Nocturnal Bears

[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.

[lazyman]

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

[Greenhorn]

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.

[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.

[skull]

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.

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.
30998D92-CA97-425E-A166-06C8FB916545.jpg

[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.

[Hardman]

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.

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

[alfoldivandor]

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 ...)

[SK33T3R]

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.

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.

[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.