Baiting for bear

[gunter]

Hello everyone.
my so decided that he wants to hunt bait for bears.
we have started a bait location and it’s been 2 weeks and no bears have showed up yet.
how long do you keep baiting at the location before they show up ?
we have bears in the area as we see them in the area during our deer hunt.
any advice would be appreciated.
We have sprayed the area with vanilla and anise also fryer oil all around the barrel.

[Gilroy]

Hello everyone.
my so decided that he wants to hunt bait for bears.
we have started a bait location and it’s been 2 weeks and no bears have showed up yet.
how long do you keep baiting at the location before they show up ?
we have bears in the area as we see them in the area during our deer hunt.
any advice would be appreciated.
We have sprayed the area with vanilla and anise also fryer oil all around the barrel.

I am a newbie bear hunter on here, only been at them for about three years and got my fist one last year.

I baited for the first time about 20th April this year and posted two cameras up there, so I will only know when I check when they hit. I am very confident they have already hit the one barrell I put out because the bears in my area know and will remember where the barrell is.

As of the late summer last year I had a sow and four cubs, I had two yearling cubs from her previous litter and I had a big resident boar hitting the bait.

So basically if they all survived there is a very good chance they will be back.

On the 20th April there was still some snow around, in some places a foot or so and it had not greened up, I believe the greening up of the grasses gets them moving as there is something to eat.

If you have neighbours that are baiting and maybe have done in the past if I was a bear I would head for the resturant I know is open. LOL

I suppose the name of the game is having them find you and your best friend is scent.

On that note make sure you put some fryer grease out in a way they a funneled into it, around the bait, so that it gets on their paws and they leave a tell tale scent to other bears to locate the bait.

Been my experience that bears, deer, moose, coyotes, will very often use the same trails, this evidence has been gathered by my from observation over the years and trail camera evidence.

From my bear last year in its stomach I found half digested whole corn, which I was not baiting with, so I know that year and a half old bear had been visiting another bear bait that was not mine.

[LowbanksArcher]

It's early. I won't be opening my baits in wmu47 until May 10th this year. In my area the bears really start to hit the baits hard in the last couple weeks of May, and it gets better and better into June. Sure some bears may be active on your bait in April but a switch seems to flip 3rd week on May.
That said, location location location. One bait can take weeks for a bear to find it and the next one in the same area may get hit on day #1.
I never put all my eggs in one basket. If you can, set up a 2nd bait site in another location. Last spring I set up a bait in a new spot, 2.5kms from my best spot. No bear ever hit that new site. I had several bears on my best spot daily, but the new spot, only a couple kms away, stayed untouched the entire time. If I was a new bear hunter and only baited that one new spot, I would've been pretty discouraged about the area as a whole.

[Species8472]

It's early. I won't be opening my baits in wmu47 until May 10th this year. In my area the bears really start to hit the baits hard in the last couple weeks of May, and it gets better and better into June. Sure some bears may be active on your bait in April but a switch seems to flip 3rd week on May.
That said, location location location. One bait can take weeks for a bear to find it and the next one in the same area may get hit on day #1.
I never put all my eggs in one basket. If you can, set up a 2nd bait site in another location. Last spring I set up a bait in a new spot, 2.5kms from my best spot. No bear ever hit that new site. I had several bears on my best spot daily, but the new spot, only a couple kms away, stayed untouched the entire time. If I was a new bear hunter and only baited that one new spot, I would've been pretty discouraged about the area as a whole.

^^This. It is too early. When the bears first emerge from hibernation their digestive systems are in a fussy state. For the first 2 to 4 weeks they subsist on new green shoots. Once the gut flora and fauna are revived they will hit your baits. I hunt 47 as well and don't start my baits until May long weekend and hunt them in June. Generally my anecdotal take for spring is the worse the bugs are the better the hunting is.

[Gilroy]

^^This. It is too early. When the bears first emerge from hibernation their digestive systems are in a fussy state. For the first 2 to 4 weeks they subsist on new green shoots. Once the gut flora and fauna are revived they will hit your baits. I hunt 47 as well and don't start my baits until May long weekend and hunt them in June. Generally my anecdotal take for spring is the worse the bugs are the better the hunting is.

Up at my spot I see a fair bit of damage to Pine trees, where bears break off the branches and rip of bark and lick the pine sap, which I was told by an old timer cleans parasites out of the intestines of the bears.

They also like to rub and bark and cover their fur in the pitch to repel ticks, I see fresh damage ever year like that.

[dean.f]

The first year we started baiting in 53 the Bears didn't come until June. The second year once it was a known site they came much earlier (early-mid May) we hunt a property that's really not ideal for bears so we draw them in from a distance and it's definitely not consistent by any means. We've almost given up on spring hunting and will bait to keep interest for a couple of weeks then mainly bait the fall and hunt. It was pretty frustrating the first year but it definitely is worth the effort to be patient. I shot my first bear last fall in the third year hunting them.

[Keithwhite1]

Sometimes it just takes a while, I've had spots sit quiet for 3–4 weeks before a bear finally showed up. Wind direction and how often you’re checking the bait can make a big difference too. If you're in an area with bears and they’re not hitting yet, I’d still give it more time before thinking about moving.

[FishHog]

agree with the others, still too early for reliable bait action. Might get some random interest, but its at least the middle of may before I see much. Unfortunately that usually coincides with the blackflies. Much prefer fall hunting from that perspective

[Gilroy]

Interesting post from last year by werner:

https://www.oodmag.com/community/sho...222-Early-bear

[C.F.]

If there’s bears around normally, they will find it eventually. Just wait it out.
We’ve got 2 baits outs out for the last 2 weeks. I wanted to wait till mid may to start but my buddy was eager.
Bait ‘A’ was dynamite last year and has currently seen no action
Bait ‘b’ has seen 3 or 4 different bears in the last 5 days. All of them at night.
Seems like a slow start this year and possibly a late spring pushing things back