Anyone got some killer secret bear bait recipe. First year that i will be trying to bait them. Thinking dog food or popcorn with sweet stuff like molasses? Any ideas or tips that work?
Cooking grease from Chinese restaurants, splash that all over your bait site when establishing the site.
Vanilla in a spray bottle, spray the bait site
Check regs I know some states won't let you use meat.
Dog food works but imho its not a bears favorite, however mixing in sweets will make it more attractive to the bears.
Once you have an established site, if the bears are coming in at night after shooting hours pull the bait. This requires more work but will get them coming in earlier. Bears like a free dinner, if there is only a snack left (a few scraps) they will start coming earlier.
A lot of guys fill barrels with bait, I do not do this I put out a 3/4 filled 5 gallon bucket. I bait everyday. The bears get use to it and know the routine.
I am sure you'll get a bunch of others with their method. Find the method that best fits your time and needs.
Donuts. They were the clear winner out of dog food, popcorn, leftover meat and gut scraps from the previous year’s moose, and every kind of syrup and sauce known to man. And instead of cooking grease I preferred Yummy Chummy brand concentrated salmon oil, dog food supplement and the factory was down the street from my old employer. We’d go get a case of smashed bottles every spring and it was like instant hits when we’d pour that on some donuts or spray it up in the trees where the wind would carry it.
Lots of stuff woks !
As I'm going to consume my bear meat, I want the animal as clean as possible, when I open him up.
That being the case, I use whole corn kernels & a vanilla based spray, as MCH indicates.
The vanilla is an excellent attractant & the whole kernel corn goes right through them, as evidenced by the volumes of yellow, corn filled scat.
If you've never opened up a carrion/meat/fish/oil eating bear, it's quite the stench !!
YMMV
Just remembered, I always start with sweet feed, a mix of corn, oats & molasses, until they are coming regularly.
To open a new bait you need to get the smell out there far and wide.
Something really rank like chickens or some sort of meat fermenting in a sealed 5 gallon bucket for a week or two will gag a maggot. Put it in a burlap bag up high where the bears can't get it, but the smell keeps working.
Buy some cheap bacon and fry it right at the bait site. The smell lasts for weeks. The above items mentioned, like used cooking grease and cattle molasses are always a hit. Bait with whatever you can get large quantities of. This can be difficult, if your bait is a distance away and you have several bears hitting. They can go through a lot of bait if you don't find a way to restrict them.
Later, when bears are hitting, burn some honey. The smell permeates the area well and seems to push them over the edge of wanting to check out the new smell.
I liked using a 30 gallon drum with a small access hole and a hinged top for filling so the bears have to work at getting much out, but it's easy to fill. Just covering the bait with logs and sticks will have you cleaned out in no time.
Never done it.
But the idea of a honey burn intrigues me.
Have considered it here, even though it's illegal.
I'm not wanting to kill a bear because I want to kill a bear.
No sport.
I want some bears to die.
All business.
Make friends with the Krispy Kreme guy in your area, or just follow him all night and find out which dumpster he leaves the day olds in...
Make friends with the Krispy Kreme guy in your area, or just follow him all night and find out which dumpster he leaves the day olds in...
Yep, I know a young man here who seems to have an "in" with every donut and bakery shop around here and he gets all their left over pastries that don't sell. He uses great amounts of those pastries and he and his buds kill bears every year.
L.W.
If those bakeries are owned by far easterners there’s a certain part of a black bear that they’ll trade any number of donuts for. Legal tender in some places and not in others so be careful but I know guys with lifetime “contracts” with Korean donut shops for day olds and they make one payment per year.
Found damaged grain at cost mogjt use some of that? Going to hit up local fast food for grease.
Found damaged grain at cost mogjt use some of that? Going to hit up local fast food for grease.
If you can find a bulk of Licorice it holds scent for a long time and from what I have seen the bears love it. Mix it in with whatever you decide on for bait.
I've had good luck with the following:
Leftover donuts that the local shop is throwing out.
Dry oatmeal mixed with molasses.
Popcorn with some Kool-Aid powder sprinkled over it.
If you have access to cheap watermelons, smash one on the ground at your bait site.
And as an attractant to get some scent in the air, I will take a couple of cans of tuna in oil and nail them to a tree about 7 feet in the air. The oil will run down the side of the tree. Just be careful when nailing it because the oil will squirt back at you.
Mornin, I us dog food with cool aid mixed in, so far so good! It's small & the bears can't carry it off to eat elswear, easy to pack in if your bears won't come out to play. Less trouble than a barrel, you don't have to chain stuff down. Weekend is getting closer, have a good one!!!!! Bill out. 🐾👣🐾👣🇨🇦
I have a farm up the road that grows Sweet corn and melons for the local markets....
nothing stinks up the woods better than over ripe muskmelon....
Popcorn cover in molasses works in a pinch.... bread and donuts...
Wind fall apples and pears...
A guide I hunted with used breakfast cereal, Fruit Loops in particular with grease mixed in. They have quite a strong scent, with the wind right, I could smell them from 100 yards.
i have used burns too honey-bacon grease-vanilla and a little water to make a paste
Thanks guys, hope to have pics of a bear after all said and done😊
To be blunt and untactful:
Amateurs pick baits, pros pick sites.
One can have the absolute best bear bait but if it s an area a bear doesn't normally go or feels unsafe then you won't see a bear or at least not during shooting hours. Unless the natural food crop is extremely poor, it is rare to see anything other than a juvenile at a poor site and even that bear will be very hesitant to come in during the day. There is always an exception someplace but those are pretty long odds on which to bet success.
Pick an area in which the cover from the ground to at least your shoulders is thick. If you can see 30 yards it is too open and 20 yards and less is much better. Thick cover such as that should also extend out well past the bait site, an acre of such cover surrounded by an open park is not going to cut it. This is a pretty good rule for the Great Lakes states, other areas may have other cover types that preclude this advice.
I like finding a site on the edge of a large marsh, stream, pond, or other moist/damp area. This type of habitat seems more attractive to larger boars than higher and drier upland cover which seems to attract sows, Cubs, and juveniles. Beaver ponds are great as there is water, food, and cover close at hand and the waterway offers cover for travel.
I bait once a week due to time constraints so use a lot of bait at a time. 150# to start is typical and at least that much each visit once bears start hitting. I bait betweenness 11AM and 1PM as bears are least likely to be at the bait during those times. scare a bear off the baits and it may never return, at least not during the day.
A good stand site is next in importance. I like a well branched out spruce or fir with a large diameter trunk. This allows good cover as it breaks up my outline. A tight clump of aspen or birch is good too but it is more open. If one can be to the southeast of the bait it would be great but any stand should be positioned in shadow to lessen the odds of being spotlighted. I try to keep the prevailing winds from blowing my scent over the bait or toward the expected approach route but I don't sweat it. A mature bear will invariably circle the bait and eventually smell you and your footsteps. I find that if you can get into place at least 4 hours before a bear is expected to show, the bear is less likely to spook if one is also quiet and still. It appears bears place more emphasis on foot odor than air scent if there are no other warning signs.
I help things along by showering before I head out, do as much as possible to not work up a sweat, keep my clothes as odor free as possible, and use a cover scent like skunk or red fox ursine. I'll add a couple drops of bacon grease to the Thermacell bug strip too.
I'll trim out a narrow shooting lane to the bait, typically it is only a couple of feet wide. What to consider with a shooting lane is it directs one's gaze along that path and works both ways. A bear is pretty cautious and observant of both the ground and what is above which means they spot movement quicker than a deer. It is another defense one needs to be aware of.
I position my bait container in such a way that the bear is likely to be broadside to me. I do this with an above ground 6'x6'x1' pit made out of landscape timbers. I use a 3 piece cover made out of (6) 4"x8' landscape timbers that are flat on two sides. 2" green treated boards cut in 2' lengths screwed into the timbers and then three 2'x8' pieces of plywood are screwed onto the 2"x pieces. I like one board every foot or so. These covers are placed across the pit parallel to my stand. Bears tend to push the end covers off so this tends to get them broadside.
Now, for baits. That really depends on the bear. Corn has not been a good choice in my area except fermented corn and that is more of an attractant than feed. To make it, fill a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of corn, add 5 lbs of sugar, stir well, and let sit in the sun for at least 2 weeks and four is better. I started my buckets on July 1st. I dump a half bucket of corn and water along the outside dirt of the pit.
I found cream cheese to be the favorite. I mix it with trail mix or sugary cereal to make it go further. Pastry icing is OK but not as good as cream cheese. Caramel corn is pretty good too and relatively cheap to make. Any sort of soft candy such as licorice, gummy bears, jelly beans, etc are good additions as they are weather/water resistant but rank lower down for my area. For whatever reason bears don't care for either dry or liquid molasses though shredded beets sometime soon et hit.
Fruits and vegetables are used often, I hit the farmers stands and offer to buy their bruised goods for a couple bucks or buy the person working a lunch. Typically, they give it to me for free if I supply the bucket but the offer is greatly appreciated. Everything but tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplant, and apricots are used. I'll save crab apples from the previous year then crush them and ferment like corn.
I don't use much pastries or breads as they rot easily and bears hate it in that condition. I will use them once bears are hitting regularly but not before. Same goes for dog food and meats. I add gravy to the kibble to make it more palatable otherwise the bears don't eat it. I deep fry all meat; it lasts longer before rotting and bears do not care for rotting meat- at least not in the fall. It is also easier to pull meat from the bone once cooked a small mammal bones are not legal bait in MN. You are not allowed to have more than 1/4 of any single mammal in the pile at any given time. The oil is used as an attractant, some is dribbled on the ground while some is painted onto trees in an X pattern for a good quarter mile each way.
As final attractants I hang an old towel doused in bacon grease and fish oil 10'-12' above the ground over the bait. I also take a couple of large Jell-O packets, tear them open lengthwise, and toss them as high into the tree/air as I can. This creates a pretty good odor that can be smelled for a long ways. I top the pit by smashing a watermelon over the lid. I haven't see no a bear eat the melon but it seems to ll P pretty goodCantalopes, honeydew, and musk melons work too. If I go into october I'll use pumpkins.
There is more to bear hunting than bait and this should be enough to get started.
Almost forgot, al this goes out the window if natural foods are abundant. There was a good crop of acorns and a decent one of hazelnuts during the season last year which pulled the bears away from the baits. It looks to be a similar year this year too.
To be blunt and untactful:
Amateurs pick baits, pros pick sites.
One can have the absolute best bear bait but if it s an area a bear doesn't normally go or feels unsafe then you won't see a bear or at least not during shooting hours. Unless the natural food crop is extremely poor, it is rare to see anything other than a juvenile at a poor site and even that bear will be very hesitant to come in during the day. There is always an exception someplace but those are pretty long odds on which to bet success.
Pick an area in which the cover from the ground to at least your shoulders is thick. If you can see 30 yards it is too open and 20 yards and less is much better. Thick cover such as that should also extend out well past the bait site, an acre of such cover surrounded by an open park is not going to cut it. This is a pretty good rule for the Great Lakes states, other areas may have other cover types that preclude this advice.
I like finding a site on the edge of a large marsh, stream, pond, or other moist/damp area. This type of habitat seems more attractive to larger boars than higher and drier upland cover which seems to attract sows, Cubs, and juveniles. Beaver ponds are great as there is water, food, and cover close at hand and the waterway offers cover for travel.
I bait once a week due to time constraints so use a lot of bait at a time. 150# to start is typical and at least that much each visit once bears start hitting. I bait betweenness 11AM and 1PM as bears are least likely to be at the bait during those times. scare a bear off the baits and it may never return, at least not during the day.
A good stand site is next in importance. I like a well branched out spruce or fir with a large diameter trunk. This allows good cover as it breaks up my outline. A tight clump of aspen or birch is good too but it is more open. If one can be to the southeast of the bait it would be great but any stand should be positioned in shadow to lessen the odds of being spotlighted. I try to keep the prevailing winds from blowing my scent over the bait or toward the expected approach route but I don't sweat it. A mature bear will invariably circle the bait and eventually smell you and your footsteps. I find that if you can get into place at least 4 hours before a bear is expected to show, the bear is less likely to spook if one is also quiet and still. It appears bears place more emphasis on foot odor than air scent if there are no other warning signs.
I help things along by showering before I head out, do as much as possible to not work up a sweat, keep my clothes as odor free as possible, and use a cover scent like skunk or red fox ursine. I'll add a couple drops of bacon grease to the Thermacell bug strip too.
I'll trim out a narrow shooting lane to the bait, typically it is only a couple of feet wide. What to consider with a shooting lane is it directs one's gaze along that path and works both ways. A bear is pretty cautious and observant of both the ground and what is above which means they spot movement quicker than a deer. It is another defense one needs to be aware of.
I position my bait container in such a way that the bear is likely to be broadside to me. I do this with an above ground 6'x6'x1' pit made out of landscape timbers. I use a 3 piece cover made out of (6) 4"x8' landscape timbers that are flat on two sides. 2" green treated boards cut in 2' lengths screwed into the timbers and then three 2'x8' pieces of plywood are screwed onto the 2"x pieces. I like one board every foot or so. These covers are placed across the pit parallel to my stand. Bears tend to push the end covers off so this tends to get them broadside.
Now, for baits. That really depends on the bear. Corn has not been a good choice in my area except fermented corn and that is more of an attractant than feed. To make it, fill a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of corn, add 5 lbs of sugar, stir well, and let sit in the sun for at least 2 weeks and four is better. I started my buckets on July 1st. I dump a half bucket of corn and water along the outside dirt of the pit.
I found cream cheese to be the favorite. I mix it with trail mix or sugary cereal to make it go further. Pastry icing is OK but not as good as cream cheese. Caramel corn is pretty good too and relatively cheap to make. Any sort of soft candy such as licorice, gummy bears, jelly beans, etc are good additions as they are weather/water resistant but rank lower down for my area. For whatever reason bears don't care for either dry or liquid molasses though shredded beets sometime soon et hit.
Fruits and vegetables are used often, I hit the farmers stands and offer to buy their bruised goods for a couple bucks or buy the person working a lunch. Typically, they give it to me for free if I supply the bucket but the offer is greatly appreciated. Everything but tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplant, and apricots are used. I'll save crab apples from the previous year then crush them and ferment like corn.
I don't use much pastries or breads as they rot easily and bears hate it in that condition. I will use them once bears are hitting regularly but not before. Same goes for dog food and meats. I add gravy to the kibble to make it more palatable otherwise the bears don't eat it. I deep fry all meat; it lasts longer before rotting and bears do not care for rotting meat- at least not in the fall. It is also easier to pull meat from the bone once cooked a small mammal bones are not legal bait in MN. You are not allowed to have more than 1/4 of any single mammal in the pile at any given time. The oil is used as an attractant, some is dribbled on the ground while some is painted onto trees in an X pattern for a good quarter mile each way.
As final attractants I hang an old towel doused in bacon grease and fish oil 10'-12' above the ground over the bait. I also take a couple of large Jell-O packets, tear them open lengthwise, and toss them as high into the tree/air as I can. This creates a pretty good odor that can be smelled for a long ways. I top the pit by smashing a watermelon over the lid. I haven't see no a bear eat the melon but it seems to ll P pretty goodCantalopes, honeydew, and musk melons work too. If I go into october I'll use pumpkins.
There is more to bear hunting than bait and this should be enough to get started.
For the most part I agree. Like any hunting stand placement is critical.
Western Bears have no problem coming out into open areas. However I like you would not set up my bait site in such.
I disagree, you can absolutely pull big bears into a bait site that has what they want to eat. Even if there is plenty of natural food sources available to them. But the key is the bait. I have done this many times with bears that stay on private land that is non-huntable. I have gotten them to my baits on huntable land.
Absolutely correct specially back east, Swamps, water, dark think forest are your friend.
Scent control is a must on big bears for sure as is movement.
I have gotten Maine Bears to know what time I bait like you middle of the day Noonish. I bang the bucket around, I don't use a barrel I like big logs. If big logs are not around I use whatever I can to make a brush pile. I keep the opening facing my stand slightly off center. This almost always insures a good quartering away shot which to me is better than a broadside shot. Specially when letting inexperianced hunters hunt my stands.
Honestly bears are lazy slobs they love to eat and if they can do so with minimal effort they are happier than a pig in Shi_.
I figure the cheese we use to bait catfish slat traps would work great. It comes in cans from Champlin Nets in Jonesville, LA.
Stinks to high heaven, don’t get it on your clothes, you’ll have to burn them!
I figure the cheese we use to bait catfish slat traps would work great. It comes in cans from Champlin Nets in Jonesville, LA.
Stinks to high heaven, don’t get it on your clothes, you’ll have to burn them!
Bears don’t like nasty stuff like that as much as people would think.
If bait gets wet and start to sour bears will often abandon it.
More as a matter of convenience, and because it generally works well, I use shelled corn and a bottle of cheap pancake syrup. This is pretty easy to hike in, and draws them in.
I went to a Bear Clinic yesterday, that was put on by the DNR here. was a pretty good show, and learned alot about the rules! Cant use corn down below this year!
Thanks, great info and ideas
When I was doing problem wildlife work for the Fish and Game Branch up here many years ago, nothing worked better than canned pineapple. Punch the can and spread the juice around high in the trees, then open the can and pour out the pineapple where you wanted the bear.
Sounds simple, and it is!
Ted
First and foremost, sweets. Pastries, cans of frosting, expired containers of fountain soda syrup, hadn't heard of pineapple before but it sure sounds logical. We'd build a triangle of logs up against a tree then cover the logs in honey. Gets on their pads and leads others back to your site.
Our "bulk" was dog food and/or oats. Just a guess, but, if one had access to confectionary sunflower seeds in bulk I bet they'd work well.
Restaurant supply size bottles of Anise (black licorice scent) and liquid smoke. We'd soak several cloths with that and nail them high in a tree. Get a good scent cone blowing through the woods.
Used restaurant fryer grease is a great way to get scent spread far and wide as they'll get it on their pads and lead a trail back to your bait site for others to follow.
We used honey or bacon burns while we were in the stand.
Half a 5 gallon bucket of water and add 2packages of raspberry jello just before getting in tree or blind. The scent carries a long ways and they love fresh berries. Get ready to shoot. Ed k
We cant even leave a bucket here, even if your hunting the spot at the time on State or Forest land!
I have had good luck with doughnuts as bait. I then soak rags in Anise and hang them in the trees to help spread scent. A bait close to a creek or water source is never a bad thing.
I've only bear hunted once.
We used:
Pastries (From local donut shop)
Fermented Oats (Fun watching the chipmunks and squirrels get hammered while your in the stand) lol
Bread from Subway restaurants that was being thrown out.
Used fryer grease from a local restaurant
Molasses
And sprayed the leaves around the bait with liquid smoke
We had 5 out of 6 baits getting hit hard. (One was in a bad location)
Then...
The acorns dropped early that year and they shut off completely.
Don't forget to put sand around the bait or a trail cam, some areas for us only had small bears.
Fryer grease is one of the best and if you pour it around your bait they will walk it away and lead others right back.
Bear bombs really work, especially if you are in a stand with a bad wind.
Found some moldy "cake" grain, 2 tons to be exact, a guy offered me for free. Should i bother with it or forget about it?
Hell, that'd work on me.
We used leftover donuts and grease from the local Winchell's. The bears didn't seem to care that the donuts weren't that good.
quote=Esox357]Found some moldy "cake" grain, 2 tons to be exact, a guy offered me for free. Should i bother with it or forget about it? [/quote]
take it and cover it with strawberry jello powder[
I would pass but I am not saying it won't work.
Thanks. Unfortunately bear in.my unit closed, reached the sow mortality rate. Had a nice bear come in but season closed. Next year i hope. Thanks all who help point me in the right direction.
I figure the cheese we use to bait catfish slat traps would work great. It comes in cans from Champlin Nets in Jonesville, LA.
Stinks to high heaven, don’t get it on your clothes, you’ll have to burn them!
Bears don’t like nasty stuff like that as much as people would think.
If bait gets wet and start to sour bears will often abandon it.
Bears like the same stuff we do. Try to keep them around a bait for some time by hiding treats, like candy under big logs, etc. Drill a hole in a tree or downed log and shove a candy cane into it. They will work on that for a while. I've seen them take down an entire tree to get at it. They seem to love the game.
When I use to bait for bears we always used 50 lb bags of dog food covered in cheap maple syrup, lay a grease pad down in front of the barrel with some used KFC or McD grease or wherever you can get it, bear would step in it and leave a trail wherever it went. As a cover scent we used anise mixed with water and would spray it whenever we were on stand. Something else we tried that seemd to work pretty well, we would run sticks through some old potato's and stick them in the ground in spots that would give you a clear shot on a bear while he was enjoying his tater on a stick. We never ran game cameras but used cheap battery operated clocks (not digital) tied to a tree, wrap fishing line around the battery and then string it around the baitsite. Any time they would come in they would trip the fishing string and yank the battery out stopping the clock, then it was a matter of figuring if it was am or pm. I shot my biggest black bear using this method. Good luck.
Put some leg of AOC on a log and they would eat it up and beg for more. Lord knows it is the only thing she is good for. Be Well, Laugh a lot, Rusty
Bear season ended 3 days after opening. I had a big bear come in but was unable to get it. Looking forward to next year and i appreciated all the suggestions. Elk season eraly cow opens oct 1.
Cooking grease from Chinese restaurants, splash that all over your bait site when establishing the site.
Vanilla in a spray bottle, spray the bait site
Check regs I know some states won't let you use meat.
Dog food works but imho its not a bears favorite, however mixing in sweets will make it more attractive to the bears.
Once you have an established site, if the bears are coming in at night after shooting hours pull the bait. This requires more work but will get them coming in earlier. Bears like a free dinner, if there is only a snack left (a few scraps) they will start coming earlier.
A lot of guys fill barrels with bait, I do not do this I put out a 3/4 filled 5 gallon bucket. I bait everyday. The bears get use to it and know the routine.
I am sure you'll get a bunch of others with their method. Find the method that best fits your time and needs.
Idaho allows meat but not from game animals, including fish.
More as a matter of convenience, and because it generally works well, I use shelled corn and a bottle of cheap pancake syrup. This is pretty easy to hike in, and draws them in.
Gonna have to try that for pigs!
More as a matter of convenience, and because it generally works well, I use shelled corn and a bottle of cheap pancake syrup. This is pretty easy to hike in, and draws them in.
Gonna have to try that for pigs!
For pigs we just augered a hole about 3 feet deep filled with corn and water.
I buy the cheapest dog food I can find and use that mixed with used frying oil I get for free from a restaurant. On top of that, I collect all my bacon grease year round and use it to "start" my bait by spreading it all over my bait barrels and trees and adding several large bags of juice crystals spread all over the place. They love this combo and they get that oil all over their paws and track that stuff for miles which attracts more bear...
This set up gets me bears on the bait normally within a day or two and keeps somewhere around 3 to 5 large bears (and several smaller ones) attracted until I find one to shoot.