Question for you guys going to Idaho for spring bears

[Elkstuffer]

For those of you that hunt over baits, how hard was it to find an area to set up your bait(s) in? What do I want to look for in a good area? I'm planning to hunt there next year if I don't draw a WA. tag and thought I would start by making a couple trips over this summer and check things out. Thanks for any help. PM's are welcome.

[BLKBEARKLR]

Elkstuffer

I baited for three years in Alaska, I looked for a water source, and I looked for an area that was on the flats by the side of a hill that had a lot of draws going up the hill side, this allowed for the aroma to get up different draws.

I dont know what you are going to use for bait, I used a lot of mollasses, maple syrup and dog food. I would sometimes go in there and cook marshmellows with jello right out of the box poured into the marshmellows and let the smell go all over the place. After I cooked it I would pour it around the bait, I would also reach as far up on a couple of trees and let it come down the trees, when the bears got on it, it would just give you an idea how big they were.

Also I do not know what you plan on baiting in I used a 55 gallon drum with a 12 inch square cut out of it, this allowed for two things, one they could not get all the bait in one meal and the second thing is when they reached in there it just opened up the entire boiler room for you to put the smack down on them.

With all that I did the bait station that I had the first year I took 3 bears in 11 days, one rifle, one bow, one 44 Mag.

Hope this helps you, need any more info PM me and I can tell you some other ticks that I used.

Joe

[boneaddict]

Being your locale versus where you want to hunt, logistically you would be better off with some sort of burn or quick scent.  Same location as described above. 

[cohoho]

Agreed, if you got time to get it established then by all means big METAL barrel and lots of bait...  Small hole, about 10-12 inches cut near the middle, chained to a tree for sure.  Know exactly how big the barrel is in relation to what a good bear on all four would compare...  Perfect reference for sizing, but the larger 70 gallon barrel will make you believe most are smaller than they actually are, but when one comes in the size of the barrel, you know you got a good one... Bear baiting, everyone thinks it is easy, B.S....  It isn't, it is really hard work to be done right.... Hunted over bait for the past ten years where we took over 22 bears off our two stands in a one bear per person per year area- never hunting more than a day or two each time........  Our secret, was there isn't one, just lots of good gooey bait.  Each station had a 70 gallon over pack barrel- Used over 1,000 of dog food, 50 gallons of fryer grease, atleast 5 gallons of honey, 5 gallons of molasses, blue berry jelly, old veggies from the whole winter prior, lots of three days old bread from the wonder factory, old birthday cakes, party snacks, and lots of chow hall left overs each year per station and a lot of car and boat trips to make it happen = lots of gas.........  Resupplied every four days, establish both sites for two years without hunting them, just getting momma to train the little ones where the barrels were located...

Setup was found through frequent bear sightings to begin with, then we went with their travel zones per say... Valleys and creek beds that were connected to extremely dark timber areas, always in dark areas for the barrels, they get quite comfortable versus coming into birch type tree areas in the day to feed..  Don't want to make them feed at night do you...

Also did a couple of things which requires way less travel and work if you can't operate a bait station as regularly as you need.... but worked pretty good in Prince Williams Sound on several occasions from the boat on day trips.....  The secret BEAR CRACK....  Which is made on site where you want to hunt, take red jello and a bag of marshmallows and burn them in a frying pan, add some vanilla extract.  It is nasty smelling, I mean really strong and will irritates every one of your senses..  Then smear this stuff around on some trees in the area that you want bring them in for the shot...  They'll lick the chrome off a bumper for this stuff..  Do this a couple days in a row and you'll have bear activity for sure..  That is if there are bears in the area to begin with...  Good luck, wish we could bait here, it is so fun.....

[cohoho]

The second part to how I was told from the guy that got me started baiting that seemed to work was before the bears will eat anything solid they chew on grass to get their plug to blow out from the previous winter of not relieving themselves, so we starting putting out the grease and they would lick it clean before eating any heavy bait.  They would never touch the bait at all, then the plug would blow and they'd be crapping all over the site consuming every thing edible...That is when we knew it was time to start sitting the stand about a week later.  We never shot a bear off the stand before May 16th, how I tracked that date was it is my son's birthday and I always tried to get him a bear on that date...  But anytime after that till the 1st week of Jun was pig heaven...  Especially when the boars are horny and looking for a mate they'll follow right to the stand without concern of scent....  I don't know the times there in Idaho, as I am speaking for the Kenai Pennisula area in Alaska.....

[rasbo]

I wish we could bait here,make it a draw like a spring bear.Cob works well with a cheap bottle of syurp mixed in with it at the site.On old hound hunter used that after he was to old to chase bears,he could pack alot of cob.he would sit and watch the bears didnt shoot them anymore..

[BLKBEARKLR]

To also add to cohoho said, the grease we always put down bears would come in and step in it. When they left on the bottom of their pads it would leave a trail right to your bait. In 3 years we had 5 different trails coming into the bait site.
Joe

[Wenatcheejay]

I wish we could bait here,make it a draw like a spring bear.Cob works well with a cheap bottle of syurp mixed in with it at the site.On old hound hunter used that after he was to old to chase bears,he could pack alot of cob.he would sit and watch the bears didnt shoot them anymore..

To many people in Washington think it is unsporting to allow you to hunt the way that you want to.

[cohoho]

Actually baiting is one of the best methods to harvest animals, you can very selective and only harvest boars and bigger bears, you got time to evaluate the animals and see if there is cubs etc...  I got a write up that was in the Anchorage paper written to support baiting when they tried to stop it up there.. That I'll post..  Everyone thinks throwing out some dog for will bring in a bear, it isn't that simple, and the numbers of harvest versus registered baiters shows it can be quite difficult to tag a bear off bait...  The last I saw was something in the ball park of 12% success.  Heck spot and stalk has got to be similar percentage for sure, except in spot and stalk folks have a dedication to the pursuit of getting a good bear, where alot of new baiters think baiting is easy and give it a go, cause they attended a bear baiting class in over the winter...  I personally love baiting.  I really do and don't care if others think it is unethical or anything like that, wish this state would revisit the ideal of doing it here, would be a blast and man the cool (dark woods) locations that this state offers as in access would be wonderful....

Question for all of you:  Would someone that is a certified Master hunter in WA, hunting over bait, be a Master Baiter?  Couldn't resist...

[rasbo]

  :chuckle:cohoho you should put the YAR under your name

[boneaddict]

I know WF70 took a few hits of the MB comment when he was slashing on sardines on the sturg trip.

[boneaddict]

Anise oil is another good one especially in the spring as well......

[Machias]

Great way to start a bait:

http://www.bearscents.com/scentball.html

[rasbo]

you guys are gonna make me move to idaho,

[1arrowfromhotstreak]

I bait in Idaho every year and get 8-10 bears into the bait.  I hunt a unit that is only a 30 day spring season.  What has worked for me is sweet feed, bacon grease, and hard boiled eggs.  I have chickens so eggs are easy and cheap.  Eggs are the best bait that I have used.  They don't spoil in the rain or snow, they leave a huge scent trail and they can only eat so many at a time.  I put 1 bottle of anise oil in a 1 gallon weed sprayer and fill with water.  Soak your bait area.  Can not stress this enough.  You can not use too much anise.  This will cover your scent.  Once you have your bait in walk half mile in every direction spraying the anise.  This will bring in the bears.  For the area, look for some timber that has at least 200 yards of cover. Here are a few pics, 1 big bear that is sill out, 1 moose who cleaned me out.

[callonetta]

Thank You all for the information, I am trying to set up a bear trip for next year!!!!!

[Elkstuffer]

1Arrow, thanks for all the awesome info. Do you peel the eggs first or leave them in the shell? Great idea with the anise oil also. Thanks again.

[1arrowfromhotstreak]

I leave them in the shell and freeze them after I hard boil them.  I make my bags 20lbs.  Just the right size to add to the bait.  I found that if you keep the bait full you will always have bears.  When it runs dry for a few days it will take sometime for them to come back.  I check  my bait every other day during the season once it gets hit.  I have run bears out of the bait in the dark and it does not seem to bother them.  With the anise oil I spray my clothes down everytime.  I use the same pants and coat the whole season.  I keep them in a garbage bag in the back of my truck.

[Todd_ID]

You'll find that it takes a lot of time and travel to get a bait going and keep it running.  I made a simple, but somewhat effective, feeder that allowed me to only have to get to the bait site once every 10-14 days.  I used a cheap feeder motor and spinner plate designed for feeding corn to whitetails like you see in Cabela's.  I mounted it to the bottom of a 55 gallon drum that would hold a ton of dry dog food.  Inside the drum I put a big sheet metal cone to keep the contraption from clogging and keep to a minimum the amount of dog food that didn't get dropped from spoiling.  The thing would turn on and spin for maybe 20 seconds every morning dropping maybe 5 or 6 cups of food.  It ran on a 6V lantern battery that would die before 40# of food was dispensed (about 10 days).  The lid of the barrel kept the food dry, and the bears loved having a new meal available every day.

I usually start the bait by bringing some dry kindling and building a small fire.  I'll throw a pound of bacon on the fire and let it burn (pulling a few out for snacking has been known to occur).  I'll use an old pan to boil maple syrup, marshmallows, jello, and anise oil over the fire.  I pour this all around after about 20 minutes.  A few drops of anise sprinkled around completes the process.  There's always a bear in close enough to be interested, and he'll generally come in after dark the first night to check it out.  A few mornings of dog food feeding, and he's hooked.  He's also creating nice trails of BBQ-Joint fryer grease through the hills to bring all the rest of the bears in the area within a week or two.  It takes a constant source of carbohydrates to keep them coming back, though.  Smells get the attention, but you've got to have food available to consistently kill them.

[mulehunter]

  I am totally EXCITED to go Idaho. I got Draw statewide. I cant wait... I  just got all papers come in mail last week.

Mulehunter 

[1arrowfromhotstreak]

Todd

What unit do you hunt in Idaho?  I am in unit 11.

[Todd_ID]

For bear, I hunt over bait at our cabin in 10.  I wish we could bait in 10A and 8A, because there are a ton of bears there, but you may as well be hunting in WA without baiting; plus, the reduced price bear tag in 10 is an incentive to hunt there.  When you factor in cost of travel, though, the reduced price tag is no bargain when keeping a site active.