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Author Topic: Early spring vs rut  (Read 1917 times)

Offline n_mathews13

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Early spring vs rut
« on: February 15, 2017, 03:35:24 PM »
I'm new to spring bear hunt. Got one in ID last year in mid May. This year , due to weather and other things, I have thought about going first week in June. That puts me at the beginning of the rut. For those who have baited,  "will my bait slow down during rut ? Due to big bears traveling.
Thanks for input

Offline RadSav

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Re: Early spring vs rut
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2017, 04:58:28 PM »
Depends on how early the spring is and how your bait is working due to when the food sources change.  This year might have a few surprises.  Also depends on how sow heavy your baits are.  Seeing boars during rut and getting shots as good boars can be completely different things.  But if you are running the right baits, I think you should see plenty of bear in June.  Wouldn't surprise me if you see more in June than you did in May actually.  Just might not have the number of large boars or the shot opportunities at them that you might get earlier.

I never did guide spring bear because we never had a season for them.  I have, however, been involved in a lot of problem bear removal during spring.  With those June bear we started to limit bait volume and improve the quality of the bait at the same time.  If spring was early we'd start adding more protein and giving less sweets.  If spring was late we'd keep the fruits and sweets heavy with very little protein. 

If rut was definitely keeping the boars busy during daylight and large bear strikes ended up coming after dark we might drop from 10 gallons of reasonable bait material every other day to 1 gallon of premium bait every day.  And if that doesn't get them coming in during light, we bait early and drop coyote pee around the bait site.  Had a good number of June bear killed at 2-3:00 PM after doing this.  Doesn't work at every bait site, but it work often enough we made it part of our rut plan.
He asked, Do you ever give a short simple answer?  I replied, "Nope."

Offline n_mathews13

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Re: Early spring vs rut
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2017, 09:56:46 PM »
Thanks for the info. Spring is comeing , I'm getting excited

 


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