How far away from bait site ?

[jrebel]

No way....No how....would I kill a bear anywhere near a bait site I knew had molasses and corn!!!     

Ask yourself this...Is loosing your hunting privileges worth killing a bear.  There is a reason this topic is black and white while still being very much grey.....it is so the WDFW can use their discretion based on circumstances.  You have admitted publicly you have bear hitting a bait site and now you want to hunt said bear.      Stay away and change your bait.    

[Jonathan_S]

Switch to alfalfa   

Don't risk it.

they eat that too ( though its not nearly the attraction that the sweet stuff is )

Will they sit on it and eat until they're full?  Then sleep for five hours and eat more?

Or do they browse and move along?

[bullfisher]

Quit baiting for a couple weeks. Bears have a larger home range than deer and will leave. Contrary to some statements, the deer will not leave because of bears. Also, bears are seeking sugar and fat and your molases is the icing on the cake. A good grain and oats mix for horses should do the trick.

[deaner]

ive only had them munch for a minute then move on, but ive talked to other people who say theyve had pictures of the bears sleeping in their alfalfa piles.  but in general its not a big draw to them

[deaner]

Quit baiting for a couple weeks. Bears have a larger home range than deer and will leave. Contrary to some statements, the deer will not leave because of bears. Also, bears are seeking sugar and fat and your molases is the icing on the cake. A good grain and oats mix for horses should do the trick.

ive had certain sites turn into bear parties with 12+ bears visiting.  when that happens, the number of deer visits drops dramatically.  only get a few young yearling deer coming in, acting very paranoid the whole time.  the older deer are smart enough to go eat where theres not a thick layer of bear scent i think.

[Jmv232]

Here is one,

[Jmv232]

Actually two different bears,  ill go and switch to alfalfa and give that a try and see how that works out for me. For the record yes I do have a bear tag, and no I would not shoot a bear over my baited spot I know better than that. That is why I started this topic to see if there was a distance where I could so that I can see if I can track them out of my area.  If I can keep them away and my deer in than that would be perfect.

[h2ofowlr]

Whatever the zone of influence is, it would be considered baiting.  That is up to the leo.  It's been a common thing this years with several guys posting to much info on the web in regards to how and where the harvested their bears.  There may have been tickets handed out, if not they may need to change a few rules in order to keep individuals out of the grey area.  Their is no good reason that they shouldn't allow baiting for bears, but your large city folks don't seem to recon with common sense.  The DFW should just overturn that rule and allow it.  It would allow for better harvest selection for bear hunters.  The stations would draw the bears to those locations vs. neighborhoods, dumps and other locations.    

[Jmv232]

Ok so the main thing I get from this is to leave these bears alone.  Stay on my original plan and head way north. Switch to alfalfa and get rid of the sweets. See if that helps my case any. The last thing I want to do is push away my bucks.

[Jonathan_S]

Assuming you can hunt this unit late season, maybe just let things cool off until late October-ish after modern and then put alfalfa out.  Does will eat the alfalfa and when they're in estrous, it will be good to pull the bucks to snoop around.

[Machias]

When I asked about distance I was told from the game Warden, there is no distance, it's all about were or are the bears influenced.  I would switch and see if the bears loose interest and the deer come back.  Good luck!!

[huntnnw]

I would think no matter how far away in the general area if the bear you harvest has corn with molasses in it's belly you may be in trouble

Then about half the bear harvest or more would be in question...there are thousands of bait sites going in NE WA

[huntnnw]

yeah, what you have is no longer a deer baiting site.  what youre doing now is baiting bears.  just stop.  dont try to hunt those bears period and quit putting the bait out.  the bears are gonna completely run the deer out so the bait is now useless as the only thing its doing is making it so you cant shoot the local bears

not in my exp... I have 5 bears up in ferry with all the deer and moose still coming in. This happens at any bait spot I do

[huntnnw]

Id like to see a ticket written to someone set up 100 yards away from a deer bait.  The gamey better have seen said hunter dump that feed at the deer bait or he has nothing..he will be going on assumption! and that is not held up in court.

[Bullets_n_Octane]

I wouldn't bait Bears with anything that they would WANT to eat, not in this State, with their goofy ass rules and regs.

Baiting bears should just be legal again... save everyone the trouble of dealing with all the drama that has arisen since it was banned. States with less than 1/4 the population that WA has, allow baiting. IMHO, it should JUST be bait, no drums, buckets, garbage, chains etc. etc. That is what should be illegal, is the method of baiting, not the act itself.