barrel it does not make us bear hunters look very good to the non hunting public! There is an anti-baiting crowd out there and we surely don't need something like this.

A rectangular or square hole will always allow the bear to cant his head and get out.

If you have a choice choose rectangular. It allows the most clearance.

If you need more convincing watch these.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H66_Wz49Yuk
or this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyFTQRXgrvo
or this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeQWoctTF5I
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-eKcx_IY8s
for a good laugh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csipCXuF47Q

Kinda like a skunk with its head stuck in a jar........makes sense!

Good post Sk33t3r. I made my shaker barrel with a 3" square hole. They have to roll it for the bait to fall out.
At first I couldn't believe how small those cubs were for that late in the fall as it was posted Dec.1. Then I realized it was actually spring as I saw a light green haze on some of the trees.

Cheers

Good info..........thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smitty55

Good post Sk33t3r. I made my shaker barrel with a 3" square hole. They have to roll it for the bait to fall out.
At first I couldn't believe how small those cubs were for that late in the fall as it was posted Dec.1. Then I realized it was actually spring as I saw a light green haze on some of the trees.

Cheers

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Smitty you should try even smaller .... at least at one site to convince yourself. .... 3x3 will still let cubs plunge in up to the armpit! and those little pests will clean you out fast. Why feed non-target animals? They only get to eat when/if mama rolls the barrel. hopefully the sow is small and the barrel is heavy to further discourage her too! Even free bait costs something so why give it away?

2x2 is my pastry setting ( 1-1/2 X 1-1/2 for dog food/grains) after 30+yrs of experimenting. couple of rocks and all good. full bagels buns etc ... one barrel one week all gone ... they'll spend more time there and make more noise and bring in more bears. The reason why the barrel is empty after one week is because of the number of bears working that barrel almost constantly. Isn't that what we're trying to accomplish?
And NO bears caught by the head.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

Smitty you should try even smaller .... at least at one site to convince yourself. .... 3x3 will still let cubs plunge in up to the armpit! and those little pests will clean you out fast. Why feed non-target animals? They only get to eat when/if mama rolls the barrel. hopefully the sow is small and the barrel is heavy to further discourage her too! Even free bait costs something so why give it away?

2x2 is my pastry setting ( 1-1/2 X 1-1/2 for dog food/grains) after 30+yrs of experimenting. couple of rocks and all good. full bagels buns etc ... one barrel one week all gone ... they'll spend more time there and make more noise and bring in more bears. The reason why the barrel is empty after one week is because of the number of bears working that barrel almost constantly. Isn't that what we're trying to accomplish?
And NO bears caught by the head.

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Good info man! This year we will be setting up shaker barrels along with the regular bait barrels. need to keep tem coming back for more.... :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

Good info man! This year we will be setting up shaker barrels along with the regular bait barrels. need to keep tem coming back for more.... :)

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You guys need to work on your bear terminology. What you meant to say is roller barrels. These barrels are designed to ROLL over when bears push or pull. (they pull more they they push).
A true shaker barrel is designed to be attached to a tree in the upright position with a few small holes at the very bottom edge. Two sets of chains - one high and one low. The chains are adjusted to allow about 4 to 6 inches of play. The bear comes in and violently shakes the barrel to get some food to dribble out the hole/holes at the bottom edge. This design needs to be very strong. Plastic just doesn't work. A BIG bear, frustrated will try to rip it off the tree entirely. Too bad I never took pictures back when we employed this design. One site had a big bear. We had the blue plastic industrial barrel there. He tore it off the tree. split the barrel right in half. Unfriggingbelievable ! We replaced it with another plastic barrel. 2 weeks later destroyed again.

The nice thing about roller barrels is the bear can never really get any leverage on it because it's free to move.
Some of my roller barrels are 15yrs old and still pristeen.

Barrels are also invaluable to correctly size a bear .. they're 33" tall and the compression rings are 11" apart. A barrel on it's side is 22" high. If the bear fits into the barrel he's probably under 250lbs. Some hunting shows show tiny bears next to the barrel but great recovery pictures with their 300lbs bears. REALLY??

Anyway pm me if you need any more info on my failures.

https://imgur.com/60ACElS

Thanks old man!!! ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SK33T3R

You guys need to work on your bear terminology. What you meant to say is roller barrels. These barrels are designed to ROLL over when bears push or pull. (they pull more they they push).
A true shaker barrel is designed to be attached to a tree in the upright position with a few small holes at the very bottom edge. Two sets of chains - one high and one low. The chains are adjusted to allow about 4 to 6 inches of play. The bear comes in and violently shakes the barrel to get some food to dribble out the hole/holes at the bottom edge. This design needs to be very strong. Plastic just doesn't work. A BIG bear, frustrated will try to rip it off the tree entirely. Too bad I never took pictures back when we employed this design. One site had a big bear. We had the blue plastic industrial barrel there. He tore it off the tree. split the barrel right in half. Unfriggingbelievable ! We replaced it with another plastic barrel. 2 weeks later destroyed again.

The nice thing about roller barrels is the bear can never really get any leverage on it because it's free to move.
Some of my roller barrels are 15yrs old and still pristeen.

Barrels are also invaluable to correctly size a bear .. they're 33" tall and the compression rings are 11" apart. A barrel on it's side is 22" high. If the bear fits into the barrel he's probably under 250lbs. Some hunting shows show tiny bears next to the barrel but great recovery pictures with their 300lbs bears. REALLY??

Anyway pm me if you need any more info on my failures.

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Ahem Ahem Sk33t3r :) I totally got the plans for my "shaker barrel" from you maybe 7 or 8 years back. That's what you called it. I think it may have been bears east but I'm not sure now. It seems to have become the more common term over time. I'm real sure you've often called them shaker barrels too, even in one the thread title maybe? So that's where I get my term from, you. ;) Brent calls them shakers too. Anyway, I'm just yanking your chain a bit hehe.
But actually I do tend to call mine a roller barrel sometimes, cause like you said, that's what they do. I think it works great for having a supply of bait available over a longer period of time. I only tried rocks inside the first year but they were scraping off the inner protective coating on the barrel. Besides I pretty well stick to dog food, corn and popcorn for the bulk so it doesn't need to be broken up.

So on the topic of barrels, here's some vids I found from a few years back. You can plainly see the size hole I used. I should have had the hole up 5" higher for more capacity..I used big body panel washers on the inside. It lasts real long in conjunction with a smaller barrel strapped to a tree with bakery stuff. I always have the barrel upright at first with some treats on the top. Plus it's easy to tell if it's been hit from a distance if it's knocked down.
Anyway this is how big the triplets are by Oct 5. They sure did a lot of growing in the 6 weeks since they first showed up. At first mom got all the best treats off the top before she would knock it over for the kids. A few days later the cubs were rolling the barrel without mom. Lots of fun to watch, but not good for hunting. Enjoy

https://vimeo.com/265673735
https://vimeo.com/265676422
https://vimeo.com/265676764
https://vimeo.com/265677075

Cheers

no way smitty! I have NEVER mixed the two terms up. The original shaker barrel description and function were posted by a husband and wife team from Manitoba. They also guide out there. They used a term BIG BOSS BAIT (B.B.B.). They would install multiple SHAKER barrels to a location. They had a 2" pipe nipple welded on to the barrel as low as possible. Then they screwed the pipe nipple cover on. They filled the barrels to the top with grain. Then they poured in as much grease as the barrel could take. The grain would absorb the grease. When it stabilized they would unscrew the cap. Only a truly large BIG BEAR would have the strength to shake the barrel. At night the grease would cool and solidify - especially in the spring. During the day some grease would ooze out and of course some grain when MR BIG shook the shyte out of it. Early morning the grease and grain just didn't come out due to the cooling solidification. As the sun warmed up and melted some of the outer layers of grain/grease - late afternoon -that was the easiest time to get results from shaking. They're theory was that this prime time to get the easiest grain out per shake would also condition the bear to come during their hunting timeframe.
They would set this bait up 3 or 4 weeks before they would even attempt to hunt it. They only checked occasionally and never touched anything. This system required a lot of time to first - get a big bear on it - and let him train himself through trial and error to visit during the late afternoon .
SO THERE! I'm right .. you're wrong ... :-)

Stay in touch my friend!

Smitty BINGO
I found some old documentation from my extensive bear library.

This from the Manitoba couple:

One of my favorite topics to discuss is "Steel Drums Or Plastic" because there are SO MANY VARIABLES, there is really no right or wrong way to go and I'll elaborate on it.

When it comes to Baiting Bears at a B.S. the only thing really determining HOW you bait, is the Province or State you live in and the regulations that they have set. We are very lucky not to have too many restrictions on that, but some of you are not so lucky. As some of you may not even be allowed to use ANY CONTAINERS or LIMITED AMOUNTS of bait. This will affect the way you are going to bait and hunt your set up, as well as the distance to have to travel to your B.S. and the equipment that you are allowed to use to get to your B.S.

Now for those lucky enough to be able to use containers or drums the next question you have to ask yourself is "What Type Of Bear" am I looking for and "What Type Of Baiting" do I want to do. I just know some of you right now are asking yourself just what am I saying…..LOL...Bear With Me Please…..LOL. In the world of bear hunting and baiting we can break it down into three classes of setting up a B.S.

#1 / General Bear Baiting & Hunting
#2 / Shooter Bears
#3 / B.B.B. [Big Boss Bears]

…Each one on these is done a little bit different from each other, and is more of a personal preference to How you wish to hunt as well as What you want to shoot.

General Bait Site
…..This is a Bait Site. for those you just want to shoot a bear and really don't care on what type or color it is, as this might be their 1st bear as well and this is still all new and a learning curve for the future. You might bait it once a day, once every couple of days or on weekends. You can use any type of container and any type of hole or holes in it you like As long as you have scouted the area that you are setting up in, for signs of bears being there you should have bears on that Bait Site. New Bait Site's can take as little as a few days or a week or two to get hit depending on the weather and the amount of scent you have in the air for an attractant. This is a pretty much anything goes type of Bait Site and will work mostly on small to medium size bears. Not to say a BIG ONE wouldn't ever walk in as you just never know some night what lady luck can bring your way.

Shooter Bears
…Now we are starting to get a little more technical on the HOW & WHERE in the set up. As now the goal is for those bigger bears that run in the 6 foot / 300lb class and have some weight to them. So the drums we set up are going to be different, but the choice is still yours with steel or plastic. We need to make smaller holes in the drums now normally we make one hole 6" long by 3" high right up near the top. We are going to need at least two to three drums and maybe even four. Filling these drums is going to be a once a week thing, and keeping a record of the time and day that you bait it is very important. Always bait that spot on the same day and at the same time, because the bears are going to hear you and we want them to. They normally don't go far from the Bait Site and sleep. During the day they will come and go regularly to your Bait Site.



They will identify your odor and the time that you seem to be there, and that's exactly what we want them to do. Because the hole is so high up the smaller bears will have to knock it over and will only be able to reach in 1/3 of the way. So be sure to put the drums real close together and have a short chain on them. This of course will have those smaller bears watching out for the bigger bears coming in that will chase them off. So they spend a lot of time in the trees for safety or running around at the sound of a squirrel. They will show up real early at your Bait Site and be very nervous and be constantly looking around and pick up what's on the ground. This is also a tattle tale sign that you have multiple bears and good size ones on your Bait Site.

Big Boss Bears
…There are probably a few of you that have never even heard of this or this method of hunting them. This is the MOST DEADLY way to bag BIGGINS, I'm talking 7 FOOTERS & UP! This is also the easiest way to bait that Bait Site and maintain it. I'll bet you it's the BEST KEEP SECRET AROUND to boot. SHAKER BARRELS… You "MUST" use steel drums on these bears or they will trash your Plastic Drums, Trust Me on this one. The Bait Site will consist of AT LEAST 4 to 5 drums, these drums will need to have a 1 ½" to 2" Coupling Half welded right near the bottom on the side of the drum. As well as these drums must have BOLT ON HOOPS on the lids. The coupling half will have to have a drain plug screwed into it at the time of baiting. These drums must be chained as tight as you can get them so they DO NOT MOVE. The bait you will need is going to be either Cracked Corn or Oats and then topped up with as much Fryer Grease as you can get into the drum. It will take a while to settle so do one and keep going and work your way back to the 1st one. Once your bait has sucked up the entire fryer grease that it can handle you can remove the drain plug from the coupling half. You need to fill those barrels right as the snow begins to melt yet still has cold enough temperatures at night to keep it somewhat frozen and melts a bit during the day. Now you DO NOT go back there for at least 5 or 6 weeks, those Monster Bears will have NOT HEARD, SEEN, SMELT or DETECTED anything to do with you. Only those Monster Bears will be able Shake the bait out, and only a little bit at a time will come out. The smaller bears are not able to move it enough to get anything, and the Monster Bears leave NOTHING for them. You need to go into these bait sites ONLY when everything is perfect, as the wind direction and scent control ARE A MUST. The 1st time you sit is normally when you see them, if not the next night and it's over. When these Bears show up they OWN that Bait Site. Other than the wind they COME STRAIGHT IN, No Fooling Around with these guys. It's right to the Bait.

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In a nut shell the Big Boss Bear Bait Sites are Absolutely No Fun, but are Deadly 4 BIG, BIG BEARS and not a lot of work to set up as it's only a one day thing. The other two allow you to see what's going on a regular basis from week to week and enjoy the fun of Baiting Bears. I like the fact that we run 25 Shooter Bear Bait Site's and only 4 Big Boss Bear Bait Site's. After all everyone likes to carry bait in and see what's going on at their Bait Site and what KAOS the Bears have done from week to week. No Matter what way you decide on hunting Black Bear and what type of bait you use. You pick the way that works for you and your area and have A BLAST DOING IT. I've just given you in insight to how we do it and it's worked for us over 30 Years.

That experience and knowledge is GOLD. Has been and always will B!
I love it, gets me jacked 4 the season! Thank U 4 sharing it with us!

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Now this bear knows how to shake a barrel lol.
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps8710c585.jpg

Cheers

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