AM or PM?

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When have you had your best luck bear hunting?

AM
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PM
6
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Total votes: 6
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Schultzy
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AM or PM?

Unread postby Schultzy » Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:49 pm

When have you had your best luck bear hunting?

I can't remember for sure but I think I've only saw one bear while bear hunting In the mornings and I passed him up. Twice I've sat with others videoing and we've saw bear In the morning. I'm to the point now where I don't go out near as much In the morning when It comes to bear hunting. Trail cams don't lie either. Early In the baiting season the bear seem to come In during the morning, afternoon, evenings but as hunting gets here It seems either evening or middle of the night with an occasional morning but not too often.
Last edited by dan on Mon Mar 04, 2013 3:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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lungbuster
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby lungbuster » Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:56 pm

Depends on the area but afternoons have been the best for me.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby Weasel Walker » Thu Jul 15, 2010 2:40 pm

Getting some mid-day hits on the camera's. PM is prime. One never knows what kind of curve balls can come by a stand unless its occupied.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby PLB » Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:08 pm

getting a lot of hits right now in the morning but I think mostly because its cooler! Had my best luck in the evenings. I think smaller bears like to eat at a bait site in the mornings to get a little food before the bigger bears show up.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby dan » Fri Jul 16, 2010 9:04 pm

Trail cams don't lie

Most action is in the PM... But let your trail cameras pattern each bait.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby Schultzy » Sun Jul 18, 2010 4:04 pm

But let your trail cameras pattern each bait.
You lost me Dan. What you trying to say here?
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby Mike Foss » Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:19 pm

In the past two years we have had allot of daytime activity. Normally we wouldnt start to take hunters out until Noon, we are now taking the ones that want and can sit all day long starting at 8:00 AM. Two years ago we had a big 416lb shot at 3:55 PM. Last year we shot and had bears back at camp before dark. Always nice to track and take pictures before dark.
You have waited years for that precious Wisconsin bear tag, its physically and mentally tough to do but if you can sit all day long, do it, you never know when that big boy will come strolling in.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby dan » Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:47 am

Schultzy wrote:
But let your trail cameras pattern each bait.
You lost me Dan. What you trying to say here?


I put a camera on each bait... This tells me the time different bears are coming in using the baits. I can review the camera each time I bait. And I review each camera daily before deciding which bait to hunt. Most big bears come in during the evening hours or at night. But sometimes the cameras will catch a nice bear hitting on a regular basis during morning or midday hours.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby Schultzy » Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:10 am

For some reason I couldn't comprehend what you said In your other post. Were saying the same thing here just using different words. I too let my camera's dictate where I'll sit as well as the wind direction.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby Schultzy » Mon Jul 19, 2010 1:21 am

Mike Foss wrote:In the past two years we have had allot of daytime activity. Normally we wouldn't start to take hunters out until Noon, we are now taking the ones that want and can sit all day long starting at 8:00 AM. Two years ago we had a big 416lb shot at 3:55 PM. Last year we shot and had bears back at camp before dark. Always nice to track and take pictures before dark.
You have waited years for that precious Wisconsin bear tag, its physically and mentally tough to do but if you can sit all day long, do it, you never know when that big boy will come strolling in.
During the hunting season here every once In a while we'll get a new bear that hits a bait and It's usually a nice bear too. 90% of the time It seems these 1st time hitters make their appearances during day light hours.

The 2 pictures below Is a bear that hit this bait for the 1st time. This was my brothers bait. He kicked himself after we saw the pics and time. He's a of a bear!!!
In Between 2009 877.jpg
In Between 2009 896.jpg
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby Hodag Hunter » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:50 am

I agree with letting the trail camera pattern the stand, but if 7:00pm seems like the "hot" time don't go in at 6:oopm.

I believe in going to stand at least 4-6 hours before I expect to see bear. In pressured areas most bear (even in unpressured areas) will circle the bait 20-100 yards away before coming in. You will never eliminate your walking trail in, but the bear will know if it's smoking hot just a hour ago or 4-5 hours ago and associate it with a fresh bait and no hunter.

This is why it is so crucial to take every precaution to be as scent free as possible. Shower in scent free soap right before the hunt, change clothes after existing your truck, everything sprayed down after dressing and while first in the tree.

Your camera can show the big boy showing daily at a set time but if he circles the bait and smells a hot trail going in he may not show until after dark. This is why I try and bait consistantly the same time every trip in and when going into hunt.....noon. If bear are showing on camera before noon, get in at 8:00am.

I hunted a Canadian camp once that was fishing/black bear hunting....40 people in camp, at least 12 where bear hunting also that week. Camp was/is pre-baited stands until you arrive and then you take over baiting and hanging stands. Hunt as you wish.

My wife and I were the only ones to kill that week.

Guide always had his routine of gassing boats, minnows, and morning chores. When most left for fishing for the day he went and baited stands. This is when the wife and went hunting. All in camp thought we were nuts including the guide....he was like fish a little, no need to hunt until later in the afternoon. We politly declined and kept with his baiting schedule and adapted it to our hunting times.

We both sat stands together as it was my wifes first bear hunt. We shot our bear in two differnt stands in 3 days of hunting....fished the rest of the week while the others struggled and called us lucky. ;)
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby martin peters » Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:17 am

Shot my first bear 20+ years ago after sitting a bait for four afternoons/ evenings. The bait was still getting hit and I had one more day to hunt so I decided to make it a all day hunt. It rained most of the night and into the morning. I was in position sitting in the light rain watching the bait at pink light. Around 830 am the sky cleared and the sun started shining down through the high hardwood canopy on the edge of the swamp, approx. 10 minutes later he came in on the bait and I shot him with a .444 marlin. He dropped in his tracks. 15 minutes later it clouded up and rained into the afternoon.
One of the biggest bears that I guided on was shot at and missed just before 1 pm. Trail timers are the way to go at your baits.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby dan » Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:53 am

Trail timers are the way to go at your baits.

Trail timers tell you when a bear was there, but not which bear. Trail cameras tell you exactly which bears hit when.
A lot of my baits would get hit mideday by small bears that were afraid to come in later and risk getting caught by the big bear who was coming in later. But, I have seen big bears hit early or midday too... So cameras are the way to go.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby PLB » Sun Jul 25, 2010 12:35 am

We never had much luck with trail timers. Back in the late 1980's when I started baiting that's all we had though. Alot of different animals could set those things off, once it was tripped then you were done. Trail cameras are the way to go. They tell the whole story.
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Re: AM or PM?

Unread postby martin peters » Sun Aug 15, 2010 7:22 am

Dan, The trail timers I speak of are the trail timers from TRAIL MASTER that record up to 1000 events. I have both active (two piece TM 1500)and passive (one piece TM 500)infra red trail timers. There are many different sensitivity levels and time exposure levels to them. These were around before the trail camera craze really got going. I use them to avoid putting a hunter on a bait that is getting hit in the morning or after dark.
Are the high tech. trail cameras nice to have? Yes. Do you need one to put a big bear in front of you? No. Convenient but not necessary. Big bears were taken long before all this high tech. hunting gear came to be? Just like in big buck hunting - let the target animals sign point you to what stand to hunt. For me part of the rush of the hunt is to be sitting in the stand and see the animal coming in on the bait, size him up then and make the decision to pass or take the shot.
When I take an animal there is the thrill of the hunt, the natural high and sense of accomplishment and all that the hunt is that is hard to put into words. There is a down side to knowing a animal so well, sometimes for years, and then taking it. There is a void......


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