?????

[billythekidrock]

Yes Kain it doesn't matter if your bait was intended for Deer or anything else.You shoot a Bear over it and a Warden finds out your gonna get in trouble.

Yes I totally agree.  The point I was making was the "intend" to hunt bear over it.  How would they prove that?  So until you actually kill one are you breaking the law or not?  Thats what I was trying to say.  Bearmanric was saying that Officer Mark James says no baiting at all even for trail cameras.

Rick is correct. You can NOT bait for trail cams, even in the off season.

This was one of two questions I asked the officer when he checked us at our rigs.

I also asked if it was legal to wear elk cover scent and call for bears and was told no. It is against the law to use "attractants".

I stopped short of asking about calls being an attractant.

[KillBilly]

To roll it up, If you are baiting deer and elk to a trail cam, and a bear happens to come in, there is nothing you can do about that. However, If it was me, I would not show pictures of bear over a bait on trail cam on an open public forum like this one. You never know who is looking. The only way for you to prevent a bear ever coming to your deer and elk bait is to not bait at all or use a bait that a bear would not be attracted to.  It is a very tough call and even the enforcement officers admit that you can't keep a bear from coming to a legally baited deer or elk location. I suppose that self discipline is the only way to deal with it. Ignore the bears and focus on the deer and elk for your season targets.

[billythekidrock]

Bottom line is you can not bait bears period.
If a bear is hanging around your camera you are better off moving the camera.
And you definately don't want to hunt near the area.

[stumprat]

Elk cover scent =  attractant??
This state is worse than I thought.

[Kain]

Rick is correct. You can NOT bait for trail cams, even in the off season.

This was one of two questions I asked the officer when he checked us at our rigs.

I also asked if it was legal to wear elk cover scent and call for bears and was told no. It is against the law to use "attractants".

I stopped short of asking about calls being an attractant.

I am not trying to be arguementative or anything but I am wondering what you guys think about this.  Did you ask him to point to what law they are using to justify making that statement?  A blanket statement saying that baiting for trail cameras is illegal seems fishy to me.  I personally dont have any trail cams and I dont hunt over baits.  But I do really enjoy seeing all the bear pics from our trail cam forum.  I am just wondering if you guys are ok with them making something illegal that is not stated in the RCW's.  Sounds to me like they are legislating from the field.    The RCW is so vague and leaves so much room for interpretation but this seems a little far out there to me.

[KillBilly]

Bottom line is you can not bait bears period.
If a bear is hanging around your camera you are better off moving the camera.
And you definately don't want to hunt near the area.

Bear hanging around a Cam is perfectly okay as long as bait is not involved. The relevant is attractant. If you are attracting a bear to a trail cam, it is not legal. If you just have a Cam hung up on a trail and get pictures of bears, no law has been violated. as stated before, if the bait you use for der and elk also attracts bears then you are liable to be cited if they catch you.   Attract/attractant/ is the key wording

[catwithboost]

Plain and simple we are not hunting around where my cam was set up earlier. So everyone chill out!!!!

[stumprat]

Rick is correct. You can NOT bait for trail cams, even in the off season.

This was one of two questions I asked the officer when he checked us at our rigs.

I also asked if it was legal to wear elk cover scent and call for bears and was told no. It is against the law to use "attractants".

I stopped short of asking about calls being an attractant.

I am not trying to be arguementative or anything but I am wondering what you guys think about this.  Did you ask him to point to what law they are using to justify making that statement?  A blanket statement saying that baiting for trail cameras is illegal seems fishy to me.  I personally dont have any trail cams and I dont hunt over baits.  But I do really enjoy seeing all the bear pics from our trail cam forum.  I am just wondering if you guys are ok with them making something illegal that is not stated in the RCW's.  Sounds to me like they are legislating from the field.    The RCW is so vague and leaves so much room for interpretation but this seems a little far out there to me.

Baiting bear is baiting bear. Purpose doesn't matter.

[billythekidrock]

Bottom line is you can not bait bears period.
If a bear is hanging around your camera you are better off moving the camera.
And you definately don't want to hunt near the area.

Bear hanging around a Cam is perfectly okay as long as bait is not involved.

No *censored*.   What do you think we have been talking about....bait and cams.

[KillBilly]

Bottom line is you can not bait bears period.
If a bear is hanging around your camera you are better off moving the camera.
And you definately don't want to hunt near the area.

Bear hanging around a Cam is perfectly okay as long as bait is not involved. The relevant word is attractant. If you are attracting a bear to a trail cam, it is not legal. If you just have a Cam hung up on a trail and get pictures of bears, no law has been violated. as stated before, if the bait you use for der and elk also attracts bears then you are liable to be cited if they catch you.   Attract/attractant/ is the key wording

[Kain]

The law doesnt say baiting bears is illegal.  It says baiting bears is illegal if you hunt or intend to hunt over it.  It also says baiting for the purpose of attracting bears is not ok.  I am being technical here but thats what laws are.  

[billythekidrock]

Correct Adna..

Straight from 655.
"it is unlawful to take, hunt, or attract black bear with the aid of bait."

[Kain]

Correct Adna..

Straight from 655.
"it is unlawful to take, hunt, or attract black bear with the aid of bait."

Now that is more exact.  What is 655?

[KillBilly]

The law doesnt say baiting bears is illegal.  It says baiting bears is illegal if you hunt or intend to hunt over it.  It also says baiting for the purpose of attracting bears is not ok.  I am being technical here but thats what laws are.  

Doggone it Kain...if your deer or elk bait also attracts a bear to your cam, then it is illegal. A cam with no bait is fine for any animal. A cam is not considered an attractant by itself.

[stumprat]

Correct Adna..

Straight from 655.
"it is unlawful to take, hunt, or attract black bear with the aid of bait."

Now that is more exact.  What is 655?

Initiative 655 ended baiting, and hound hunting for bear.