Where's the Bear

Farmer · Post by **Farmer** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:22 am

Want to pick the brains of any of our resident bear hunters. Set up a last minute bear hunt with a few friends. One of the fella's has a cottage half way between Parry Sound and Port Loring. The area is remote, as the cottage is off a forest access road and then down an 8 or 9 KM private road.

Anyhow it had just finished raining when we set up, not a lot of sign ,some scat . We set 4 baits, meat , apples, pears, fermented grain and some chicken. Hung up stink baits of fermented Emden goose goodies PHEWWEEE. The baits were there for a week and not one hit. ( well the ravens and vultures must have smelt it as they were circling the baits )

The people of the area said they had seen bear. So I am at a loss. Were the baits not out long enough, were we too late in the season ??

DOXNUT · Post by **DOXNUT** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:50 am

Try some DONUTS or GUMBALLS, they like their sweets.

jeff · Post by **jeff** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 10:58 am

Dont quote me but you might be a little late. Over the past 5 years that I've been bear hunting I have found that things really cool off after Sept. Don't know if a bears diet changes as the first frost approaches and it starts to get colder. All of my bears have been shot withing the first 2 weeks of the Sept opener.
However don't give up yet!!! It genarally takes bears about 3 to 4 days to cover their territories so it's possoble a bear may have missed your site the first time around. My experience has found that a bait may need to be out there for a couple of weeks before they really start getting hit unless its an area that has been baited in the past.
It sound like your using the right kind of bait. Another thing you could try is getting some use cooking grease or oil from a resturant and pour it on the ground around your bait. Any bear that come in will get the oil on the pads of their feet and they leave a scent trail to the bait as they exit.

later

jeff

Farmer · Post by **Farmer** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:50 am

We had lots of sweet stuff out donuts corn syrup, and fry grease from the chicken joint in front of the bait.

I am wondering if it may be a bit late.

Thanks for the input guys.

On/Scene Tactical · Post by **On/Scene Tactical** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 11:36 am

Hey Farmer...

You should come with us some time..
Out of 24 guys we took 19 bear, ranging from 100lb to a Whopping 610lb..

We hunt the Haliburton Highlands, and the Haliburton Forest Reserve...

It's about the cheapest Guided hunt in Ontario.

Have a look here"

www.redsbearhunting.com

Erin is a personal friend of ours, and produces Excellent hunts...

If you are going to try it on your own, what we also do is set up what we call long term baits...

Basically they are 15 gal or 45 gal drums with small holes cut into them and chained to trees...Fill these with whatever..Donuts,grain, rotten meat, syurp and anything else...

go up for a weekend vacation once or twice before the season opens and refill the barells...If you do it 2-3 weeks in advance you may only have to go up once.

The bears will rolls these barells back and forth and stick their paws in the holes to drag out what they can..It can take them several weeks to clean them out.

We set up a couple of these in Orillia in mid Aug.. They were cleaned out when we went back on Aug 29th, rebaited and again cleaned out on Sept 10th, and then cleaned out again a week or so later...

They work pretty good...

However I still prefer having Erin do my baiting for me, as I know he's going to set me up on a Hot bait that will produce...

If you give him a call tell him Eric sent you...

ttyle

Eric....

Farmer · Post by **Farmer** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 12:01 pm

Thanks for the heads up on the outfitter.

JR · Post by JR » Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:34 pm

Farmer, Here are a few things that have produced late season bruins for me.

1- Spray 2-3 tree that are close together liberally with citronella oil. It brings out the bears, but I don't know why, but trust me, it works.

2- Take a can of spam (or other canned ham) open the can, nail it to a tree approx 5' from the ground, add lighter fluid (approx 1 oz.) to the canned ham and light. Smells like a a ham in the oven!

Good luck! -JR

chris4570 · Post by **chris4570** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:43 pm

Bears are still packing on the pounds this time of year. So they will eat whatever they can get.

If there is a natural food source that they have keyed in on(acorns, beech nut, etc) they may be feeding/staying in that one area.And that might be your competition. You will need the bears to be wandering around, to come across the scent of your bait pile, otherwise it won't matter what you have put out there.

I've had bait piles set up for a month without ever getting a "hit". I've had them set up for 1 night and had bears come into them. Same general area, with a good bear population(just north of Parry Sound).

Dusty · Post by **Dusty** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 10:01 pm

If you have never used one before try a honey burn, put some honey in a tin can and place a candle under and once the honey starts to burn and the wind takes it, any bear in the area should be coming to the dinner bell.

Dusty

Farmer · Post by **Farmer** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:40 pm

Thanks for all the reply guys we tried everything exept the cooked ham. We placed sterno under a coffee can of honey, as well as some bacon grease, all that did was make me hungry. ( for those that know me, there is not much that doesn't make me hungry )

The hunt was a last minute deal and that makes it a crap shoot. We will plan it out a little better next time. Thanks for all the input again.

I also checked out the link you posted On/Scene , it looks like it may be one I would try.