# 2016 DIY Fall Bear Hunt



## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

I was lucky enough to draw a fall bear tag this year. The area usually takes 9-10 points to draw but I got the tag with 6. I think this is the first time I wasn't watching my credit card for charges and I found out via email that I drew the tag. 

My hunt is an any weapon bear hunt that starts August 20th and baiting is allowed starting August 6th. I am going to use this thread to log my hunt. I have never hunted bears before and I do t really know anyone who has. The forum has been a huge source of knowledge and hopefully my hunt's successes and failures will go on to help someone else. 

This is going to be an interesting hunt. I have never seen a bear in the wild in Utah, but I know the area I am hunting holds bears because of all the fresh sign and previous sightings by family members.

*I will keep adding to this as the hunt progresses. (FYI I get no cell service in my hunting area so when the hunt starts I won't be able to update untill I return.)


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*Finding the perfect bait sites*

I finally made it up to the area I wanted to hunt on July 2nd. At 10,000 feet it makes it difficult to get to this area before mid June especially if we had a really wet winter. The roads were stil muddy from the final melt of snow.

Because the roads are so bad until June this area really doesn't get hunted durning the spring bear hunts. In fact in the 17 years I have been hunting the area I have never known anyone to hunt bears in the area.

So being a new bear hunter I wasn't really sure what to look for in a bait site. I spent a few hours hiking around looking for the perfect sites. Site one I know holds bears in the area. The aspen trees have claw marks and I know others that have seen bears in the are. Site 2 is about 2 miles away and separated by a large ravine. I am setting this site up on a hunch that there could be bears in this area but I don't know for sure.

I submitted my bait sites' coordinates to the DWR and got the approval for the sites.

Now to get started


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*Bait*

Well I wasn't sure what bait to use and how to set it up being most online info is from out of state where a barrel is legal.

I never thought getting old bread or donuts would be so difficult. I called every bakery in town and got nowhere. One tip for asking for expired food, don't say it is for bears. So people shut down when they find out you are a hunter. Instead tell them you are a pig farmer and all of a sudden they are willing to help feed your pigs. I finally got lucky and found a bakery that would help me out and I ended up with a truckload of bread and hamburger buns for free.

I also made some bear lollipops. The recipe I sued is the following:
4 cups sugar
1.5 cups corn syrup
1 cup water
1 package or jolly rancher flavored jello mix

Bring to a boil I'm a 12" Dutch oven and slowly bring up to 300 degrees (hard crack). Don't over cook it. It shouldn't be brown. Quickly pour it into your mold. I used a two gallon bucket with a rope in it. 4 batches per bucket seemed about right.

Not knowing what to use for bait I decided to try as many as I could to see what would work. Each bait site includes the following:
Lots of breads
25 lbs Horse sweet feed
2lb bag of powdered sugar
1/2 gallon of honey
1/2 gallon fryer oil 
A cloth soaked in molasses and anise extract hanging from a tree
Anise extract and vanilla in a spray bottle sprayed everywhere in the trees
A 20 minute honey burn before leaving.

I set both my bait sites on August 6th knowing I wouldn't be able to get back up there till August 12th to check my cameras.


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*August 7th*

I made it back up to check on my bait sites with my sons (8 and 5 years old) on August 12. We checked bait site # 2 first and it hadn't been touched. It was disappointed to say the least. Only a handful of deer pictures and not a single bear.

We went and set up camp before we checked out bait site # 1. When we got to the bait site there was that feeling that we're were being watched. Bait was gone. Lollipop had been licked a ton.

I quickly imported the photos to my phone. 400 photos. BEARS!

Turns out that feeling was right, we were being watched&#8230;

More tomorrow.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Good deal! I bet you're excited. Keep us informed as your hunt progresses.

What area are you hunting?


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

longbow said:


> Good deal! I bet you're excited. Keep us informed as your hunt progresses.
> 
> What area are you hunting?


Currant creek.


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## Karl (Aug 14, 2016)

I am guessing from this thread that bears are somewhat hard to find in Utah.

Ironically in California (I know nobody cares, but just as a point of reference) there are probably more bears in the Sierra (eastern mountains) than deer.

California's mountain lion protection act has resulted in the lions killing off much of the deer, whereas the bears are higher on the food chain than lions are. So the lions leave the bears alone.

Turns out you can find bears almost everywhere in California, or they can find you.

On a recent canoe trip up to the north end of Cherry Lake near Yosemite, I woke up one morning to find bear tracks all over my camp.

I am guessing that does not happen much in Utah?


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Tons of bears in utah just not as visable as they are in California because they are harassed all year long by houndsman with pursuit permits and hunting permits. So you won't find too many bear tracks in campgrounds close to any roads. Also if there were tracks the dwr would run them off. 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

You have to figure that Yosemite is a National Park where you can't hunt or run bears and in the surrounding area the bears will benefit from this. 

As swbuckmaster mentioned there are lots of bears in Utah and if you would like to experience them walking through the area where you are camping I would suggest that you go out to the Book Cliffs for a weekend.


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*Bears*

Here are the bears that are coming in. I believe there are 3 different bears coming in to my bait sites. It only took 24 hours for the bears to find my bait sites. Let me know what you think. How many different bears are there?

There is one photo per independent visit. In some cases it may be the same bear that left for 30 minutes and then came back.


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*Bears*

More Bears


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*Bears*

More


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

*Bears*

A few more.


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## elkantlers (Feb 27, 2014)

That big Dark colored bear would be in trouble if I had the tag.


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

elkantlers said:


> That big Dark colored bear would be in trouble if I had the tag.


If that big boar comes in I won't think twice.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

nice big dark chocolaty boar


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

Here is the big bear I am trying to get. I ran into him on the trail Sunday morning at 6:20 am. We were 15 feet apart. He was on the bait and heard me coming. He must have thought I was another little bear and came to try to scare me off. He bolted before I could get a shot off.

On Monday night he started to come in around 7:15 pm. I saw him moving through the trees towards the bait. He had one more tree to clear for a shot and he stopped. Not sure what tipped him off. The wind was perfect, but he just silently disappeared.

I dumped a bunch of bait on Wednesday evening and decided to back out for a week and let him clam down. Hopefully he comes back.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Holy cow! That's exciting. That looks like a good bear. I hope you tag him.


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

Well all the bears have gone completely nocturnal. I am at a loss as to what to do now. I wasn't able to make it up there last weekend but I am headed up there this weekend to give it another go. I have two weekends left.

A sheep herder moved about 300 head of sheep and 2 Great Pyrenees withing about 150 yards of my bait sites for a week. He moved them out of there last week. I am hoping with the sheep out of the area the bears will start to come back in during shooting light.

Here are some photos. This big bear spent all night trying to pull the lollipop out of the tree.


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## trclements (Jan 17, 2012)

This big bear has been making up all the trees a few hundred yards below my bait site. It is where he has been coming up from in evening and disappearing to before sunrise.

FYI The last picture is 7 feet off the ground...


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