Hunting Bears with no bait?

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GRFox
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Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby GRFox » Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:47 am

I tried heading up to the Adirondacks last year for the early bear season in September. No baiting in NY what so ever, which makes it tough if your not a local with the ability to constantly scout, or hunt the garbage dumps.

Does any one have any suggestions or tips? Any of those scent sticks / in-scent sticks work?

I was told to use Oil of Anise, only aloud to have 1 Fl OZ of liquid bait, so anything else liquid that might help? Im thinking about trying to do it again next year.

Any recommendations, advice or tactics would be greatly appreciated.


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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby Spysar » Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:57 am

Did you know you can hunt bear in the southern zone now? There is a lot more area open to bear hunting this year .
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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby GRFox » Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:39 pm

Spysar wrote:Did you know you can hunt bear in the southern zone now? There is a lot more area open to bear hunting this year .

Yup mu county is open for bears.....you can bear hunt 15 minutes ouside off NYC lol. Problem is there are very few bears ands they only admitted to a polultation last year. There are a confirmed 6 beaarrs in the town of Pound Ridge and a bunch scattered around Bedford and the North Salem areas. Chance of ever even swing one are lie to nones that's why im not considering trying down here.

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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby onebuck » Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:44 pm

I would love to do a Boundary Waters bear hunt someday and you cannot use bait up there, however honey and bacon burns are legal and encouraged by the DNR. I would also consider something really nasty: put fish parts in a plastic container and let sit in the sun for weeks, hang from tree and shoot it. Apparently the smell brings em running, not sure of the legality of this, but if you can't bait it might be worth looking at.

Beyond that I am guessing you need to find the food sources they are using and hunt them. Easier said than done, but this is how they hunt them out west.
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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby dan » Sun Sep 25, 2011 12:08 pm

onebuck wrote:I would love to do a Boundary Waters bear hunt someday and you cannot use bait up there, however honey and bacon burns are legal and encouraged by the DNR. I would also consider something really nasty: put fish parts in a plastic container and let sit in the sun for weeks, hang from tree and shoot it. Apparently the smell brings em running, not sure of the legality of this, but if you can't bait it might be worth looking at.

Beyond that I am guessing you need to find the food sources they are using and hunt them. Easier said than done, but this is how they hunt them out west.

I might be wrong, but I thought I read in the rules that you could bait in the boundry waters but your bait had to be removed daily. So a scent or fish container would work.

I have brought plenty of bears in the same day I baited for the 1st time by useing scents. Only problem with that is I use about 15 ounces of scent. The one ounce thing kind of sucks... But if you work at it, they are killable by setting up on trails and sign.
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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby GRFox » Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:54 pm

dan wrote:
onebuck wrote:I would love to do a Boundary Waters bear hunt someday and you cannot use bait up there, however honey and bacon burns are legal and encouraged by the DNR. I would also consider something really nasty: put fish parts in a plastic container and let sit in the sun for weeks, hang from tree and shoot it. Apparently the smell brings em running, not sure of the legality of this, but if you can't bait it might be worth looking at.

Beyond that I am guessing you need to find the food sources they are using and hunt them. Easier said than done, but this is how they hunt them out west.

I might be wrong, but I thought I read in the rules that you could bait in the boundry waters but your bait had to be removed daily. So a scent or fish container would work.

I have brought plenty of bears in the same day I baited for the 1st time by useing scents. Only problem with that is I use about 15 ounces of scent. The one ounce thing kind of sucks... But if you work at it, they are killable by
setting up on trails and sign.


Dan, what kind of liquid bait were you using?

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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby GRFox » Sun Sep 25, 2011 11:55 pm

Where are the boundry waters?

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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby dan » Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:09 am

Dan, what kind of liquid bait were you using?


Vanilla extract is my favorite. But anise extrat works well too. Sometimes I combine them.
I use a spray bottle and spray the bait down so the bears use the scent to find the bait.

Where are the boundry waters?

The boundry waters are in Northern Minnesota. Its a very large area that seperates Canada and Minnesota. There are no roads, and no motor vehicals allowed. Canoes are about the only legal way to access efficiently. No bait is allowed in the boundry waters over night if I understand the rules correctly. I have never hunted in the boundry waters area, but very close to it.
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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby Schultzy » Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:50 pm

One oz of scent Isn't much. What your going to need Is something good and strong. Something that won't wash away with a little rain. Yet have I smelt a scent stronger then the rotten fish scent we make. Just take some fish that you've caught and throw the remains In a black 5 gallon pail and fill with water half way and put a lid on It and put It In the sun. Bullheads and catfish have the best smell and they dissolve better then anything else does. Do this for a good month or 2 prior to the season. It will damn near make you puke when you open the lid the 1st couple times. You'll get used to It In time. :mrgreen:

I didn't know you could bait at all In the BWCA Dan. That's some Interesting Info there. Got me thinking about that place again.
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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby UPbowhunter » Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:36 am

Drive any and all back roads that are close to drainages. When you have water and thick cover that runs along water, if there are bears in the area they will use these areas like highways. Alot of times when you have a dip in the terrain where a stream crosses, (a culvert) and the cover is close to the raod, bears will cross half way up the dip not at the highest point but half way between low (water) and the ridges the the stream has cut in the terrain. If the bear crosses there regularly there will be scat close to that road if not right on the road. It has been my beleif for a long time that the bear doesent like to be exposed and his nerves force him to drop a duce. I cant tell you how many bear trails I have found this way. When you find an area like this stop your truck and walk the road for tracks from one peek to the other in that ravine. If you have a weekend to hunt dust areas where you find the track and recheck in the morning, to see if it was being used every day or what time of day. If you find a few of these places you have now found bear trails that can be sat, and aproached depending on the wind off of the trail beast style. Bears can sometimes walk their very tracks (not Trails) but actual tracks thru certain areas and as they aproach a bait. So you can feel very confident that if you walk down wind of these trails, that they will not pick up your ground scent as well as where their coming from. Leg snare men have trapped bear for many years by knowing how bear move thru areas and the same track every day thing has been the end of alot of big bears. If you find these area hunt away from the road a ways up or down the trail, bears will be on high alert close to roads, and once they cross a road will move fast to get away from them. I hope your area has dirt or what us Yoopers call 2 rut roads, theymake life very easy to find bear sign Fox, good luck man just like deer hunting scouting will pay off big time brother.
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Re: Hunting Bears with no bait?

Unread postby Schultzy » Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:38 pm

UPbowhunter wrote:Drive any and all back roads that are close to drainages. When you have water and thick cover that runs along water, if there are bears in the area they will use these areas like highways. Alot of times when you have a dip in the terrain where a stream crosses, (a culvert) and the cover is close to the raod, bears will cross half way up the dip not at the highest point but half way between low (water) and the ridges the the stream has cut in the terrain. If the bear crosses there regularly there will be scat close to that road if not right on the road. It has been my beleif for a long time that the bear doesent like to be exposed and his nerves force him to drop a duce. I cant tell you how many bear trails I have found this way. When you find an area like this stop your truck and walk the road for tracks from one peek to the other in that ravine. If you have a weekend to hunt dust areas where you find the track and recheck in the morning, to see if it was being used every day or what time of day. If you find a few of these places you have now found bear trails that can be sat, and aproached depending on the wind off of the trail beast style. Bears can sometimes walk their very tracks (not Trails) but actual tracks thru certain areas and as they aproach a bait. So you can feel very confident that if you walk down wind of these trails, that they will not pick up your ground scent as well as where their coming from. Leg snare men have trapped bear for many years by knowing how bear move thru areas and the same track every day thing has been the end of alot of big bears. If you find these area hunt away from the road a ways up or down the trail, bears will be on high alert close to roads, and once they cross a road will move fast to get away from them. I hope your area has dirt or what us Yoopers call 2 rut roads, theymake life very easy to find bear sign Fox, good luck man just like deer hunting scouting will pay off big time brother.
Good read. I'll keep this stuff stored In the old brain.


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