Bear hunting without bait help

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Jun 10, 2016
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Like the title says, I need some advice on hunting bears without bait. I will be hunting in NY in September for the "early" bear season, and the use of bait and dogs is illegal. I can use up to 1.5oz of a liquid attractant though and was wondering if there are any that are really worth trying. I guess I am just curious as to how others target bear in thicker cover without bait. Do you call, use any kind of lure, or just walk around and hope to stumble upon one? Glassing can be problematic in the area that I hunt, the majority of the area is tree covered hills and valleys with logging roads and some farmland mixed in. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-Mike
 
There's a pretty great book on exactly this subject available for digital download. It's called "No Bait Just Bears" I'd definitely suggest reading it.
 
I'll be reading "No Bait, Just Bears!" again before I head out in September (NYS also). If I remember correctly he's a big advocate of calling.
 
Mike,

Early season bears in NY are tough. I used to live up there and hunted in Vermont as well as in New York for about 10 years. If you have access to areas up there where there are agriculture fields it is very similar to tree stand hunting deer. If you are hunting in the Adirondack State Park it gets a little more difficult. One of the best techniques that I have found was finding the entrance and exit routes coming into and out of swamps. The best areas that produced bear were the higher ground that had nut trees, either beach nuts or acorns.
 
Mike, Get yourself a bottle of SCOTTS liquid smoke at the grocery store, brown glass bottle.
mix 1/2 bottle of that with 1/2 bottle of pure unfiltered apple juice, to get you your 1.5 oz. You get a sweet and smoky mix that is a good nose magnet for bears.

Put the bottle out on a stump or rock and just let it sit there top off and opened. I will smell yummy to bears.

If your in an area that you are seeing bear sign... bar POO, scratchy posts, back scratcher trees, (trees with bear hair on em) maybe try and pour the bottle out on a log of stump and let it soak in, Bears will then find it and tear the stump apart.

Learned this trick from an old school non bear baiter hunter from the 70's, He had pics to prove it worked.

I did it once years ago before the era of train cams and came back a weekend later and the old rotting stump I put it on was torn to shreds. Dont know how long it took for yogi to find it but he sure was looking for that bacon/apple sammich in that pic-a-nic basket of a stump.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. Remington hunter I will be in the Catskill region primarily and fortunately I know a few farmers who have had some problems with bear in the past. Might have to hit them up this harvest season and see what's in the area. Elkbowkevin I will probably give that mixture a try, sounds like it might help coax one out of the thick stuff. Thanks again!
 
I'll be reading "No Bait, Just Bears!" again before I head out in September (NYS also). If I remember correctly he's a big advocate of calling.
Yes, I am a big advocate of calling! Thanks for the support. Mlawrence 125, find out what the bears have to eat in the area that time of year and target that food source. If your not having much luck, try calling. Early mornings, evenings are prime time (just like with deer). Best of luck!
 
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