# Where to get bear bait?



## redfrog

Well I was lucky enough to draw a spring bear tag and want to get things rolling so I'm ready. So far this is looking like it could be a good year.
Anyone know where to get free or cheap bear bait? Things like donuts, pasties, oil and other things? send me a PM.

Thanks
James


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## johnnycake

just go to your local bakeries and see if they will work something out for you. I am a baker at the Lehi macey's, and unfortunately for you, we aren't allowed to sell the old product. Period. But there are other shops that might be more willing. If not, one of the best things is the frosting, and you can buy the base mix of it at costco in 45lbs bricks--I wouldn't even bother whipping it up just use the whole brick. I think they are like 20 bucks or something typically in their bakery area.


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## swbuckmaster

Dumpster dive at grocery stores?


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## 2full

Get the used oil from the chicken fryers and pour on some cheap dog food.....they will lick the barrel clean.......so I've heard....... :O•-:


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## Mr Muleskinner

Try this........sweet feed from IFA. Mix with a gallon of maple syrup and a gallon of corn syrup per feed bag.

One more trick and this one is amazing.......the syrup that that the local Artic Circles use to inject into their flavor burst ice cream is available at a local place downtown. You can also probably just buy some from your nearest Artic Circle that has the flavor burst machines. Banana Ripple and Green Apple drive the bears nuts. We put it in sports drinks bottles and sprinkle it around the bait piles on the pines, leaves and other objects to allow the wind to blow through them. Try to find a location the that is out on a ridge where two small streams come together. The breezes created by the water and daily temperature changes will carry the scent up and down the drainage on both sides. That flavor burst stuff will bring them in if they are anywhere within several miles and a little bit of it goes a looooong ways and last through rain storms. If you use this stuff you will be able to smell it for a couple of hundred yards before you get to your bait station. Be on high alert when you are going in and coming out.

One other thing......we have made "bear lollipops" out of hard candy recipes and have used old basketballs for the candy molds. The little basketballs work the best. Cut a hole in the basketball, insert a the end of a chain or a cable in it, pour in the hot candy syrup and let it cool. The only real key is to make sure it cools slowly and doesn't tip over. You can hang these from tree branches so they are just barely in reach of the bear. Pour some of the banana ripple on it and bears will hang out there for hours. 

The old oil from fryers does work well. We use it in the bottles as a scent attractant as well on the leaves and pines but I would not put it on the food. Use it as a scent and not a food source.

Trust me.....all of that other food stuff (donuts, cake, etc) is fine but the bears understand nutrition and love sweet feed. The syrup and lollipops are just too good to leave. You may end up spending more time videoing them then anything else. They are real fun to watch. 

While baiting treestands or groundblinds are real important too. Their sense of smell is second to none.

BTW....check the regulations in Utah. I have done all of my bear hunting in Idaho and everything we do is perfectly legal there. I have yet to draw a Utah tag. I am pretty certain that bait stations must be 200 feet from the nearest point of water. Shoot in the distance with a range finder because the wardens will.


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## Fishrmn

2full said:


> Get the used oil from the chicken fryers and pour on some cheap dog food.....they will lick the barrel clean.......so I've heard....... :O•-:


You are, of course, talking about an all wood barrel.


> Bait may not be contained in-nor can it include-any metal, glass, porcelain, plastic, cardboard or paper.


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## Fishrmn

Mr Muleskinner said:


> One other thing......we have made "bear lollipops" out of hard candy recipes and have used old basketballs for the candy molds. The little basketballs work the best. Cut a hole in the basketball, insert a the end of a chain or a cable in it, pour in the hot candy syrup and let it cool. The only real key is to make sure it cools slowly and doesn't tip over. You can hang these from tree branches so they are just barely in reach of the bear. Pour some of the banana ripple on it and bears will hang out there for hours.
> 
> BTW....check the regulations in Utah. I have done all of my bear hunting in Idaho and everything we do is perfectly legal there. I have yet to draw a Utah tag. I am pretty certain that bait stations must be 200 feet from the nearest point of water. Shoot in the distance with a range finder because the wardens will.


I guess if you make the chain out of wood.... And in Utah 200 feet from water is 100 feet too close.


> You may not place bait in either of the following areas:
> • Within 100 yards of water, a public road or a designated trail
> • Within a half-mile of any permanent dwelling or campground


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## Mr Muleskinner

How about rope then? There are several ropes that would work fine. Just giving suggestions. Everybody needs to understand and should have on their person the regulations prior to hunting any game.

Like I said, I have not baited for bear in Utah.


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## wyogoob

ETHYL MERCAPTAN

trust me


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## Fishrmn

wyogoob said:


> ETHYL MERCAPTAN
> 
> trust me


Okay. But how are you going to have it in a bait station?


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## 2full

Of course wood. The half wine barrels that are used for flower pots work great


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## Mr Muleskinner

injection.......Smelliest stuff on Earth.....about $10 per ounce.


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## wyogoob

Fishrmn said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> 
> ETHYL MERCAPTAN
> 
> trust me
> 
> 
> 
> Okay. But how are you going to have it in a bait station?
Click to expand...

Just put a couple drops on a rag or dribble a little on the conventional bait.


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## Kevin D

wyogoob said:


> ETHYL MERCAPTAN
> 
> trust me


I can't confirm the truthfulness of this, but a buddy in SE Idaho used a generous amount of this on a bear bait. He told me that the next time he headed up to check his bait, the gas company, the sheriff's office, and the Forest Service were all up there investigating a gas leak. Apparently there were some underground pipes in the area and the strong oder of gas in the area was enough to mobilize the authorities. :mrgreen:


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## redfrog

Thanks for the info so far, I hope to post pictures of a bear later this springs.


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## Mr Muleskinner

A generous amount of that stuff will clear out a city. One ounce goes a long ways but who in the world would to hunt around that stuff? It will literally make buzzards circle up.


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## Fishrmn

Here's what OSHA has to say about the side effects:



> Health Factors
> SYMPTOM(s): Headaches; nausea; mucous membrane, irritation; in animals: incoordination; weakness; pulmonary irritation; liver, kidney damage; cyanosis


And I've seen people get outraged over somebody using WD-40 as an attractant for fishing lures. Sheesh. _(O)_

Don't know that I could recommend using it.


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## Mr Muleskinner

http://www.cpchem.com/msds/100000068740_SDS_JP_EN.PDF


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## Longfeather

wyogoob said:


> ETHYL MERCAPTAN
> 
> trust me


I've never tried it but I have heard you take a couple of the small propane canisters and a small stove and turn the stove on but don't light it, any bear down wind is supposed to come in.

Not really a bait station but i've "heard" it works.


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## cwnhtr

Popcorn!!!!! It's cheap, light and the bears can't run off with it to eat it. Add some flavored syrup to it and hang some type if scented attracted and your good to go.


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## wyogoob

Longfeather said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> 
> ETHYL MERCAPTAN
> 
> trust me
> 
> 
> 
> I've never tried it but I have heard you take a couple of the small propane canisters and a small stove and turn the stove on but don't light it, any bear down wind is supposed to come in.
> 
> Not really a bait station but i've "heard" it works.
Click to expand...

Propane is naturally odorless and it gets its smell from methyl mercaptan, as does natural gas. We call it "odorant" in the natural gas business.

It's illegal to use fuel canisters as bear bait in some states and Canadian provinces but I don't know if it's illegal in Utah. To skirt the rule some just use a couple drops of ethyl or methyl mercaptan at their stand. Some, like myself, that work in the natural gas industry can get it. I keep an ounce or less in one of those little eye wash squirt bottles, wrapped in a ziploc bag and then vacuum sealed in a plastic pouch. That's about enough of the chemical to odorize a 36" natural gas line from Evanston to Ogden.  I usually give it to my buddies that hunt spring bear and they do really good with it. Saves packing a lot of bait too.

Ethyl mercaptan is skunk pee. Both mercaptans will attract scavengers. Methyl mercaptan seems to evaporate, dissapate, faster than skunk pee. The fun we use to have with mercaptan at work, and the stories I could tell.


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## Fishrmn

wyogoob said:


> It's illegal to use fuel canisters as bear bait in some states and Canadian provinces but I don't know if it's illegal in Utah.





> Bait may not be contained in-nor can it include-*any metal*, glass, porcelain, plastic, cardboard or paper.


It's illegal. Unless you know of a propane canister that is made of wood.


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## wyogoob

Kevin D said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> 
> ETHYL MERCAPTAN
> 
> trust me
> 
> 
> 
> I can't confirm the truthfulness of this, but a buddy in SE Idaho used a generous amount of this on a bear bait. He told me that the next time he headed up to check his bait, the gas company, the sheriff's office, and the Forest Service were all up there investigating a gas leak. Apparently there were some underground pipes in the area and the strong oder of gas in the area was enough to mobilize the authorities. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

Yep. Cross-country pipeline natural gas has little odor. Distribution gas, city gas, has much more odorant added per regulation(s). Propane gets more parts per million than natural gas. At a pipeline compressor station for example the fuel gas for the station was taken off the pipeline. It doesn't have enough odor to be safe or meet the regulations so odorant, ethyl mercaptan usually, was injected in the fuel gas system. Most of us just have a 5-gallon pail of it, and a quart or so is manually poured in an injector holding tank a couple times a year. Pipeline odorant is inected from a 55-gallon barrel hard-piped to an injector pump. We wear gloves and a rain suit handling it but it gets on your shoes much to your wife's dismay.

I've worked around it for 45 years. It's nasty stuff; so is gasoline, household bleach, refined sugar, and animal fat. I can't thank everyone for their safety concerns. While you're at it, check out the hazard ratings for gasoline and compare them to ethyl mercaptan. I would recommend you suit up next time you put fuel in your truck.


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## wyogoob

wyogoob said:


> ........................................
> 
> I've worked around it for 45 years...................


Correction: 44 years - 2nd of June.


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## Kevin D

A successful bear bait should consist of two things: a stink bait to draw bear in, and a food bait to keep them coming back. If you are going to use propane cannisters or ethyl mercaptan, you still are going to need a food bait because once a bear investigates an oder and figures there is nothing there to eat, he's unlikely to return.

When some friends and I used to run baits in Idaho, we used to buy truck loads of rolled corn or beet pulp from a feed store and soak it down with a 55 gallon drums of molassess for a food bait. Of course we frequented the Hostess discount store and raided all the restaurant grease drums in town too. I was always amazed how quickly that stuff disappeared once the bear started hitting on it. When you get to feeding a bunch of bear, baiting done right requires a lot of time and money. After a while, I figured I could feed a few good dogs cheaper than I could feed a pack of bear.


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## Mr Muleskinner

Agree Kevin. We used sweet feed for that reason. Cheap and no canister needed other than to haul it to the spot everyday. We just dump it on the ground and feed them. Daily.


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## GutPile

Would a giant sugar block work (kinda like a salt lick) to keep them coming back, or do they need something to fill their stomachs?

I just looking for something that I don't have to replace or refill every day.


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## swbuckmaster

Gutpile You will have to feed them everyday or every other day or once a week. It just has to have food for them to eat ir they will go somewhere else. You aslo dont want the food to run out.

Baiting bears is loads of work on public land and theres no way around it.


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## swbuckmaster

Mr Muleskinner said:


> Agree Kevin. We used sweet feed for that reason. Cheap and no canister needed other than to haul it to the spot everyday. We just dump it on the ground and feed them. Daily.


Sweet mix sounds like it would attract every elk and deer in the county. Do you get alot of deer/elk?


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## GutPile

swbuckmaster said:


> Gutpile You will have to feed them everyday or every other day or once a week. It just has to have food for them to eat ir they will go somewhere else. You also don't want the food to run out.
> 
> Baiting bears is loads of work on public land and there's no way around it.


Thanks. I just trying to brainstorm something that would last longer than a day or two. Thought maybe a big lollipop that they have to lick (similar to a salt block) might solve that problem. I actually have access to some private land up around the scofield/electric lake area, but it's kind of a long drive to make more than once a week.


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## Mr Muleskinner

swbuckmaster said:


> Mr Muleskinner said:
> 
> 
> 
> Agree Kevin. We used sweet feed for that reason. Cheap and no canister needed other than to haul it to the spot everyday. We just dump it on the ground and feed them. Daily.
> 
> 
> 
> Sweet mix sounds like it would attract every elk and deer in the county. Do you get alot of deer/elk?
Click to expand...

 Very well could. All of the bear hunting I have done has been in Idaho and quite honestly where we were there were probably more bears and wolves than any other game. Wolf tracks everywhere and tons of bears. Never saw a single elk even though we saw the sign. There were lots and lots of wolves in the area though. All I can say is that sweet feed works and is not too expensive. The syrup though.....that stuff is like magic.


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## swbuckmaster

Ill have to try it


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## Kevin D

I know Alvey's Candies here in Logan once took some of their lollipop scraps and cast it into a bowling ball sized piece with a rope cast into it for bear baiting. It may have only been a one time deal but I remember seeing some. We also used to also get some 40 lbs blocks of Sugar Daddy stock we wired to a tree, that would last for a while until it melted down and the bear packed them off.

I think candy stock alone would keep the bear coming to your bait site if they already had a natural food source in the area. However, bear need to keep their bellies full so if the natural food source dried up, they would soon abandon a candy only bait. I would still give them a food bait in addition to a candy only bait to keep their bellies full.

As far as feeding every critter in the forest? Yup, we fed 'em all. Our bait sites used to feed every bear, coyote, porcupine, elk, deer, skunk, racoon, raven, magpie, crow, chipmunk, squirrel, yeti, and gopher within a ten mile radius. Did I leave any out??


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## mikevanwilder

I would go to the hostess outlet and stock up when I had my bait stations. I got a full truck bed full of old pastries for like $40. I then put them in buckets or garbage bags. I would take about 20 to 40 lbs every other day to my stations. 
I also had about 4 5 gal buckets of carp that I would use. I took about 10 good size carp and frozen them in a bucket. Took that and dumped it out at a station. Nice little fish popsicle. 
For the station itself since you can't use plastic or metal or bunch of other stuff. I would dump it onto the ground and then get some big rocks and heavy logs. I would basically bury the bait under as much as I could. The bears would still be able to get at it but small critters would have a harder time. 
But with that I had the spring tag in '11 and it was a long winter so the bears really didn't start moving until late may early june. I did however get a lion, moose, elk, deer, skunk, marmot, coyotes, ****, and a red fox that visited my bait. The skunk almost got me as I stuck my head in a crack in the logs to see how the bait looked and he was right there!
Fun time, woulda been nice if the bears were active, but thats a risk with the spring hunts. Alot of work but I think it would be a blast to kill a bear that way.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.


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## hunter45

*Questions about baiting in idaho*

so it is legal to bait hunt in idaho? if so is it all right to use a rifle and back up more and 
how do you make the bear lollipops?


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