Mineral sites and bears

[85yota]

There actually is a fine line I believe,  there are circumstances where u aren't actually baiting the bear in. What if someone puts out only " doe in heat " , would that be illegal to shoot a bear if it came in ?  I hunt a steep ridge flat spot about the size of a football field. The main trail is on the backside of the flat spot / bottom of the next steep rise. I sit on the main trail , my salt and camera are in the middle of the flat about 50 yards away. I also have a camera on the trail , the bears never leave the trail ever . If I have a bear come down the trail I'm shooting an arrow , confident the salt had nothing to do with it.

Yes that is considered baiting. Shooting a bear that close to any attractant is considered baiting. Now what are the odds of you getting caught or seeing serious consequences? Very very low I would say.

Is there a neccessary required distance from a deer bait sight to be able to hunt bears? It's a massive grey area, if your baiting deer with apples and walking in you shoot a bear, how's that work.? Sitting on a game trail 100 yards away and a bear walks by, are we baiting now?.

[dilleytech]

There actually is a fine line I believe,  there are circumstances where u aren't actually baiting the bear in. What if someone puts out only " doe in heat " , would that be illegal to shoot a bear if it came in ?  I hunt a steep ridge flat spot about the size of a football field. The main trail is on the backside of the flat spot / bottom of the next steep rise. I sit on the main trail , my salt and camera are in the middle of the flat about 50 yards away. I also have a camera on the trail , the bears never leave the trail ever . If I have a bear come down the trail I'm shooting an arrow , confident the salt had nothing to do with it.

Yes that is considered baiting. Shooting a bear that close to any attractant is considered baiting. Now what are the odds of you getting caught or seeing serious consequences? Very very low I would say.

Is there a neccessary required distance from a deer bait sight to be able to hunt bears? It's a massive grey area, if your baiting deer with apples and walking in you shoot a bear, how's that work.? Sitting on a game trail 100 yards away and a bear walks by, are we baiting now?.

I don’t know of an exact legal distance. Like most things it’s going to come to the discretion of the officer. If you know you have an attractant in the area or are heading to a deer bait you shouldn’t even have a bear tag in your pocket legally speaking. If you’re sitting on a deer bait with a bear tag in your pocket you can get ticketed. This has happened before. So if you want to be safe consider bear off limits around bait.

Now if you are walking through the woods and shoot a bear but you didn’t know someone else had a bait 100 yards up the trail. Then you wouldn’t knowingly be baiting. The law would want you to self report in that situation. But you have to convince the officer if caught that you had no idea about that bait. You get the idea? 

It all makes plenty of sense if you think about it.

[MIKEXRAY]

I understand all the points made , good conversation.  I've never even come close to breaking any wildlife laws my whole life. Will think about this with different perspectives in mind.  Hope everyone has a great season , coming quickly  !

[dilleytech]

I understand all the points made , good conversation.  I've never even come close to breaking any wildlife laws my whole life. Will think about this with different perspectives in mind.  Hope everyone has a great season , coming quickly  !

You are probably the only one then lol it’s hard not to break a law at least accidentally .

[hunter399]

There is another option that may work.
If your using loose salt,just let it dry up before season starts.
If your using a salt block,go pick it up before the season.

That's all I got.
I know for a fact that any spot I'm using loose salt,if I throw it down today. Deer,elk,moose will have it gone by August. Even a few spots I use blocks will be gone by August,cause I only put a quarter block at a time. Put them out in April.
So if your checking cams or sitting in a tree stand actively hunting bears, probably not a good idea to take in more salt and refresh the area with an attractant in August.

It's does suck that's the way the law is written.
I can say all my spots this year ,I only get three pics of a bear,then there gone. Even though salt is an attractant,it's not the same as corn or something else that the bear will eat.
I could spread out some corn,that bear will eat every kernel.
Would result in hundreds of pics,and the bear being there for an hour or more.
Salt is an attractant,but for bears it's a poor one.
I have more pics of bears trying to mess with the cameras,then the salt. So that's pretty sad.

[hunter399]

I just wanted to add....
The wife and I where talking the other day.
What we came up with is,that bears show up to the salt.
Then there is nothing to really eat,so they think the camera is gonna dispense some food and have to check in out.
Then I've noticed an uptick of bears pics in June normally.
It's not the salt,it's fawn and calves season, something to think on,by August bear pics slow down. Cause there normally looking for better food sources,like berry patches and what not.

Another note here,is that it is totally up to the warden . What's an attractant and what's not.
So if your adding a protein or a scent to your salt,its probably more of an attractant than a plain salt.
Salt is an attractant according to the law.

[pawpaw1934]

   One question for entire thread participants........
While out in woods, east or west, hunting bear, knowingly or unknowingly hunting near a deer bait site, or no bait within 5 miles.....shooting a bear or seeing nothing but beautiful country, have you run across a game warden?  I have never seen one more than 15 yds off a dirt road.   

[dilleytech]

  One question for entire thread participants........
While out in woods, east or west, hunting bear, knowingly or unknowingly hunting near a deer bait site, or no bait within 5 miles.....shooting a bear or seeing nothing but beautiful country, have you run across a game warden?  I have never seen one more than 15 yds off a dirt road.   

No. But I have seen other people that would love to turn me in if they thought I was poaching. Like a guy with a bait near by that doesn’t want you ever hunting that spot again.

I haven’t been checked by a game warden once in my life big game hunting. Only while bird hunting.

[duckmen1]

  One question for entire thread participants........
While out in woods, east or west, hunting bear, knowingly or unknowingly hunting near a deer bait site, or no bait within 5 miles.....shooting a bear or seeing nothing but beautiful country, have you run across a game warden?  I have never seen one more than 15 yds off a dirt road.   

No. But I have seen other people that would love to turn me in if they thought I was poaching. Like a guy with a bait near by that doesn’t want you ever hunting that spot again.

I haven’t been checked by a game warden once in my life big game hunting. Only while bird hunting.

I was in an area a number of years back. Calling for bear at a clearcut. After a while of not seeing a bear I tried to get better vantages and was able to crawl up quietly onto a few slash piles. I noticed apples in all of them. I realized what was going on after the 3rd pile. Was goanna leave when I looked a couple hundred yards up to the top of the ridge and had a guy with his scope right on me. Scared me to death. Dropped down onto the road and crawed out of there out of sight picking the call up on the way out. Called the warden to let him know what happened and he went to stake that spot out for the week. I had one follow up call about the warden locating a number of bait sites. But no updates after. I never stepped foot into that area again.

[hunter399]

Letting the salt dry up is my plan,if I have to hunt a salt spot.
As far as checking a camera ,I'm there less than 10 minutes.
Switch cards and I'm out. Don't have any blinds/tree stands.
I'm not sitting on the salt,even for deer season.
Not sure if that's a problem during bear season or what.

[dilleytech]

Letting the salt dry up is my plan,if I have to hunt a salt spot.
As far as checking a camera ,I'm there less than 10 minutes.
Switch cards and I'm out. Don't have any blinds/tree stands.
I'm not sitting on the salt,even for deer season.
Not sure if that's a problem during bear season or what.

I would doubt someone would give you any gasket for checking a camera with a bear tag in your pocket. But sitting on salt with a bear tag maybe. Specially if said warden has been receiving calls about baiting in the area or something. I wouldn’t think to much about it and trust your guts. We have fantastic beer hunting. Kill a couple this fall.

[kodiak06]

There actually is a fine line I believe,  there are circumstances where u aren't actually baiting the bear in. What if someone puts out only " doe in heat " , would that be illegal to shoot a bear if it came in ?  I hunt a steep ridge flat spot about the size of a football field. The main trail is on the backside of the flat spot / bottom of the next steep rise. I sit on the main trail , my salt and camera are in the middle of the flat about 50 yards away. I also have a camera on the trail , the bears never leave the trail ever . If I have a bear come down the trail I'm shooting an arrow , confident the salt had nothing to do with it.

If you're 50yds from bait/mineral it's not a fine line. You're 100% on the baiting side of the line when LE is involved

[idahohuntr]

Now if you are walking through the woods and shoot a bear but you didn’t know someone else had a bait 100 yards up the trail. Then you wouldn’t knowingly be baiting. The law would want you to self report in that situation. But you have to convince the officer if caught that you had no idea about that bait. You get the idea? 

I've got a little different idea...the burden of proof is on the prosecution and in such a scenario I'd fight them every inch of the way. Definitely not self-reporting and definitely not saying anything to any officer...I don't have to convince them of anything.

[dilleytech]

Now if you are walking through the woods and shoot a bear but you didn’t know someone else had a bait 100 yards up the trail. Then you wouldn’t knowingly be baiting. The law would want you to self report in that situation. But you have to convince the officer if caught that you had no idea about that bait. You get the idea? 

I've got a little different idea...the burden of proof is on the prosecution and in such a scenario I'd fight them every inch of the way. Definitely not self-reporting and definitely not saying anything to any officer...I don't have to convince them of anything.

Right but self reporting shows no illegal intent. If you don’t self report and someone else turns you in it just looks worse for you. But if you don’t self report and no one turns you in then your hunting season was just that much better.

[jrebel]

I'm super confused.....

I have been hunting bear on a hillside for decades because it is full of service berries.  It is also a great spot for deer and elk (because you know..deer and elk live in the same areas bear do).  A new elk hunter comes in and drops a block of salt and I stumble across it.  Does this hunters salt now render the hillside un-huntable by myself for bear??  But it is huntable for other bear hunters that don't know the salt is there??  Color me confused..... 

Can I now claim a hillside as my own if I drop some salt and then post signs saying "this hillside has salt on it....no bear hunters allowed"??  I have never had a bear frequent salt blocks / licks.  Yeah, do they walk the same trails as deer and elk and walk buy salt....100%!!  Can you pattern a bear on salt....NO!!  I challenge someone to prove me wrong.