Despite many reports outside Maine of Human bear conflict. Bears in Maine are not the fearsome brutes often portrayed in other states. For the most part bears in Maine are well fed and well mannered. Accept for the occassional incedent involving campers feeding bears by leaving their food in tents or on the ground. Bears are curious animals and once you teach them where there is an easy meal they will keep coming back for more. The thing here is to not teach them that your tent is their new pantry. Always store food up out of reach at your campsite. The use of bear lines in Baxter is a good example of the precautions necessary to keep the bears wild and not feeding out of you cooler.
These tendancies of bears to look for an easy meal has lead hunters to baiting them. A time honored method that allows a hunter to size up the bear and get a good clean shot. Resulting in far less woundings than in still hunting. This “management” of the bears results in older bears being culled selectively and younger bears being allowed to walk away to grow larger.
How to Bait:
Look for a game trail that bears are using moving to and from feeding areas. Select a place with good cover so they will be relaxed. As far in advance as possible haul in a barrel. (Get landowner permission !!!!!) Chain it to a tree, and fill it partially with tasty sweets like donuts and pastry. Skip the smelly meats and scraps. They draw in too many other carion eaters like raccoons and Coyotes.
Your barrel should not have the end wide open, instead there should only be a small 12 to 13 inch hole cut. This makes the bear work a little to get at the goodies inside. Be sure to rebait every 24 to 48 hours. Dropping a little ouside the barrel to tease them into digging out the rest.
Now place your treestand within 20 yards of the barrel for bow shooters and fifty yards for gun shooters. Check your shooting lanes and range key landmarks to help you shoot better. If you want to you can place food scents or such on key stumps or logs previously ranged. This insures a standing shot, no guessing and is by far more humane than guessing a distance and not killing it as cleanly as possible.
To insure your bears are coming to the bait, try doing a honey burn. It is nothing more than taking a pie plate and a can of sterno. Pour some honey in the pan and light the sterno. Cook it off and let the smoke drift away. This will call to the hungry stomachs of every bear in the area. To add more atraction to the bait use grain with molasses on alternate days and don’t forget to douse any bait with “fryolator oil”.(Your local Mickey D’s or Burger K will gladly sell you or give you a 5 galllon bucket of theirs.) Bacon grease and french fry oil get all over the bears and as they leave the area they leave a scent trail that leads back to the bait. These smells will lead many more bears to your bait.
If you want to go to the next level try specific scent products intended to draw bears to your baits, or to be used solely as bait. ( Dale over at Boarmasters has the best dry scent products on the market.)
One last thing: Shot placement is critical with bears. Unlike deer their vitals are higher up in their chests. Click on the graphc below to read it easier and you’ll see the lung/chest placement clearly.
Thank you Maryland DNR for the use of the cool graphic.
(click on image to enlarge)
7/30/2007 Supplemental:
Don’t forget to bring your video camera, lots of bears will come and go. Save the memories on tape. Baiting is a waiting game. That trophy might not show….. but the video will let you share the experience with others. If you can you can also monitor your baits with a trail cam and see what comes in when you aren’t there. The time stamp will let you know the best times to hunt, or when to rebait to get the bears on your schedule. The bears will be waiting for you to rebait once they have been conditioned to feed there. So when you rebait can ring the dinner bell to get them to come earlier in the good light. Figure on baiting in the mornings.
Not to make you nervous; but it is common for bears to wait in the nearby cover for you to make your deliveries. They mean you no harm and will wait for you to leave before they expose themselves. If you hunt with a partner, make him come along when baiting, or carry an article of clothing worn by him so they get used to both of your scents. In the case of ”sports” all you can do is sneak them into the bait as scent free as possible and get them up the tree as quickly and as silently as possible. Then feed the bears and leave as you have always done, so they are not spooked. The bears will wait for the baiter to leave and slip into the bait within minutes after he leaves. As a hunter be aware of this, and be ready.
