Bear over bait

[the blur]

any one do bear over bait? I am looking into one way up in Canada.

Where I deer hunt, baiting is illegal, so hunting is hunting, not baiting & waiting; and I have never baited.

It sounds like a good experience.

[sourdough44]

I think you have some Spring bear options in Canada or out West. Of course usually no baiting out west. Here in the upper midwest it takes years to work up for a bear tag, longer for non-residents. You used to be able to harvest a bear with your deer license(MI anyway). That went away a good while back. When hunting thick cover in flat terrain baiting or hounds is about the only sensible way. Other methods would offer a much lower chance of success. I'd say hook up with a Canadian outfitter if you want to go soon. There is a 'Bear Hunting' magazine published several times a year that has a bunch of info in it.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

The Blur,

I have hunted over bait a bit, and it is not a give me like some of the do gooders would like everyone to believe.

Maybe in high bear population area, but even there it is not a for sure thing.

I hunted with a friend who had done quite a bit of baiting, and learned a bunch about it.

Stan was picky about his locations, wanting not only to have a good view of the bait site from the stand, but wanting the site to control how the bear could approach so as to present a good shot.

Stan did take some bears - at least one - during the time we hunted, and had a number of other oppertunities.

It is labor intensive, the bait needing to be attended frequently etc.

Stan would choose his bait/stand site, then after digging a shallow pit, we'd get a good fire going in the pit and once we had a good hot coal base, we'd pour grease - from a fast food deep fryer is good - into the fire along with cheap syrup to get a good smoke going.

This smoke rapidly spreads the scent of the bait site.

Once this has smoked for awhile, we'd let the fire burn down, pour in cheap dog food and more grease, syrup etc. and any other fruit/vegtables etc, which you may be able to come up with.

Pastry didn't seem to be a big favorite with the bears,

Then Stan would cover the bait site with limbs or logs to help keep out the small critters.

The bears will get into the bait without a problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seemed like Stan had much better luck then I did, as he was able to get to the bait sites a couple hours earlier then I could.

Also, on a day with high wind and or stormy conditions was not good for seeing bears.

Because Stan sometimes hunted with a bow, he at times had his stand quite close to the ground. One afternoon, he had a very large boar walk right under him, close enough to hop on for a ride.

He didn't take a shot, as there had been a sow coming to the bait and he first though that was what he was seeing.

These are Spring bear, and the coat on this old feller was so think and heavy that it parted down the middle of the back laying out to both sides.

The one bear I saw, was at this same site, and a cub came in. What a clown act he put on, all the while moma was out of site making a real fuss because of the cub being at the bait. She must have smelled something.

Another time and another site, what must have been a bear made a lot of racket and squalling, but would never show itself.

There are quite a number of bears in this area, but as I said, baiting is not a give me.

Keep em coming!

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[T. O'Heir]

"...baiting is not a give me..." Absolutely. You can sit in a blind during hunting hours for a week only to find Yogi is visiting the bait before or after hunting hours.
Where you're looking at hunting, up here, matters. For example, there is no 'Spring bear' season in Ontario. Anti's convinced an old government to end it back in 1999. There is in other Provinces. Might be too late to book a spring bear hunt for this year though
Other Provinces may or may not allow baiting. Some allow it in some areas, but not in others. The bait can be anything sweet or smelly, but you won't have to deal with it anyway.
"...hook up with a Canadian outfitter..." Yep. Required for non-residents in most Provinces. Some, but not all, allow a non-resident to hunt with a resident(called a Hunter Host in Alberta. A Hunter Host has to have a special licence with your name on the licence to do it and a bunch of other rules.) though. You'd have to look at the Hunting regs for whichever Province you're looking at. They're on-line.
Non-resident hunting licences are not cheap in most Provinces.
You'll have to deal with our firearms laws too. Starting with no handguns, of any kind, for hunting. No CCW at all.
Go here. http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/f...visite-eng.htm