Baiting Camera

[Muddydawg17]

Hey guys or gals,

I'm kinda new here.  I was a member years ago but moved away from the Northwest but am back now. I wanted to ask what is the cheapest most effective way to bait a camera for bear?  Im trying to see if there are any bruins in my area.

I thought about apples and root beer?

[millerwheeler]

Cheap bag of dog food , melt whole bag of marshmallows on it, and $ dollar maple syrup  crammed under a tree or stump.  Cabt hunt a bait site it is illegal but you can do it to take pics

[Blacktail Sniper]

Head to a feed store and grab a bag or two of wet cob (corn, oats, barley all mixed together with molasses). 

[weatherbow21]

A pile of apples usually works. Or sweet cob with used cooking oil

[Blacktail Sniper]

Also see if you can get a bucket or two of left over fryer grease from a restaurant.  Can just pour that over a stump, the smell will bring them in, then they have the wet cob to stratify their sweet tooth.

[b0bbyg]

Cheapest way is to use fallen fruit from trees that no one else wants.  Apples, pears plums I think they don't really care they all smell and pull in bears.  Bet cherries would work but hard to pick up enough. 

Is it the best? don't know its all I have ever used because its free, have also left extra zucchini and pumpkins split open. They will eat about anything I think.

Just don't get the smell of the bait on the camera or strap, they will do their best to remove it from the tree for you.

[Bango skank]

Just hang up a brand new, expensive camera.  Best bear bait there is.

[b0bbyg]

Just hang up a brand new, expensive camera.  Best bear bait there is.

lol,  I bet it would work.
Next best option is put it where you hope to hunt Elk or Deer.  Bears and other predators will be by soon.

[mburrows]

Just hang up a brand new, expensive camera.  Best bear bait there is.

This is honestly so accurate. I've lost several cameras to bears in areas where there arent many bears lol

[Muddydawg17]

Thanks everyone.  Is it true that hanging camera at least 7ft helps with the bears destroying them?

[h20hunter]

From 1st hand experience.  ...use hand sanitizer to clean your hands. Bears love it.....guaranteed beer teeth and face pics.

[Birdguy]

Wet cob has worked so well I refuse to use any corn on our property until December! They do love game cams! I have not noticed the height really matters, use a good scent away product, a bear box, and hope for the best. We had a bear climb 15ft up 2 trees 300 yards apart and chew both cameras off the trees. I told the boy he must have had bacon grease on his fingers but he swears he did not  .

[Bango skank]

Thanks everyone.  Is it true that hanging camera at least 7ft helps with the bears destroying them?

I hang most of mine 10-12 ft.  Bears still do find them.  But it seems that if they have to cling to the tree to mess with them, they generally do less damage, usually they just end up flipping them to point the wrong way.  Ive had 4 occasions where bears actually broke my cams off of my slate river mounts, or in one case managed to rip the mount out of the tree.  But as a general rule you just end up with a cam pointed wrong rather than destroyed.  I prefer this over bear boxes, because a low cam in a box is easier for a person to find and steal.  Id rather have a soak ruined by a cam being upside down than have a cam stolen.

[NOCK NOCK]

Use a box, then insert an appropriate size stick between it and the tree to achieve the proper downward angle. Takes a little more time to setup, but ive never had a cam stolen or moved out of line by a bear or human.