Bear Baiting

Well here we are on the eve of another bait season. Thirty days until season opens. If you haven't had a chance to read my book "Black Bear Hunting and Baiting" there are a few still on sale at Blue Seal Feeds or you can read it for free online at the home page (in word).

I would like to offer a few suggestions to the sportsman in search of a black bear. First bait sites are hard to come by, if you are on land other than yours, you must have permission. Most large landowners, especially paper companies charge a fee per bait site of $100 and bait sites are leased on a square mile basis. Baiters can get pretty terrorial to say the least, especially when paying hundreds of dollars to lease a site and are responsible for all liter and tresspass laws. So please take care and make sure you have proper permission and labeling of your site in accordance with the law. Having bait sites, closer than a mile apart result in overlapping of the bear to multiple baits and in fact reduces chances as the bear can get all the bait it wants.

This is a berry year, meaning there is a lot of natural food for bear. That is both good and bad for the baiter. It may take a little extra to get your bear coming, but once it finds you then it is important to keep the bait coming.

Type of bait and lures to use is as wide open as the size of the bear. How the site looks and the clean up is important to me. I perferr to use natural baits and ground cubbles with logs. This results in no mess and no litter issues. A lot of folks use barrells/drums and all sorts of products. This creates a huge mess and lots of work, when all you need a 3 lb coffee can of bait a day or so. Remember the black bear stomach is relatively small, not much bigger than a few donuts. Bears are not meat eaters, in fact they perferr grains, nuts and grass over carrion. Not to say the beaver doesn't work well.

Thought should be given to the amount of bait you will need and how you plan to tend the site once started. I go through about (2) drums per bait per year, or 5 gallons a day at a hard working site, this is pasteries. Natual bait can be done with a coffee can a day. So really think this through, do you really want to get pasteries that are wrapped and the work that goes into that. If you elect to do this, I would suggest moving the television outside, get a board three feet long, rest the board on your chair or stool and drive a nail in between your legs. You can slice a package open on the nail, bend and dump to a pail on the right side of the chair and put the wrapper in a pail on the left side of the chair. This is redneck baiting.

Location of site is the next step and takes a while to learn, I can all but bet when you find an area, someone else already has permission or is nearby. Study topo maps looking for wet holes/swamps and ridges of beech nuts. Think that is you were 300 pounds with a fur coat where you would want to be in 70-80 degree weather. The law requires that bait sites be at least 50 yards off a trail or road and there are other restrictions on dumps and such.

Next we will talk locations and tending the site. You can get all this and more in the book for free. Remember Know The Law!