Has Spring Bear ruined bear season?

[Species8472]

I didn't get a bear either this spring. But I am at the stage where I just enjoy being in the woods and if I happen to get a bear great but if not, I won't let it ruin my season and will be back at it next spring...

Did Normous connect?

[MihajloSimsic]

Something doesn't add up to me. Sat a grand total of 2 hours this spring and saw 3 bears and shot one. Talked to a buddy down the road and he saw 8 different bears his first sit and shot one. Seems like my part of 47 (Nipissing Township) is rife with bears.

This season I didn't get a chance to sit because of the fact no baits were hit in 3 different zones. We didn't hunt 47 or 49 (our original productive sites) because the last two years nothing touched those baits within the whole year, they went through two winters without so much as a racoon touching it. Last fall I got a chance to sit because we got a few hits but it was a moot effort because they weren't coming into the bait more than once a every week or two.

[Species8472]

This season I didn't get a chance to sit because of the fact no baits were hit in 3 different zones. We didn't hunt 47 or 49 (our original productive sites) because the last two years nothing touched those baits within the whole year, they went through two winters without so much as a racoon touching it. Last fall I got a chance to sit because we got a few hits but it was a moot effort because they weren't coming into the bait more than once a every week or two.

Well i wish you the best of luck and don't give up! They are out there. Bear hunting is my favourite especially on the ground up close and personal without a blind. Wouldn't trade it for anything. Having a bear at 6 feet twice in 2 hours this year can still get my old and jaded heart pumping.

I now you said you are using fish scraps on baits - i have never heard of anyone having luck with fish based baits in Ontario. I just use whole corn and a touch of molasses with a tiny amount of candy added to the mix. I can make 300 lbs of bait for about $50 and always seems to work.

[Fenelon]

I strongly agree with Species regarding the bait you’re using, regardless of your past experience with fish. I know a lot of successful bear hunters and they all say fish bring really poor results. I live at the wmu 75/60 boundary and the bear density is very high. Being that I trap and fish, I throw a lot of deadstock into the back bush on our 160acres. The only things that will clean up fish are the coons, fisher, fox/coyote, and vultures/ravens. My place is filthy with bear and they will not touch fish. They go ballistic as soon as I start dumping beaver carcasses. I can dump ten beaver and they are gone in less than three days. Game camera will show at least seven different bear coming in to look for more beaver and they sniff and leave the fish. I’d advise finding yourself a local trapper, or switch to meat scraps from a local butcher. Hunt north 75/ bottom end of 60. Filthy with boo-boos!

[Fenelon]

Find a trapper who does nuisance beaver trapping for the municipality/township. They will have large numbers of beaver available during the late April to early June period when spring dispersal is at its peak. Get yourself a $200 old chest freezer from Kijji and use it for the bear hunt to freeze your carcasses.

[MihajloSimsic]

Find a trapper who does nuisance beaver trapping for the municipality/township. They will have large numbers of beaver available during the late April to early June period when spring dispersal is at its peak. Get yourself a $200 old chest freezer from Kijji and use it for the bear hunt to freeze your carcasses.

I'm sure beaver carcasses work great and you have given some sound advice. But after close to 20 years of bear hunting me and my dad have never seen a bear refuse fish scraps. I feel people aren't using the right fish. They'll take bass and pike scraps in a heart beat, they'll also take walleye but not as much. I also notice they wont touch white bass specifically for some reason. Several times I had baits that didn't get hit until I put fish scraps, plus I know sardines are a very common bait that I also found works well. Also on many of these baits I didn't put fish scraps so I know it isn't the fish that's causing the lack of hits, even on baits where they didn't touch white bass they cleant everything else up. Plus I don't have any more space for another freezer unfortunately LOL.

[newbiehunter]

I'm sure beaver carcasses work great and you have given some sound advice. But after close to 20 years of bear hunting me and my dad have never seen a bear refuse fish scraps. I feel people aren't using the right fish. They'll take bass and pike scraps in a heart beat, they'll also take walleye but not as much. I also notice they wont touch white bass specifically for some reason. Several times I had baits that didn't get hit until I put fish scraps, plus I know sardines are a very common bait that I also found works well. Also on many of these baits I didn't put fish scraps so I know it isn't the fish that's causing the lack of hits, even on baits where they didn't touch white bass they cleant everything else up. Plus I don't have any more space for another freezer unfortunately LOL.

This year seems to be "dry" side in general. Must be the early heat and temps jumping up and down for 2 month. We hunt 26/27 and noticed a lot of oddities this spring season. Had to spread the bait sites across a long stretch of road..

How many sites are you baiting? What is distance being covered by baits?
Could the bear have migrated a bit away due to early wake up ?



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[Fenelon]

I'm sure beaver carcasses work great and you have given some sound advice. But after close to 20 years of bear hunting me and my dad have never seen a bear refuse fish scraps. I feel people aren't using the right fish. They'll take bass and pike scraps in a heart beat, they'll also take walleye but not as much. I also notice they wont touch white bass specifically for some reason. Several times I had baits that didn't get hit until I put fish scraps, plus I know sardines are a very common bait that I also found works well. Also on many of these baits I didn't put fish scraps so I know it isn't the fish that's causing the lack of hits, even on baits where they didn't touch white bass they cleant everything else up. Plus I don't have any more space for another freezer unfortunately LOL.

Amazing that your fish bait results are so different from mine. Before I retired I used to work as a F+W Tech who would conduct annual index netting projects on the Kawartha Lakes. I used to sometimes bring home 115 liter plastic gill net tubs full of fish carcasses that had been field processed. Sometimes as many as five tubs (close to 500 lbs of fish). Bluegill, Pumpkinseed, LMB, SMB, Walleye, White Sucker, Black Crappie, Yellow Perch, Carp, and the odd Muskellunge. Bears wouldn't touch the stuff. You'd get the odd bear on the game cam pawing through the piles and eating the gravid ovaries out of some of the female fish but that was it. If I dumped a dozen beaver carcasses out beside the fish, the bear would have them gone in 2-3 days. Bears will go psycho for beaver carcasses and muskrat , and they really strip the rump tallow fat off the fall coons. For some reason they don't seem to like the taste of the meat on the coon and they won't touch otter, fisher, coyote, or fox carcasses as a rule. I home butcher two deer every November and the scraps from these are quickly hit by the bears before they go for the big sleep. A friend tried baiting with Lake Ontario salmon (chinooks up to 30lbs). Same deal - little interest from the bears. Maybe our Fenelon - Burnt River-Kinmount bears are "goormet" connoisseurs !

[Sam Menard]

I’ll say it again, BEARS LOVE DEER CHOW!

[FishHog]

I'm sure beaver carcasses work great and you have given some sound advice. But after close to 20 years of bear hunting me and my dad have never seen a bear refuse fish scraps. I feel people aren't using the right fish. They'll take bass and pike scraps in a heart beat, they'll also take walleye but not as much. I also notice they wont touch white bass specifically for some reason. Several times I had baits that didn't get hit until I put fish scraps, plus I know sardines are a very common bait that I also found works well. Also on many of these baits I didn't put fish scraps so I know it isn't the fish that's causing the lack of hits, even on baits where they didn't touch white bass they cleant everything else up. Plus I don't have any more space for another freezer unfortunately LOL.

I'll agree with the others that fish isn't the way to go.
Maybe for some reason it used to work for you, but clearly it isn't any longer.
If your old ways aren't working, you can keep trying the same with the same results you have been seeing, or mix it up and try something new.
Up to you, but there seems to be lots of people seeing lots of bears, lots of people saying they don't have success with your methods.

Seems like an easy solution to me to stop using your old methods and try something new.
Perhaps its just the way I'm reading you're replies here, but you seem stuck in your ways and defensive about them. But at the same time not having any success. I'd say what do you have to lose by completely mixing it up and trying something completely different?