Bear Baiting

[alfoldivandor]

I have some more


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[Flashman]

So maybe a dumb question, but what do you do when EVERYWHERE in the area you want to hunt seems suitable for a bait site? How do you narrow it down?

I'm going out for bear in 46 this fall. It'll be my first time after Yogi but just past my 20th year hunting in general - upland, waterfowl, deer, moose, coyote and a year in southern Africa. Past three times I've been up there camping I've seen one, and there's bear scat all over the place... tons of berry patches too. I understand the conventional wisdom is to locate close to a water and food source. Great, but up there there's a creek or lake every few hundred meters, and berries, mast crops, etc all over the place. So I'm thinking to pick a spot where they'll be canalized by the terrain and favourable for a good overwatch based on the prevailing wind. Anything else I should be thinking of?

I was going to get a license for the pooch and bring her with me, she's a bird dog so I wouldn't be using her to actually assist, just for company. How skittish are bears around dogs? Will she spook one if she's sitting quietly with me say 150m away from a bear? All the encounters I've ever had were alone, or the bear didn't notice us, so I couldn't really tell LOL.

[Greenhorn]

Funnels between two lakes is perfect place to set a bait. According to the bear hound hunter,a dog with a bell has never been killed by a bear. My dog has a 2 inch cow bell. I used her this year and that night the Bears were back at the bait, actually 15 minutes after he shot and I drove up another bear was on the bait?

[Greenhorn]

You could also hunt an active berry patch instead of bait. Find lots of fresh scat and your good to go.

[Flashman]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking; there's a long clearing with a berry patch and oaks at one end, lakes backing two sides to restrict the approaches, and a good spot to sit that'll be upwind for the prevailing Sept - Oct winds. Going up scouting this week so we'll see. How did you use your pooch?

I've never noticed game to be disturbed by gunfire either, unless it's in front of your muzzle and the one you're shooting at.
Last bear I saw ambled right in front of us ten minutes after I'd finished firing a couple of hundred rounds. It walked right by my 200 yd targets, and the last thing I was shooting was my .30-06 LOL. But we all know how tricky it'll be to put one on the table come September. The world's a funny old place.

[Greenhorn]

She goes every where with me. I use her for ducks,geese,Turkey and Bears. if I'm in a blind she sits with me,but in a stand she waits in the truck.she was trained on blood as a pup. It's really funny,I've been around all the hunting sites for over 20 years and none of the outfitters have dogs or even know about their value.

[sawbill]

Bears and dogs are mortal enemies. Unless you know your dog real well I think you'd be taking a bit of a chance on spooking her to the point where she may take off on you. Then good luck trying to find her later.

[chris lavoie]

Had a bear charge at me again yesterday. He actually walked towards me as I was filling the bucket. I got half of the bait in the container before I had to vacate the site as he slapped the ground and popped his teeth.

It was at the same bait I had the encounter at the other day.

Went and got some bear spray today.

[Greenhorn]

Nanook is quite tied after running down the logging roads and doesn't want to chase nothing,rabbits and partridge maybe 10 feet,at the bait she wants in the box with all the food. some times I give her a nice fresh steak. I make her run out too. so she enjoys being in the box clipped to a rope. on many occasions we watch young bears. I feed the bears from April to mid November. their use to us riding up baiting and me hitting the barrels and calling to them to feed.
as a pup I trained her not to bark at wild life ( lots on the farm), she does give a small whimper when she wants to chase something, but only if I give her permission most of the time it's a No.

[Flashman]

Bears and dogs are mortal enemies. Unless you know your dog real well I think you'd be taking a bit of a chance on spooking her to the point where she may take off on you. Then good luck trying to find her later.

Well, I was more asking about the sensitivity of bears to her. Appreciate the concern, but I've got a pretty good handle on my pooch's temperament and capabilities. Her recall isn't half bad either, if I do say so.

As it says in my post, we have encountered bears together, so apart from having trained her, I already know how she's going to react. What I don't know is how they'll react, as none of them realized we were there; you can read between the lines on that. My concern is her scaring them off with her presence if they scent her, not the other way around.

She goes every where with me. I use her for ducks,geese,Turkey and Bears. if I'm in a blind she sits with me,but in a stand she waits in the truck.she was trained on blood as a pup. It's really funny,I've been around all the hunting sites for over 20 years and none of the outfitters have dogs or even know about their value.

Nice. Lola is everywhere with me in the bush too. Wasn't really planning on using her for big game, but maybe I'll do a bit of blood training with her to round things out. She just doesn't like being left out of the action, and she's a pretty darn good early warning system that there's game around... she's got the world's worst poker face LOL.

Chipman, know it well... small country. Rode through there many times on my way up to the Acadian coast when I was out at Gagetown. Beautiful part of the world.