Fish for Bear Bait?

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Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:21 am

I confirmed that it's legal for me to hunt over fish remains if I so choose. Would I want to? Obviously grizzlies and brown bears eat fish, but I doubt it's a main black bear staple. A treat perhaps? In any thread related to baiting I have never really seen or heard of fish remains being used. Thoughts? This would be used in a conjunction with heavy doses of scents.


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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby natvbearhntr » Sat Sep 06, 2014 7:26 am

I tried it once with black bear and even though the camera showed them sniffing around it I don't really think they every got into it or brought in any new bear. I think the raccoons actually ate more than the bear. I have also used about a 5 gallon pail of crab leg shells just for scent and that really didn't seem to do anything either.
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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby dan » Sat Sep 06, 2014 8:44 am

I used carp for bait. Went bowfishing and filled a freezer. The bears never touched them. If kept in a sealed jar half filled with water in the sun and opened at your bait sight it might make a good scent attractant.
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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Sep 06, 2014 9:50 am

I had the same results with cleaned fish. Bears just did not seem interested.
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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Sun Sep 07, 2014 5:31 am

Thanks for the info. Probably saved me of lot of effort for very little gain.

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Dewey » Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:54 am

Wouldn't want to sit downwind of that bait on a hot day. :o

Sweets are much more appealing I would think.

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby BigHunt » Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:05 am

Dewey wrote:Wouldn't want to sit downwind of that bait on a hot day. :o

Sweets are much more appealing I would think.

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trust me Dewey sweets are not any better .......o wait that could of been dan, I was down wind of him a lot on stand :shock:

:lol:
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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Dewey » Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:45 am

BigHunt wrote:
Dewey wrote:Wouldn't want to sit downwind of that bait on a hot day. :o

Sweets are much more appealing I would think.

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trust me Dewey sweets are not any better .......o wait that could of been dan, I was down wind of him a lot on stand :shock:

:lol:

That was his version of cover scent for the camera man! ;)

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:44 am

I have a picture while fly fishing in Labrador with a huge black bear climbing in & out of our 14' Aluminum boat searching for fish.

Also another with me in the foreground while this bear ate the remains of our catch...

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby dan » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:27 am

Edcyclopedia wrote:I have a picture while fly fishing in Labrador with a huge black bear climbing in & out of our 14' Aluminum boat searching for fish.

Also another with me in the foreground while this bear ate the remains of our catch...

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Yea, they eat fish. But when your in an area where there is better bait, they prefer better bait. I know a Canadian bear guide who always claimed popcorn was the greatest bait... Might work where no one else baits, but here in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota its not to good.
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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Hodag Hunter » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:56 am

Utilize fish as a stink bait and it will work. Place in old laundry soap plastic containers (washed out real well) with water and place in the sun for a few weeks. The fish will liquefy and do NOT open it in your vehicle. The stink will be wretched.

No one should be baiting where you are hunting.....I would use it as bait but burying it under heavy logs / rocks keep the little critters away.

Good luck.

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Schultzy » Thu Sep 11, 2014 5:31 am

Use it as an attractant. Hard to beat it!! Its all I use when i first put a bait out. I disolve the fish to a liquid form and throw the liquid up in trees near the bait.

When it comes to fresh fish they'll eat it but you can't use them whole. They don't like guts from any animal.

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby bowhunter15 » Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:14 pm

Schultzy wrote:Use it as an attractant. Hard to beat it!! Its all I use when i first put a bait out. I disolve the fish to a liquid form and throw the liquid up in trees near the bait.

When it comes to fresh fish they'll eat it but you can't use them whole. They don't like guts from any animal.

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"Dissolve the fish to a liquid form"? How do you do that? I'm envisioning the first season of Breaking Bad with body disposal haha. Why can't you use whole fish? The regulations talk about not using mammal bones or whole mammals but I don't see anything about fish. Do they fall under "materials not readily biodegradable"?:

The following materials may not be used as baits for bear.

• A carcass from a mammal containing more than 25 percent of the intact carcass.
• Meat from mammals that contains bones.
• Bone of mammals
• Solid waste containing bottles, cans, plastic, paper, or metal.
• Materials that are not readily biodegradable.
• Any part of a swine except cured pork.
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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby Trailcamaddict » Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:39 pm

dan wrote:
Edcyclopedia wrote:I have a picture while fly fishing in Labrador with a huge black bear climbing in & out of our 14' Aluminum boat searching for fish.

Also another with me in the foreground while this bear ate the remains of our catch...

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Yea, they eat fish. But when your in an area where there is better bait, they prefer better bait. I know a Canadian bear guide who always claimed popcorn was the greatest bait... Might work where no one else baits, but here in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota its not to good.

My wife drew a bear tag a few years ago in Wisconsin. We used popcorn on two baits that were over two miles in because it is very light weight. The best loved it. She got one!

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Re: Fish for Bear Bait?

Unread postby dan » Fri Sep 12, 2014 9:16 am

bowhunter15 wrote:
Schultzy wrote:Use it as an attractant. Hard to beat it!! Its all I use when i first put a bait out. I disolve the fish to a liquid form and throw the liquid up in trees near the bait.

When it comes to fresh fish they'll eat it but you can't use them whole. They don't like guts from any animal.

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"Dissolve the fish to a liquid form"? How do you do that? I'm envisioning the first season of Breaking Bad with body disposal haha. Why can't you use whole fish? The regulations talk about not using mammal bones or whole mammals but I don't see anything about fish. Do they fall under "materials not readily biodegradable"?:

The following materials may not be used as baits for bear.

• A carcass from a mammal containing more than 25 percent of the intact carcass.
• Meat from mammals that contains bones.
• Bone of mammals
• Solid waste containing bottles, cans, plastic, paper, or metal.
• Materials that are not readily biodegradable.
• Any part of a swine except cured pork.

I am pretty sure you can use whole fish... I think Schultzy is trying to tell you that it works better as a stink bait than as whole bait. You put the fish in water in a sealed container in the hot sun so that it turns into a bottle of very fowl smelling gook that you open at your site for a scent attractant.


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