Greetings fellow outdoors enthusiasts!
I would say I had a weekend most definitely well spent! With Spring Bear Hunting Season just around the corner opening in about a couple of weeks, I spent the weekend prepping and setting up my bear bait site.
This is my 2nd year hunting, and my first time hunting for bear!
Day 1:
We started off by finding a spot with good cover and a mix of pine, poplar and oak trees along with a variety of shrubs and bush. We then terraformed a small clearing within that area of about 20 yards diameter using a chainsaw and weed wacker. We also created a small discreet trail to get in and out of the spot from where the truck would be parked off the roadside.
Day 2:
IT'S TIME TO GET THE BAIT IN!
The bait we're using is 300lbs of feed corn and 200lbs of oats. Packaged in 50lb bags and the spot being inaccessible by ATV (also the fact that I don't own one lol) I had to carry the bags in by hand over my shoulders. It was a great workout to say the least!
As a topper for the bait site, we are also using used restaurant fryer grease, along with some home-made boiled jello, marshmallow & a ton of sugar mixture to pour on the bait, on the trees, and around the site.
Our SECRET INGREDIENT for the site are beaver carcasses from the beaver's we've trapped over the season (20+ beavers) - If you don't know already, apparently beaver meat/carcass is one of the TOP BAITS for calling in any predator!
Finally it was time to pour the baits in the barrels and around the sites.
And set up the spot and shooting lane for the tree stands. I'm using a Summit Viper Self Climbing Stand here in the pic.
Lastly, a trail cam so we can see what kind of action we get on the bait site over the next couple of weeks before the season opens which will give us a good idea of what to expect and if we should make any changes if necessary!
And finally the prep work is done! Now the excitement of the waiting game until season opener!!
I can't say enough how excited I am to do my first bear hunt. And putting in this kind of work to get it prepped is way more satisfying than just paying for a guided hunt.
I LOVE DIY hunting & outdoors! Figuring it out as you go is part of the fun!!
I've heard some folks criticize hunting bear over bait as too easy and requiring no effort, well, perhaps they have never set up a bear bait site because there was ALOT of work done lol Though I would agree with that saying to some degree however, here in Manitoba where I hunt there just simply isn't any hills or mountains where we can go and do a "spot and stalk" style hunt. The bears here reside in thick bush and you're going to be shooting from within 100 yards - therefore the bait method is more prevalently used here.
Have you hunted bear before? How did you go about it, spot and stalk or baited? How was your experience?