bear baits

[dakids]

What bait does everyone use or have used in the past?   What worked and what didn't work?  What time did you bait during the day and how long before opening day did you start baiting?

[jkcmj]

Bear hunting off and on for the last 10 years(personally 6 bears harvested out of 8 seasons hunting, with sightings on stand every year) I have found that anything edible in their normal diet range works.  I stick with easy and bulk during August pre-bait, with lots of sent attractant around the sites.  I use just a little of the goodies I save up in this period. 

Main mix is usually done at the feed mill, 400 lbs of oats, 400 lbs of cracked corn, 150 lbs of liquid molasses, and I usually throw in the last 50 lbs of either sunflower or peanut pieces to round out a 1,000 lbs batch.  Most years it is about $150 with bagging, but sure to be higher this season with corn prices up.  I have it bagged in 50 lbs sacks and use one per bait site, topped with 10 lbs or so of donuts, table scraps, etc.  If I get lazy and don't get enough saved up, I usually buy a barrel or two from Lucky 7 on my way north to serve as the topping.  If they eat up the whole 50 lbs during the week, I will make it 100 lbs the next week.  Usually the 50 lasts unless it is a bad berry year.  I keep a hollow log at each site to stuff with goodies, like a dog treat, so they hang around awhile playing with it.

For scent attractant I use Cherry, Mulberry, or some other oil based strong smelling air freshner, then mix it in vegetable oil.  I dump this mix all over the ground, Shrubbery, etc so it is tracked far and wide.  It also makes it very easy to see where they are entering and exiting the bait site.  Out trail is usually dirty looking with oil/grease tracks after a week or so.  They also roll all over in the scented vegetation and really tear the place up in the process which looks pretty cool.

[jkcmj]

Pre-season I only bait weekends, due to 6 hour drive each way

A couple of days before season starts, I usually switch to about a half a 5 gallon bucket of mixed bait, whatever I have set aside or found, usually with something sweet like donuts, or candy, mixed with nuts, and the feed mill mix and bait daily until I'm done with my hunt.

Typically my baits go dead for a day or three when I start breaking the pattern by showing up daily, but then they turn right back on.  I only bait in the mornings, hunt from early afternoon till dark.  I have only had one bait that was hit between going out baiting in the morning and sitting at 2-3 pm in all these years, so I don't bother with morning sits anymore.

This will be my first time back in the north woods since 2008, so I am looking forward to another great season!

[beeker]

we usually bait in the mornings.. covering the area around the bait with sand.. the sand helps you determin the size of the bear or if it has cubs with it. (if you don't have a camera on it, the sand comes in handy). we've used everything from donuts to bread to dog food.. usually topped with old frier grease. top the bait log with another chunk of log with a heavy rock.. this will keep the coons out. read the regs close about what you can leave in the woods with bait on it.. we always use the logs but I think it says you can't leave buckets or something like that.. doesn't apply to me so I'm not 100% on that one..

[lentz]

my grampa uses a hollowed out stump with a part of a tree he cut ontop with a rock like beecker because theres alot of coons there

[FireRanger]

Is it legal to use carcasses or fish guts and such? Think it might be worth while to save up all that stuff over a year in the freezer then slap it out there when the time comes. I've helped bait a few times and the afformentioned bait used is pretty much what we did....who/what can resist a donut!!!???

[lentz]

i belive thats leagle

[lentz]

was looking on craigslist and found some bear bait links

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/2515938427.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/spo/2514178379.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/2506425939.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/spo/2503583405.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/spo/2499445686.html
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/spo/2474659647.html

tons more on there hope this helps you guys save some money or time

[dakids]

jkcmj, I called a mill on your recipe and they said about 200 bucks.  I don't need 1000 pounds and they don't make smaller batches.  The lady on the phone recomended horse food "sweet feed" at 9 bucks per 50 which is almost the same exact recipe and cheaper.  Thank you for your recipe but I am going the sweet feed route and stopping at lucky7 to get the frosting.  I also have a person that will give me scraps and leftovers from a pizza ranch (chicken and pizza).
Do bears like fried chicken?  hope so because I can get a lot.

[beeker]

heres is a quote from the mn dnr site..

BAIT STATIONS AND GARBAGE DUMPS
Definitions: “Bait” is any material placed for the purpose of attracting or attempting to attract
bears. A bear “bait station” is any location where bait is placed for the purpose of hunting.
Materials that are at all times attended by the hunter are not considered a bait station.
The following materials may not be used as baits for bear.
• A carcass from a mammal containing more than 25 percent of the intact carcass.
• Meat from mammals that contains bones.
• bones of mammals;
• solid waste containing bottles, cans, plastic, paper, or metal;
• materials that are not readily biodegradable; or
• any part of a swine, except cured pork.

Note: 55-gallon drums, pails, plastic garbage bags, or other containers may not be left
unattended at bait stations.

Use of drum on private land for baiting bears.
A private landowner or person authorized by the private landowner may use a drum to bait bear
on the person’s private land. The drum must be securely chained or cabled to a tree so that it
cannot be moved from the site by a bear and the drum may not include a mechanical device for
dispensing feed. The drum must be marked

[beeker]

here is the link to the regs for bear.. for 2011

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/bear/bear_regs.pdf

[glenn57]

Is it legal to use carcasses or fish guts and such? Think it might be worth while to save up all that stuff over a year in the freezer then slap it out there when the time comes. I've helped bait a few times and the afformentioned bait used is pretty much what we did....who/what can resist a donut!!!???

i believe using carcasses is not legal and i wouldnt waste my rime with fish gutz!

[Joe@deerhunters]

You can use fish and guts. I would suggest not mixing it with your bait pile it seems to kill it sot to speak!  Instead hang a fish in a sack for scent near by.  In my experience they dont seem to like rotting fish to much. Plus it attracts tons of hornets!!!!

[jkcmj]

My feed mix posted earlier varies by more than $50 from mill to mill within 1/2 hour of me.  I buy a lot of feed from the mill near me, so they are willing to give me bulk price on smaller batches, I just have to pay an extra $8.00 for bagging it.  It costs $165 this week at my mill. 

Another advantage of using horse sweet feed is they usually extrude(or cook) the soy beans into a larger textured portion of the feed which smells, and I assume tastes, better. 

Down side to sweet feed is that it rots quickly after the 1st rain like dog food will.  It will usually be boiling with maggots a couple of days after a rain due to the highly digestable proteing in the soy meal.

If I had the luxury of baiting daily, I would definetly go with the sweet feed, but being I can only get up to bait on weekends, I go with the mix I listed above, because even in very damp conditions, the worst it will do is sprout a bunch of fresh oats, which bears actually will eat!

If I have any left over, the deer, or my own farm animals eat what's left, so I don't have any waste.

[NDGUY]

I bait with alot to start about 15 gal. of bait as I am 10 hours away, Cory at Lucky7 bear bait can get most stuff for you. We use dog food/oats mixed with fryer grease,bread /dognuts, trail mix/granola,candy/licorice, apples, frosting/pie filling basically any thing thats dry, been there and done the fish,meat,poultry thing it just smells bad after a few days and i would rather sit down wind and smell sweet stuff!! after baits are hit around 2.5/5 gal eachtime and we use garden sprayers with lq. smoke in one and another with cherry,rasberry smell in it and we spray the whole site down everytime in, I always use a drag rag everytime with grease,lq. smoke,anise,beaver castor,berry smell, molassas on it. I even drag it behind the 4 wheeler down the roads etc... re-scent it and walk in and leave it at the site hung high in a tree. See pix if I can get it up??

[NDGUY]

pix came up small! sprayer to right and drag rag below it, usually find a long branch 20 ft and put the rag on the end and lean it up on a tree then next time in just lower and replace. another pix of same bait same day and next day