Bear Baiting

[bearhntr]

Anyone have any suggestions on bait for bears. I should say does anyone have experience with bear baiting? What do you use and what seams the best to attract bears. Thanks I have done spot and stalk in other states but have never hunted over a bait station. I am fairly certain that I will draw this year seeing that I have the top bonus points in the areas that I applied for.

[truemule]

I've heard of people using dog food, day old donuts if you can get a bakery to sell them. Honey in a can with a candle underneath is alos a very great attractant. I haven't read the bear proclomation in a while and I believe there are some restrictions on what you can use. So read that before you going using just anything.

[bearhntr]

I do know that the bait if meat has to be certified and you can not use any container to hold the bait. So I am a little weary about the scented baits in a can. Thanks for your advise.

[nickpan]

PM Sent

[bird buster]

So let me get this right? If I drew a bear tag, I can't use a container to hold the bait in? Everytime I see a bear hunting show they tie barrels to trees and stock it full of bait. What would it matter, or why does utah say "no" to bait containers?

[Kevin D]

So let me get this right? If I drew a bear tag, I can't use a container to hold the bait in? Everytime I see a bear hunting show they tie barrels to trees and stock it full of bait. What would it matter, or why does utah say "no" to bait containers?

In some of the states where barrels are used to contain bait the hunters get lazy and leave their barrels there year round. Bait barrels even during the season are unsightly and the Forest Service will field lots of complaints......hence the law.

I have never baited in Utah, but for several years I assited in running a couple bait stations in Idaho. Our baits consisted of two parts, a stink bait to attract the bear to the area initially, and a food bait to keep them coming back. The stink bait part was usually some kind of dead animal. We collected the skinned mink carcasses in the fall and barrelled them up until spring to use as baits, we used dead cows from dairy farms, and we used the offal and waste by-products from a custom slaughter operation. All of this would be difficult to do in Utah because of the addtional restrictions, but legal in Idaho.

The food based part was easier to administer but fairly expensive. Dog food soaked in either grease or molasses was the staple, but we experimented with beet pulp pellets and rolled corn used the same way as well. We also used out of date bread and doughnuts from the Hostess distributer, but that was a pain because everything was still packaged. One of the guys I was teamed with even got a hold of some 40 lbs blocks of Sugar Daddy carmel which worked well.

Not only did we feed the bears, but we also fed every magpie, raven, and coyote in central Idaho with our baits as well (this was in the pre-wolf days). We went through dog food by the truck load and it was pretty much a full time job to maintain it, but there was never any shortage of bear hitting our baits.

You can do a similar bait station in Utah, but it will take a lot of work and a lot of money.....more than it took us in Idaho because of Utah's additional restrictions. Is it worth it?? Not for me, but you can decide for yourself.

[bearhntr]

So let me get this right? If I drew a bear tag, I can't use a container to hold the bait in? Everytime I see a bear hunting show they tie barrels to trees and stock it full of bait. What would it matter, or why does utah say "no" to bait containers?

The second part of the containers is that they don't want the bears to associate food with containers.
Kevin- Thanks for your info. I have been toying with different ideas from meat scraps but like you said the restrictions are huge. I thought of using some out of date popcorn and potato chips with molasses or some other sweet stuff. I will keep on researching further options and hopefully find something that will work out for me financially.
Did you refresh the bait daily, and how long did you bait until you had bears hitting it.
I have the chance of doing two bait stations so I am planning on setting up trail cameras to give me a good indicator of what animals I am seeing and if bears are present which one holds the bigger bear.
Thanks again, Oh what out fitter in Idaho did you work for? Where are they located? Are they still in operation? You said central Idaho. I have hunted Bears in the Bitteroot area and up by Lolo Pass. This was just spot and stalk. No baiting just in the fall when the berries were on. We actually cut a set of grizzly tracks! That made the hair stand on the back of my neck stand on end seeing I had my archery equipment and my buddy had his muzzle loader.

[bird buster]

I understand the problems with leaving a bait barrel around. People are just lazy. Too bad. Seems like you could legally use logs and make a bait barrel out of them. Cut a 12 x 12 hole in the side so bears could stick there head in but not be able to empty the stash as fast.

Sounds like utah is a pain to work with if you plan on using some kind of meat.

[elkaholic226]

i used meat scraps,fruit, grease and any other stinky food i could find and cooked it (outside!) and had it in a barrell!. i also had fish and game check it out and o.k'd my site. they just told me i had to have it all removed from my kill site within 48hrs of my kill!, i also used a honey burn. shot my bear second night on my stand and had my site clean within my 48hrs.

[bearhntr]

How long ago did you hunt bear elkaholic? What reagon were you in? I am surprised that they allowed the barrel and did you have all of the documentation to show your meat came from an animal that was disease free, showed how the animal died and was certified by a vet? I was wondering if I was able to get scraps from a butcher shop say at smiths or even a slaughter house I should be ok because the animal parts came from animals that are meant for human consumption. I guess I have a lot of questions for the fish and game.