Bear Bait recipes

[Coveyleader]

Both baits got hit for the first time last night. Ran out real quick this morning and poured 5 gallons of castor scented restaurant grease at both sights for them to drag around.

New bait sites or existing? How many days until the first hit? I finally got out and got mine in. Huge changes in my area so I'm not sure what to expect if anything.

 

[wildwilderness]

New bait sites or existing? How many days until the first hit? I finally got out and got mine in. Huge changes in my area so I'm not sure what to expect if anything.

How long it takes to get hit is very dependent on your bear density and competing food sources. Coastal Alaska most anything will get hit in a week or so. However I had a friend run a new bait interior and never got hit last year..... A lot has to do with site selection and activity. Most of my established baits will get hit in a few days.

Where are you baiting? There are things to try that usually work depending on how much effort you are willing to put in.

 

[Timberline001]

New bait sites or existing? How many days until the first hit? I finally got out and got mine in. Huge changes in my area so I'm not sure what to expect if anything.

Brand new sites but my buddy is 4 miles away with existing and very successful sights and they got hit for the first time yesterday as well. We both put ours out on opening weekend (April 15th). He’s very experienced and said it was later than normal this year due to the early good green grass for them to clear their guts with. We were both seeing tracks within a half mile of our baits weeks before they were hit.

 

[Coveyleader]

That’s pretty good for a brand new bait you just never know. I’ve baited before on a 10-14 day hunt, and it took all 10 days to get going and you have like 2-3 days to hunt.

last year my good spot took 4 days to get hit (brand new) but a catastrophic fire took care of that spot.

 

[Sourdough]

I "think" a lot depends of wind/breeze direction and strength. You can buy 33 oz. bottles of vanilla "Extract" flavoring (Mexican) for $10.95'ish online, and a spray thingie cheap or use a empty windex type sprayer bottle.

 

[Coveyleader]

I’m my experience wind direction and setting your bait is the most critical element of putting a station in. Especially with limited season lengths and quotas at play.

 

[Timberline001]

This guy showed up Thursday afternoon too the popcorn bait with Boarmasters anise bear-let legal mixed in. Came back several times that day and the next morning. Sat last night and got him at 7:35.

 

[Sourdough]

Nice bear. Is that "typical" of bears in that area.....???

I note how wide and round the head is, yet how short the muzzle (nose) is, and how long the ears are relative to the size of the head.

Beautiful bear......congratulations. Nice color. It could be the camera angle. Noticeably different then my yard bears. Actually more attractive.

 

[Timberline001]

Nice bear. Is that "typical" of bears in that area.....???

I note how wide and round the head is, yet how short the muzzle (nose) is, and how long the ears are relative to the size of the head.

Beautiful bear......congratulations. Nice color. It could be the camera angle. Noticeably different then my yard bears. Actually more attractive.

Our big bears often don’t fit the “small ears big bear” mantra I have noticed. I’ll measure him in a little but he’s well over 19 inches. He has a long muzzle but that head is so big it makes it look small. He does have the deep tell tale crease on his head though and that was one of the first things I noticed on camera.

 

[Sourdough]

Our big bears often don’t fit the “small ears big bear” mantra I have noticed. I’ll measure him in a little but he’s well over 19 inches. He has a long muzzle but that head is so big it makes it look small. He does have the deep tell tale crease on his head though and that was one of the first things I noticed on camera.

The "neck" is massive. What kind of condition are the teeth in.......??? Lots of tarter, or decay, or sharp and clean....??? The coat looks good in the photo.

 

[Timberline001]

The "neck" is massive. What kind of condition are the teeth in.......??? Lots of tarter, or decay, or sharp and clean....??? The coat looks good in the photo.

Good coat and sharp teeth. I’ll find out his age after fish and game checks him.

 

[Mojave]

I used feed store oats soaked in cherry coolaid with good success.

They like black licorice if you have a source of it cheap.

Bacon grease works pretty well, but I think they can smell sweet things farther.

Need to move back to Alaska now that you can bait grizzlies.

 

[Uintah]

On my hunt a few years ago, I used old breads, bagles, muffins etc. Sweet COB covered and mixed with molasses and popcorn covered with cherry Kool-aid mix. I also supplemented with Marshmallows. By far the first thing to go that the bears seemed to LOVE was the popcorn and the marshmallows. I also used old fry grease too which I think was helpful in establishing scent trails, but by far the bears loved the popcorn and marshmallows the most.

 

[Mibowhunter49]

How are you guys popping your popcorn efficiently? I know a guy who knows the owner of a movie theater, thinking about offering to bring my own kernals, oil, and a case of beer to let me use/abuse is popcorn machine.

 

[Uintah]

I borrowed 2 of the large movie theater looking popcorn poppers that some neighbors of mine had and spent a weekend popping enough to fill most of four 30 gallon yard bags full. At the time it seemed like overkill and I wondered what I was thinking. But in hindsight I'm glad I popped as much as I did because it was the first thing the bears ate and they cleaned up every single kernel!

 

[kevf]

For smell, I put 5 gallon buckets half filled with pieces of old fish (find a fish market), let that under the sun for 7 days, and then hang that in the trees. I drilled 1/4" holes at the top and let them there around my bait.

That way, even though my popcorn is not smelling very far, they come to see what is that stinky smell, and start eating the popcorn on which I added a bit of peach cheap kool-aid.

That setup is the cheapest and lightest I've found.