Is bear baiting the worst kept secret?

[h20hunter]

So, was out for a hunt Monday morning and had a nice bike ride and hunt. No animals but hey, nice to be out.

Anyway, on the way home we stop for a coffee. No need to be specific....lets say between Monroe and Stevens Pass. We are in camo and the young lady asks us how the morning went and if we filled any tags. Sadly no but she says her boyfriend is out hunting bears. I of course ask where and it goes like this.......

Yeah, my bf is out this morning bear hunting.

Oh yeah, where abouts is he.

Oh, just the hill behind his house. He has a nice one coming in for the last week or two.

Nice, whats he using for bait?

He like apples, corn, and molasses. (smiles) You know, the usual stuff.

I then of course simply smile and say thanks for the coffee and go on my way.


So, the poll is obvious. No need to debate the ethics, how we wish we could bait, baiting in regards to spring hunt. I'm just curious....

Is bear baiting (wet side I suppose since that is where I'm at, but east as well) so commonplace that it is the worst kept secret?

[bknilvr00]

I'm thinking a lot more so on private land. It seems that there are so many people out and about at all times of the year that a public land bait site would get found out pretty quick.

That being said, I wish they'd allow it. So I could sit my skinny but in a tree stand vs biking my way all over hells half acre. My legs are not happy with me after three consecutive days of that.

Sent from my space modulator.

[baker5150]

Ive been wondering this myself.

I have stumbled across 2 different bait sites this year.

[pianoman9701]

I said "no". The question should be, "is poaching the worst kept secret?" Although I disagree with the ban because baiting is an effective way to keep bear populations under control, we voted it out and I disagree with poaching more. If baiting bear is OK, then baiting turkey and waterfowl is OK. Shooting an extra elk when you don't want to buy meat is OK, too.  If the guy'd told me directly that he was baiting, I'd be turning him in. People who break the law are rarely doing it for the first time and will rarely not do it again. My 

[Ripper]

I'm sure it happens way more than any of us know.

[KFhunter]

I said "no". The question should be, "is poaching the worst kept secret?" Although I disagree with the ban because baiting is an effective way to keep bear populations under control, we voted it out and I disagree with poaching more. If baiting bear is OK, then baiting turkey and waterfowl is OK. Shooting an extra elk when you don't want to buy meat is OK, too.  If the guy'd told me directly that he was baiting, I'd be turning him in. People who break the law are rarely doing it for the first time and will rarely not do it again. My 

So a guy gets a pile of apples off his neighbors tree and transports them 50 yards to his property tucked back in the brush,  sets up a stand hunts bear in his back yard.  He's not having much luck so he drops a bag of dog food on the pile of apples......success! 

Now he's going to poach 2 Elk?


Too big of an assumption to make, each crime must be done on it's own merit if LE jumped to the same conclusions as you freely make then we'd really see some hollering from you on all the cop threads..."you're a speeder, so you must be a bank robber too!!    FREEEZE!!

[JohnVH]

baiting deer and a bear comes by... could happen

[KFhunter]

baiting deer and a bear comes by... could happen

I added a bag of dog food 

[turkeyfeather]

I do think it happens more often than we think. I also don't think it can be equated to any and all other poaching.

[runamuk]

I worked as a dog food rep in a feed store in centralia for 3 years.  Bear season saw a huge increase in purchases of the lowest end dog food and cheap cob.  Every year I talked with the manager once and he said it bear hunting it always raises sales.  I would say its not even a secret bear baiting may have been banned but its similar to underage drinking seems many think you gota get caught for it to be an issue.  I have heard people in cafes discussing the baits they use for bears.  This is not at all odd.  Many areas it seems to still be the norm.

[pianoman9701]

I said "no". The question should be, "is poaching the worst kept secret?" Although I disagree with the ban because baiting is an effective way to keep bear populations under control, we voted it out and I disagree with poaching more. If baiting bear is OK, then baiting turkey and waterfowl is OK. Shooting an extra elk when you don't want to buy meat is OK, too.  If the guy'd told me directly that he was baiting, I'd be turning him in. People who break the law are rarely doing it for the first time and will rarely not do it again. My 

So a guy gets a pile of apples off his neighbors tree and transports them 50 yards to his property tucked back in the brush,  sets up a stand hunts bear in his back yard.  He's not having much luck so he drops a bag of dog food on the pile of apples......success! 

Now he's going to poach 2 Elk?


Too big of an assumption to make, each crime must be done on it's own merit if LE jumped to the same conclusions as you freely make then we'd really see some hollering from you on all the cop threads..."you're a speeder, so you must be a bank robber too!!    FREEEZE!!

My point is that anyone who can justify breaking the law once will justify it again. Ask any LE on here their opinion of whether r not someone willing to kill a bear over bait will be willing to break other game laws.

[RadSav]

baiting deer and a bear comes by... could happen

I added a bag of dog food 

We baited Fallow deer with Purina Cat Chow.  Not sure it works on blacktail, but you never know

I will not bait deer or elk during bear season because I do not want to have to make that decision.  With my luck the biggest bear I've ever seen would walk by and I'd become suicidal!  Better for me to just watch trails and call.

Back to the OP question;  I don't know about the worst kept illegal activity secret.  I'd have to think shooting less than 6 GPI would be the worst as guys always want to brag about how fast they shoot.  You can go through all the H-W pictures and conclude that a great number of bowhunters are breaking that rule.  Don't think that holds true for bear baiting.  Also, now that gas prices have gone so high I see a lot fewer baits than I use to.

I used to have a room mate who was an Oregon game LEO.  He told me that girlfriends and daughters made up for more than 50% of the leads leading to poaching and game violations.  I thought it was amusing in your story the girlfriend spilled the beans.  I'd think if you weren't going to tell your girlfriend it was illegal you shouldn't be telling her you are doing it at all

[turkeyfeather]

I disagree Pman. Many may break a law that they feel is unjust or completely wrong and never break any other law. That's no different than saying that a guy who smokes pot will automatically turn into a full blown crack addict.

[KFhunter]

I said "no". The question should be, "is poaching the worst kept secret?" Although I disagree with the ban because baiting is an effective way to keep bear populations under control, we voted it out and I disagree with poaching more. If baiting bear is OK, then baiting turkey and waterfowl is OK. Shooting an extra elk when you don't want to buy meat is OK, too.  If the guy'd told me directly that he was baiting, I'd be turning him in. People who break the law are rarely doing it for the first time and will rarely not do it again. My 

So a guy gets a pile of apples off his neighbors tree and transports them 50 yards to his property tucked back in the brush,  sets up a stand hunts bear in his back yard.  He's not having much luck so he drops a bag of dog food on the pile of apples......success! 

Now he's going to poach 2 Elk?


Too big of an assumption to make, each crime must be done on it's own merit if LE jumped to the same conclusions as you freely make then we'd really see some hollering from you on all the cop threads..."you're a speeder, so you must be a bank robber too!!    FREEEZE!!

My point is that anyone who can justify breaking the law once will justify it again. Ask any LE on here their opinion of whether r not someone willing to kill a bear over bait will be willing to break other game laws.

I actually used to agree with you,  until they introduced wolves then I changed my mind.

I think there's a lot of folks who'll poach a wolf, but wouldn't dream of breaking any other game law (and a lot who don't even hunt or fish; not sure how that fits into this debate).
So I must apply that to bear baiting.  It's a seriously sore subject to some that used to bait bear and when it was made to be illegal they then made the decision to not follow that singular law.


"If guns were made illegal, then only criminals would have guns"    I think you'd be a criminal at that point am I wrong?  Doesn't mean you'd start shooting up malls though.

[h20hunter]

I'm waiting for the pm from a member asking which stand it was at. Not to bad of odds considering how many members we have. I'd think he is not pleased with her providing the info.