Baiting

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

Yea they shouldn't have a problem getting bears. I actually got pics of 2 chocolate colored bears last year and I ended up shooting the smaller one, in the same location. I just wish they would eat the camera.

[Gofishleech]

Any one else just seeing the dreaded red x?

[maros91]

I added some orange icing to my baits to see if I can get something to come in. If nothing hits my baits by Monday I may have to move them. Lots of natural food available in the Milaca area.

[corny13]

GoFish:

What is the dreaded Red X?

Corny

[fetzeriiif]

Has it always been illegal to use 55 gallon drums in MN?

[maros91]

Antler

Very active bait you have there. Hopefully you can keep them coming in through out the week. Good luck. What kind of trail cam is that?

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

There is alot of competion between bears at that bait so I shouldn't have to worry about the bait being "burnt out". I'm rebaiting tomarrow and again on thursday, then I will bait on saturday before they hunt. Usually I bait then leave either my dad or brother to hunt (2 in 1 out strategy) but since I don't have a tag this year I'll have to sneak back into one of the baits to video tape.

Biff,

It is a moultrie 2.0 digital. I did't like the idea of leaving my cuddeback on public land where it could "walk away" either by bears or humans. It was under $100 and it is working almost as good as the cuddeback. If I by more cameras they will probably be moultries. I modified it to run off a bigger 6 volt battery to get more pics per battery life and also drilled a hole in the back so I could lag screw it to the tree instead of using the cheap bungie cords it came with. I would highly recomend it if you don't want to spend much on a camera but still want quality.

[charliepete2]

I put six baits out last Saturday. I ran them this weekend and 3 of them were cleaned out, one was touched up, and two were cold. This is the first year with the Moultrie Cameras. I didn't set one up correctly and it didn't take any pictures. The other one snapped off 390 pics in a week. Nothing spectacular on film. A true 'average' Minnesota Black bear going about 150#'s. I switched the cameras out and am hoping to catch a few big boys in the daylight.

Pay no attention to the date and time as I didn't set it before sticking the camera out.

[Boar]

Howdy I just got back from vacation, dont ask how I got rangled into a vaction during baiting. I dont have any fingernails left. My appologies to the moderators if I over stepped the unauthorized web site on my last post. Souds like there is a mix of things going on, good luk to those with hits, the pictures are great. I got back tonight at about 5:30 an ran out to my site an Yea, a good hit. I looked at the tree where my bear ball WAS hanging an observed the claw marks, they look to be a good half inch wide an kinda thick. The bait site was opened pretty good but there could be more than one bear. The tree is'nt big but it could easily hold me an I'm 235. By the width of the claw marks could anyone determine the size of him, I'm thinking average, maybe smaller. Anyone familiar with the bear ball, what do ya think if a guy cut chunks off of it to heat up, I just dont want to lose the new one I bought. I think it would work great. Boar

[iceman16]

just got back from Finland. wow is all i can saw its gonna be a long week. we had 11 sites and yesterday i went to check them all 11 were hit with a couple looked like a bomb went off. logs everywhere. had one trail camera out and had three different bears coming into that one but couldn't get a good guess on how big the camera was aimed alittle high. went back today and at noon 5 of the 11 were hit. Saturday cant come soon enough. good luck everyone.

iceman

[LABS4ME]

How many guys would take the shot (if presented) of a sow with a cub? Just wondering? It may be legal, but ethically I think we owe it to the sport and the animals to hold on that shot.

Good Luck!

Ken

[charliepete2]

I wouldn't even think of shooting a sow with cubs, and I wouldn't hunt with anybody that did. Personally, I won't even shoot a sow without cub if I can identify her. Sows can't breed right off the bat. Taking a breeding age sow out of population is a big impact.

[tealitup]

After seeing a cub last year "play" around the bait station with birds, the food etc.. I would never shoot a sow with cubs. Those little ones would never live past winter.

[Gofishleech]

A guy I know asked me yesterday what the law was on shooting a sow with cubs, he had a sow with cubs at his bait and showed me the picture. The cubs were small along with the sow.I thought man are you kidding me, why would anyone do this, the cubs were small enough that if he did shoot her they would not leave her. Then what do you do?

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

Here are a couple more pics: It looks like a group of 3 boars judging by their size and how the act. There are 6 bears hitting this bait and the 2 other baits took light hits. No pics of the cinnamon colored sow but this was the first time my brother had a chance to help out baiting and his "new scent" may have spooked a few bears. We also might have jumped a bear on the way into the bait, which didn't help either.

As for shooting a sow with cubs, I never would shoot one and besides you guys have nothing to worry about as I don't even have a tag!

[corny13]

Just thought Id add my baiting story. This weekend was up in the Chippewa looking to put out a few bait stations. We were driving around where my old cabin was on Pike Bay.. a good place for big bears on a old logging road. My wife had come along .. of course telling me bear hunting is dangerous..bla bla bla.. Well she was correct! But not from bears. We were driving along this two track and a pickup truck was parked blocking the road.. I said to my wife must be another bear hunter.. why else would anyone be out here. We moseyed on up and the occupants saw our truck.. all 5 people bailed out and started running thru the brush trying to get away. I assume they thought we were the police. I now assume they were making Meth or something else. My wife of course then made me get out of there and not put a bait where I had wanted to on the back side of Lake 13. More dangerous than a wounded bear.. a crazed druggie!

[Boar]

Was'nt sure about going back out tonight to bait with all the rain today but it let up about 4 so I went out, most of the bait was gone, but no logs rolled, I hate that, cant tell if it's critters or scoopers, tomorrow i'm gonna spred around a ten pound bag of flour an see if I get a track, an hang a portion of my bear ball, I broke it into chunks so he dosent get it all at one time. Boar

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

Boar,

Have you tried burning chucks of that bacon ball yet? Let me now how it works. I used the big paw mix from that same company last year, it worked great. I put it in a "honey burner" and my bear came in 15 minutes after I lit the burner (I thought he was going to come right up my tree)!

Hubericta,

That is a good quality pic, What mgp moultrie do you have?

How is the battery life? I might have to get me another one.

[charliepete2]

That camera is a 4.1 megapixel model that runs off lantern batteries (I can't remember the voltage). I bought a few rechargeable batteries and they last a long time. When they aren't taking many pictures they go a few months. I had it out all spring and still had 40% juice left when I changed it.

Moultrie has come out with a few new models that have a trigger time similar to a cuddeback for about half the money. I think this move will push the price of their older cameras down. It's good for bearhunter sinces since they work fine over bait, they just aren't that handy for catching deer on the move.

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

I like the clarity of that pic. I have the 2.1 mgp model and my uncle has the 3.0 mgp. He had problems with moultries' rechargable batteries building up memory so I rigged my to run off a bigger 6 volt and as you said they work great for bear hunting. It works just as good as my cuudeback but it does have a little slower reaction time.

[maros91]

Checked my 3 baits again and still nothing. The next time I can get out is Thursday after work. I will pull my old bait that is wet and soggy from the rain and put out fresh stuff. I thought for sure that my variety pack of bait would for sure get a couple of hits. Maybe I should go back and put just one thing out. Like a bucket of donuts on one, licorice on one, and dog food on one. What do you guys think? Variety or just one thing at one station? Thanks guys!

Very nice pics from the people that send them in. Saturday is coming and I hope you guys connect!!

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

Biff what are using for scent to attract the bears? If you are still using bacon and blueberry scent on every bait, try using just one scent per bait. Also you could try dragging a gunny sack with a few loafs of bread in it, soaked in molasass( I think thats how to spell it ). The bread will keep the molasass scent longer than just using the gunny sack alone.

If you have to walk aways to get to your bait try dragging that to and from your bait. It worked for me a couple times. I did find a "secret scent" that I guess I could share with you if you would like. I just don't what to share with everybody (sorry guys). I'm not sure if it works that good because my bait in the no quota area hasn't been hit yet.

[Boar]

Yes I have Antler, I heated some up last night when I baited an was hit, An hung a big portion of my ball tonight also, it's supposed to warm uptomorrow an for the weekend so that ball should do it's job. I'm starting to mis up my bait quite a bit, i still keep doughnuts but instead of pizza an molasses corn an oats, I put in caned dog food with a gravy sauce, some liquirce, hard dog food an beef scraps. That canned dog food is'nt very expensive twelve cans for about 7 bucks so thats twelve baitings A little corn an blueberry bear feed. On opening day i'm gonna go in about three an burn a pound of maple bacon. Cant wait. Say Antler I sure would like to hear of your secret scent, being in no qouta also, No Q's need all the help we can get, if not I'm respectfull of that. I'll trade a little bait gathering secret with ya, Potental to get mucho latae' Later boar

[Boar]

Antler, If ya choose to horse trade, my e-mail is [email protected] Boar

[Boar]

I hope this is'nt an unathorized email. Boar

[maros91]

I have been using grease on top of my logs and on the ground around the bait. I have my blueberry scent ball hanging by the bait. I spray half the area with blueberry scent and the other half with bacon scent. I also have a little hamburger hanging. I will take the burger down and just use grease and blueberry scent. The other baits I have been just using grease as scent. How about bait? Keep the variety or just use one thing.

[nmnhunter]

We have four bait stations out and we aren't getting any hits. We did have a couple of hits about a week ago but that's it. What kind of scent are you all using to attact them? We have been using donuts, meat scraps, grease and strawberry syrup but nothing is working. Any ideas? Need to get these stations going....

[roosterslayer]

Has anybody here ever tried a different burn scent. I understand honey and bacon is what most people use but is there anything else. I am hunting all public land and maybe the bears smell the same scents all the time so it isn't as attractive to them. So if somebody has another burn scent please let me know.

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

Boar_Check your e-mail

Biff, A varity of things are good to have but I've been told by a few people that bears don't like to have too many differnt strong smells at a bait. I don't know if there is any truth to it but I thought it was worth a try. I have been baiting with bread (put maple syrup over it), oats-cracked corn-molasass mixturre from a local feed mill and plums from a friut tree we have. Then I pour molasass and gease on the logs and ground around the bait. By pouring it on the ground I hope to have the bears track it off in the woods and leave scent trails to attract more bears (seems to work). I have never had very much luck with meat scraps ( i try to keep stuff sweet). Has anyone had luck using meat? One big thing is putting too much bait out. I put out 1 and 1/2 5 gallon pails of bait and I rebait every 3 days. In 1 pail I have bread and oat mixture and in the other i have the plums or whatever fruit I can get. If i could I would put less food out and go every day but I can't go everyday.

As for the burner I would defintely check out the stuff called Big Paw I don't think I can give out the web address but I'm sure you can find it if you googled it, it is made by the same company that Biff got his scent ball from. It doesn't smell like much but when you put it in a burner you want to be up wind. I used it last year and the bear i shot came in soon after I started it. I'm heading up tomarrow and hope to have afew pics to post.

[Gofishleech]

I started out useing dog food with syrup poored over, then I spead grease all over the crib logs and then sloshed it all over trees (basicly made a mess!!) I had 4 bait sites and to this day only the one is getting hit. The one thing different I did with the active one is hang some fish guts about 8 ft high. They have not touched them but man do they stink. I thought to have atleast 3 bears comeing in, one night the site did not get touched and I switched to bread and syrup and donugts. The site has been hit now 3 nights in row and there is a pattern that should pay off saturday evening. I am getting pumped!!