Newbie bear hunter dumb questions

[Boar]

Boy get on it double B, But i guesse its all in how a person uses it. I'm the exception to the norm i use probably over 200 gal. a season but i store my bait that way to. But i have 3 sites to bait an I grease up alot an I'd say about 2 gal per site per visit, with an average of at least 4 visits per week. But i soak a sak evertime an launch grease into the trees an brush, I'm over kill, but it works for me. My sites get so saturated that rain dont wash it away an when it gets warm like it dose end of august erly spet. I can smell my sites if the wind is right long before i get there.By mid sept. if I havent taged out I back off on the grease. Some resturaunts will have put in the plastic 5 gal container it came in which happend to me so its handy pick up an go, others like jay have the grease dumpster to bail it out of an that can be messy, at least it was for me, yuk. Becarefull on the grease dumpsters, I got permission form one an found out that they dump the grease AND the detergent to clean the fryeres into the same dumpster. Ya dont want that stuff. Any grease is better than none. Good luck.

[mrklean]

Had a buddy ask me this question but i didnt know he didnt get any bakery items for bear bait just some candies and frostings stuff that he bought will it be tough to bring in bears without bakery items? i had no idea but figured someone here would know better

[Boar]

I wouldnt woories so much about bringing bears in as much as keeping them coming back, frosting an candy will get eating up no prob, but your budy needs some staple bait, main course so to speak, doughts are great, granola trail mix type, heck you can go to a feed store an get a mollassas mix that works great. meat scrapes, (read the regs), breads soaked in grease or mollassas, ect. Gonn be pretty tough to hold a bear bear for two weeks on just frosting an candies especially with other baiters around. If he gets in a pinch an wants to take a road trip I got doughnuts, man do I got doughnuts....

[jay83196]

I agree with boar, I have found bears also have different taste at times for example meat or dog food has been great others it won't get touched. Donuts etc are usually one of best but I know people that don't use donuts and do well. Smell brings em in, keeping it full with variety of stuff keeps them coming in my opinion.

[mrklean]

Ha dog food huh would have never thought of that, ill let him know that, any other easy to get baits out there that might work like a dog food or mollass

[jay83196]

Popcorn works great too, can be fairly cheap, takes more time to pop it than anything.

[mrklean]

Plenty of movie theaters around to collect from could hopefully get him a good supply

[Boar]

Yeah there ya go, dog food an grease or mollasas pop corn micro wave a bag from a discount bin to dump for a goody. Iver even bought the alpo dog food in a can, a case for 10-12 bucks an one can per visit or at leaste wen they start hitting regularly. An like I say feed stores have a good variety of stuff to consider. Ol roy dog food like jay mentioned is golden. Some investment an he'll get a good variety. Popcorn for free for sure. spinkle a little liquid smoke on some dog food an its yummy time. Good luck to yur buddy.

[LindellProStaf]

Boar I just sent you a PM.

[WAG416]

PM sent boar

[Archerysniper]

Mr klean take that sugary stuff and mix it in with the dog food or I go to the mill and buy bulk bags of oats and throw the sugar and oats in a old cement mixer and your golden.

[BlackArrow1]

IMO 5 gallons of fryer grease goes a long way. Use it on your baits and some around the site. Good for popcorn and bread stuff. I posted this years past. If ya want a nice rug or mount careful how much of that stuff you spread. I had a nice big sow hitting. She rolled in the grease spread about. Her coat looked like hell on trail cam. All matted and greasy. Glad I didn't have a shot on that one. Thinking that no taxi is gonna try and work that stuff out. Just my 2 cents.

[bigbucks]

Okay these maybe stupid questions, but 2nd weekend I'm bear hunting by myself so:

What's the best way to hook a rope or cable to a bear to drag it without damaging the fur? (I'm planning on a shoulder mount.)

What should a guy hang it by to skin it out? (I'm assuming I don't want to slice it to slip a gambrel through, but don't really know.)

[jerkbait]

An otter sled works great for dragging them in or a small sled. I am no expert on the hanging and skinning. I laid mine on a table on its back and skinned it that way. I would like to hear some hanging ideas also.

[bigbucks]

Don't have an otter sled. Seems like I don't have any plastic sleds large enough other than my sled fish house, which would be too big & clumsy.

[Matt Breuer]

We've always hung them around the neck. Never affected the hide/rug IMO. We've done this with a ton of bears, and I've never been able to tell there was a rope present after the tanning was done...

[Boar]

I roll him up in a tarp like a borrito an tie off the ends an slides really nice too.

[bigbucks]

Okay now I have a question about burns. Can you only do that at a registered bait site or could you go setup somewhere new & do that? Obviously you'd be there when it's happening.

We only have two baits setup for two of us & don't really have the bait or the time to establish additional new sites. Thought about just doing a burn in a new are of the same several hundred acre woods, as our hits have been 100% nocturnal the last two weeks.

[Boar]

Yea pretty sure if ya do one becareful as dry as it is maybe check with ur local fire warden first. If you done clear a large area around urburner down to dirt, dont use bacon with the dry conditons grease catches fire i'd use honey. Good luck becarefull. I dont even wanna advise it as dry as it is.

[CANOPY SAM]

BigBucks. It is my understanding that you can do a burn pretty much anywhere within your designated hunting zone. As technically you aren't hunting over, or maintaining a bait pile, or continually feeding animals in anyway, so the DNR would not need to check your station.

Doing random burns can be a very effective way to quickly find a bear, and bring em' in close for a shot, but it's not nearly as high a percentage as hunting over an established bait station. When doing an exploratory random burn you also have the cards stacked against you in terms of 1) well concealed stand location, and 2) open shooting lanes if and when someone shows up.

Up in your neck of the woods I don't imagine it's nearly as dry as we are here in NW MN. Boar is correct though. If you're going to do a burn make sure to clear out more than ample space in the undergrowth and forest floor. These little homemade burners have been known to burst into flames, start bigger fires, and even burn folks pretty bad trying to put em' out!

Bacon (or bacon grease) is probably the most fragrant and affective thing to "burn", but it's also the most flammable, and has to be done carefully. Fruit jams or jellies work well, and burn slowly. I liked the post earlier about a burn in the BWCA with marshmallows and cherry koolaid. Likely a nice fruity/sweet smelling burn, and easy to do. I like spraying concentrated black cherry koolaid all over a site before doing a burn. For some reason, I don't know why, it seems like that smell kind of belongs in the woods, and bear seem to dig it as much as I do?

Good luck to ya', BigBucks, and be careful.

[bigbucks]

The woods are very dry at all up there. It's stuff that was logged less than 10 years ago, so it's thick with really green stuff. I don't think it would burn very well at all. Hunting next to swamp edges too.

So say we do a burn Friday night over our baits & nothing comes in what do you guys think, go do a burn from a different stand the next night or stick with the bait? Saturday night is going to be my last bear hunt other than possibly the last weekend.

[CANOPY SAM]

I gotta leave that one up to the bait station guys. They know bear behavior over baits way better than I do.

If you've got bear coming to baits late at night they could be experienced bear, that recognize safe times to come in for supper. They could be IN the same section your hunting, or they could be coming from a fairly long distance away, and it just takes em' that long to get there each night.

If it were me, and I knew from cam pics that nothing was coming in during shooting hours, I'd position myself upwind of the entire section accordingly and try a potent burn to see if you can pull em' into range out of sheer curiosity.

If time is short, and your chances are slim, thoroughly scout the edges of your section and see if you can find where your bear are moving in and out of the area, or if they indeed are living right inside the clear cut. If they're coming in from somewhere else you gotta find a way to close the distance...trying to catch them earlier in the evening on the way to your baits.

Old clear cuts can be a real challenge. They're so darn thick it's hard to peg a bear's movement, and sometimes it can be a real challenge to even set up a good stand site.

Nocturnal bear are fickle critters. Changing that behavior is a game of trial and error. That's one of the many reasons I don't hunt over bait. I've spent way too much time and money feeding nocturnal bear. I enjoy the challenge of figuring out their patterns before it gets dark.

[bigbucks]

Okay now I'm curious if you don't hunt over bait how do you hunt them? How do you find them?

[CANOPY SAM]

I scout for them. This year it's reasonably easy in our area cause they're almost universally near water. Bear in our area are relying on travel routes in waterways, rivers, creek bottoms, ditches, etc. Toughest part is finding tracks cause it's been so darn dry for so long this summer.

As has been stated numerous times over the years under this heading, bear need three things to survive 1) food, 2) water, and 3) bedding or denning cover.

I start by scouting agricultural areas outside the quota zone. The combination of a steady food source, with nearby water and heavy cover are key areas. Once I've isolated a few "likely" areas, and obtained the appropriate permission, then I drill down on scouting by finding tracks, scat, crossing areas, damaged crops, etc.

If you can find a good trail, or someplace where a bear is feeding routinely in a standing crop, you can quickly get near that bear, and position yourself for a shot as he travels between feeding, watering, or bedding areas...not entirely unlike you'd do for a big buck.

Quick and careful stand placement, spraying down the area with sweet smelling juice, another great attractant is Kipper Snack Juice (that stuff smells STRONG), and doing a simple bacon or berry burn (with the "right" wind), and you've got a pretty good shot at bringing in a nice bear without all the investment in bait, and time in baiting.

In the big forest a great way to start is topographical maps. Look for high ground Oak stands adjacent to waterways. This time of year bear will obviously go to high percentage food areas, and acorns are a high volume food source. Doing a potent burn in a big oak stand surrounded by lowland swamp, or evergreen forest can also bring in a bear pretty quickly.

The MN DNR recommends that bear hunters use bait because it greatly ups the odds of filling a tag, and ultimately offers better control of the MN bear population. However, it is certainly not the only way to hunt MN bear. I don't often fill a tag, but that's honestly not my primary goal. I absolutely love the aspect of the "hunt" itself, and the challenge and reward that goes along with filling a bear tag by open range hunting tactics.

I've spot and stalked them in corn fields, oat fields, and big woods. I've tracked them for miles to find denning and feeding areas, and I've even crawled into temporary dens to see if anyone was home!

Some people think I'm crazy, and wasting my time hunting bear this way. They think I make a "mockery" of "real bear hunters". It's too bad, IMO, that people feel this way. Putting a bear in the freezer isn't my end all accomplishment. I appreciate the hunt itself, figuring out a bear's travel patterns and daily routines on the ground level, and if I can get it all right, and harvest a nice animal, that's just a bonus. A generous gift from the Lord.

I don't have anything against hunting over bait. I just don't have the opportunity, money, or time to make this work in our region of the state. If my son and I can't connect well into the season, I'm not opposed to firing up a small bait station to see if we can catch a straggler.

So far this year I've only put in a few hours of scouting/hunting with my eldest son. I'm teaching him this method of hunting bear, the same way I taught him to spot and stalk hunt deer on the ground, and he absolutely loves it. In those few hours we've located 4 different bear, but have not been presented an opportunity yet. I'm counting on things starting to heat up as our temps start to cool down...if you know what I mean!

Seems like every evening he and I have a chance to get out it's either way too hot, or way too windy, or both! Unfortunately, we're both just way too busy with tons of other priorities to pour our efforts into bear hunting, but the times we do get out are awesome, and finding an animal, or sign, is just icing on the cake.

Finding new areas with bear sign nearly every time we go out now.

[bigbucks]

Cool thanks, seems like that would take a lot of time too.

[Matt Breuer]

What Canopy means is this, you go to TRF for coffee and a farmer says, "Say, yeah, over der on da' ditchbank der's been a big bear trouncing old man Peterson's crops!" You reply with, "Oh yeah, t'ink he wants it taken care of?" To which the farmer says, "Can't hurt to stop out der!"

That afternoon you bring out some cookies and ask for permission, then sit on your tailgate waiting for the bears to move from the grove to the sunflowers.

While I am of course semi-kidding, it's pretty common in that section of the no-quota. My sister has been begging people to shoot the bears in her corn. My dad is too weak and ill to get it done, and only sat one evening but had to get down during prime-time due to coughing fits and dizziness. It's pretty awesome, and way cheaper than baiting!

bigbucks, you can burn anywhere in your zone. When you build a burner, try using a clothes hanger for the "wire". Honey is the best. It emits a nice cloud of smoke and really sticks to the canopy when it burns out. Bacon is good, but don't use a ton, as it can cause grease fires like CANOPY said. We had a small boar in thanks to 1/3 cup of honey, 2 slices of bacon, and 1/3 cup of brown sugar. Great scent. Pie filling emits a nice cloud and smell as well. Cherry.

Purely nocturnal bears suck. If I have one that is never hitting during the day, I move on. If there's a few hits during daylight, I know there's a chance and just stick with it. All a guy can do... Have you tried minimal bait? Like 1 gallon? Ring the dinner bell like you typically would, drop a gallon, and then leave? Might make the bear think something is beating him to it... I don't know. Nobody does. Bears are confusing. You just keep feeding, and pray that you get lucky. End of story!

[jerkbait]

Here is my 1st attempt at a bacon burn. Definitely pays to test drive at home first. Honey burns have been much more succesfull without practice. Cherry pie filling? Might have to give that one a try sometime.Good luck BB!

[Matt Breuer]

Haha, awesome pic! NOT an awesome scenario however! Yes, putting a pile of raw bacon in the can seems like a good idea, until the fat begins to reduce and the can starts to overflow into the bottom container... 2-3 strips of bacon is more than enough!

[CANOPY SAM]

Hey! That's funny, but not funny, Matt! Especially since you won't let me go hunt the bear in your sister's corn! Doggone it, den dar!

Ok, Matt's correct, in that's where we sometimes start. Ya gotta do, what ya' gotta do, when you don't have time for baiting. But is that really any different than scouting out any new area for hunting opportunities for deer, birds, or anything else for that matter, when you don't have Daddies private land to hunt? Har har har....

Still gotta figure out where, when and why they're moving. Be in the right place, at the right time, and/or go into the thick stuff after em'. It's exciting and fun, and there's no guarantee the animals are going to show up where you expect them. That's where some good scent, or a "non-explosive" burn comes in.

LOVE that pic Jerkbait! The Towering Bacon Inferno! Don't know if you guys remember, but there was someone on here a year or two ago that had that same thing happen, and he tried to put it out! Ended up in the emergency room that night!

[CANOPY SAM]

Oh, and one more thing. It's, "Oh ya?", not "Oh yeah?" Geez your dumb!