Copper River, AK

[Nick Muche]

I am headed down to a remote part of the Copper River in Late May, Early June for 9 days of salmon fishing and black bear hunting. I plan to hunt over bait and have a few questions for any of you that may have done this in the past.

The ideal situation would involve me traveling from Fairbanks down to the location the weekend prior to my scheduled 9 days of bliss and getting a bait site established. I am wondering how long you think it will take a bait to get hit? This will be a new location for a bait, so that will likely play a role in timing but I have had baits in Idaho that get hit within a day or two and others that took the entire season. I think it is safe to say that the black bear concentration along the Copper River is of higher density that in Idaho, but... I don't know that for sure.

If the above scenario does not work out and I get there on day 1, establish a very good bait site with plenty of stink/sweet, is it safe to say that in a few days I will have black bears on it? I realize this is all speculation as one can never be sure, just looking for an educated guess from someone who has hunted that area or areas in AK that are similar.

I love baiting bears, but I will certainly try spot and stalk while waiting for the bait to become active. Just trying to maximize my time and if setting it up a week prior needs to happen, I will. If it's not recommended then I won't waste the time and gas money on two trips down.

Thanks for the help.

Nick

 

[Floorguy]

Not the answer you are looking for, I would have to say it depends on the bears. A couple years ago I put in a new site it smelled like a candy shop and I could smell it from a couple hundred yards away. I'd say it probably sat 3 weeks with no bear action got pics of some wild dogs, moose, birds and squirrels. It got cleaned out and demolished the night before the last day of the season. It had been getting checked daily. Didn't get to see pics the batteries had died too. It was a big black is estimating based of paw size it was over 7 foot.

 

[Nick Muche]

Where in AK (generally speaking). What time of the season did you place the bait?

 

[ericfamilee]

I've actually thought of doing something similar near there. If I had to guess I think you would probably have bears hitting fairly soon down in that area. Of course at least a trip or two to establish the bait prior to your main trip would up the odds of having bears on your bait ready to hunt. My experience is there are quite a few bears in that general area, though I've never hunted it seriously due to long distance from home.

 

[Floorguy]

Where in AK (generally speaking). What time of the season did you place the bait?

South central some where between Palmer and Eureka I can't remember the date I do remember that it was a late breakup and the spot wasnt able to be gotten to until after the snow had gone.

 

[Stid2677]

Use some molasses, place it so they will walk in it, that will spread the scent and leaves trails to your bait, honey burns work great too. Lots of bears in that area, but lots of the WRONG kind too so be careful. Each and every site is different I have had them on bait in hours, days and weeks. I think you will find one in that amount of time and that time of year.

Good Luck

Steve

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

I only have one year of baiting under my belt but from the several baits me and my friend placed last year the best ones were on a ridge with a good wind and water near by. The spots that met those has bears in a matter of days and one of them hours! The rest of them seemed to all take at least a week to get hit with any frequency.

 

[Nick Muche]

Thanks for the help. Looks like I will try my best to get down there a week prior and set up a site.

Good call on the Molassas Steve, I have done that before with grease as well as frosting. (I ran into a company that sold frosting and they gave me a truck load of 5 gallon buckets of the stuff), wish I had a hook up like that up here! Honey burns and bear crack have been included into our baiting schemes since I started doing it, they work well and I think they will work even better up here.

Those "WRONG" bears will be in trouble next year when I can legally shoot one, I guess you can bait brownies in that area as of this year according to what I read on ADF&G. My friend shot a real nice one last year spot and stalk down there, 13 yards, snuck up on him sleeping.

 

[Stid2677]

The Molasses is water soluble so it does not have the "site cleanup" challenges that used cooking oil and grease present.

Have fun and be safe.

 

[Nick Muche]

Correct, cleaning up grease would not be a fun time what so ever...

 

[ericfamilee]

Those "WRONG" bears will be in trouble next year when I can legally shoot one, I guess you can bait brownies in that area as of this year according to what I read on ADF&G. My friend shot a real nice one last year spot and stalk down there, 13 yards, snuck up on him sleeping.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I understood you could bait grizzly in 13D this year too. The same rules apply as baiting black bears. Off topic here, but does that mean you don't have to salvage the meat after June 1 too?

 

[Stid2677]

Those "WRONG" bears will be in trouble next year when I can legally shoot one, I guess you can bait brownies in that area as of this year according to what I read on ADF&G. My friend shot a real nice one last year spot and stalk down there, 13 yards, snuck up on him sleeping.

Yeah I understood you could bait grizzly in 13D this year too. The same rules apply as baiting black bears. Off topic here, but does that mean you don't have to salvage the meat after June 1 too?[/QUOTE]


You will need to check the regs very carefully. There was numerous proposals to align meat salvage to be the same as black bear, but I'm not sure what the outcome was. I do know from listening to the meeting that many were very against brown bear baiting and were using meat salvage as a deterrent and will be eager to latch onto the first example of why it is a bad idea. So enter into this new found hunting method with due diligence and make sure to follow the outlined rules. My experience with browns and grizzlys on bait is they know when you are there and hit the bait when you are gone or at night. The only ones I have had on bait when on stand were juveniles and sows with cubs.

Good luck and be safe, a grizz protecting a food source can be very dangerous and are as fast as a bolt of lightening. Approach your stand ready to do battle.

 

[tipsntails7]

From my experience with black bears in Idaho and oregon when it was legal is you really have no idea when they will first hit the bait, maybe there is no bear there, maybe they are occupied by another food source who knows, but once the bait is hit as long as they are not run off the site by something like a hunter or a large bear they will be back.

 

[Coveyleader]

Another thing to keep in mind (I've done similar hunts in some of the most bear infested areas in SE AK) is you really want the bait getting hammered. The last thing you want to do is sit the bait when they're still tentative about the site. A 10 day DIY baited hunt is always a bit of a gamble when it comes to getting a bait going. You just never know. If you got brown ones showing up (never had to deal with that) it will be even worse.

If the drive is under 12 hours, I'd get that thing going long before showing up.

 

[Nick Muche]

Thanks covey, I think that is the route I am going to take. Almost have to if I want to have an active bait site to sit.

 

[JShurtz087]

14215.vB[/ATTACH]

The "wrong" bears feel so right!