BIG BEAR CAN'T CATCH EM'

[394-NTELK]

NEED HELP....GOT A BIG BLACKY HITTING MY BAIT(5 1/2"TRACKS) WILL NOT SHOW DURING HUNTING LIGHT THINK HE MAY BE NOCTURNAL. I HAVE ONLY BEEN HUNTING ON SATURDAYS DUE TO WORK BUT I FILL TWO 45 GALLON DRUMS (LAYING ON THERE SIDES 8X12 CUT OUT IN SIDE,CHAINED TO TREE) EVERY THURSDAY MOURNING WITH OATS THEN SOAK IN GREESE SO I KNOW THE BEAR IS SPENDING ALOT OF TIME AT THE BAIT AS HE CAN NOT CARRY TO MANY OATS AWAY AT A TIME .SO THURSDAY 10-11AM BAIT IS TOPPED UP SATURDAY BY NOON BAIT IS ALLWAYS 80%GONE I AM SURE I ONLY HAVE ONE ANIMAL HITTING BAIT AS I ONLY EVER FIND THE ONE SIZE TRACK AND I HAVE SOME RIBBONS TIED IN TREES AND WHEN YOUNG BEARS OR CUBS ARE AROUND SUCH AS I HAD LAST YEAR THEY SEEM TO PULL DOWN EVERYTHING THEY CAN MY STAND INCLUDED.ALSO ALL THE S**T AROUND THE STAND SEEMS TO BE CONSISTANT IN SIZE.WHEN IT COMES TO SCENT CONTROL I SHOWER IN SCENT FREE SOAP BEFORE HEADING OUT ASWELL AS STOREING MY CLOTHES IN RUBBERMAID CONTAINERS THE PART THAT GETS ME IS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN 5YRS AT THIS SAME SITE THAT I HAVE YET TO SEE A BEAR YET I HAVE FED THIS ANIMAL OVER 250GAL OF OATS 45GAL OF GREASE ,THIS IS ALSO THE REASON I FEEL I HAVE A BIG BOAR HITTING THE BAIT BECAUSE IT SEEMS TO BE KEEPING OTHER BEARS AWAY(LAST YEAR HAD 8 DIFF BEARS AT SITE).ANY AND ALL IDEAS OR STATAGIES WOULD BE WELCOME........THANKS[/b]

[bdoa]

If I was after him, I would not bait him till sat, change his scheduel, he is used to food being there, screw with his mind, make him look for it. He will come thurs, no food, he will check friday no food, he may check a couple times a day till he gets it. If that does not work, try calling him in with a rabbit call. with the call in your mouth, run your fingers in front of it to make the call sound like a rabbit being shaken by a bear. The big bear will hear this, and will get upset that another bear is working his bait. It may bring him out..

It is my experience that most bears that are working a bait will be within a 100yrds of the bait at all times.

Good luck.. time is running out on you.

Randy

[Muddster]

Don't leave as much bait out either. Make him come in more often and when you go next time try a honey burn.... that may bring him right in once he gets a whiff of it....
Good Luck..
Here is one I took while out grizz hunting.. therefor the rifle and not bow.




http://www.hunt101.com/img/288929.bmp

[alwayshunting]

I hunt in Sudbury Ontario and we use donuts from Tim hortons They throw garbage bags out every night. When we hunt bears we hang our baits between two trees. This allows us to raise and lower the bait so we can see what size bear we have coming to our bait I've seen baits hit at 8 feet. We also use raspberry jellow on the bait when we go in to hunt. The smell seems to attract the bears right away. Hope you get your bear. 2 years ago we got a 425lb black with the bow baiting this way and we average 4-5 bears a year with the bows.

Good Luck

Mike

[394-NTELK]

Thanks guys for the input.I sat on stand today from 3:30 till dark nothin,I took the advice on not feeding so much and only added two 5gal pails of oats I also stunk the area up with vanilla.since I can not figure out this bears time of arrival I set up a trail timer on his main trail aswell as my scouting camera(Yes I know bears eat cameras but I have a feeling this is a "very"big boy so i'll risk it.) I hope to be able to run out tuesday to remove the camera and add 10gal more bait then I'll have to wait till sat again to hunt,hopefully his pattern may have changed or the timer/camera can add more clues to getting this boy,well I guess this is why they call it hunting and not shooting thanks again for your input... p.s .. Do any of you read deer and deer hunting magazine? turn to page 90 photo#1 thats mine.

[394-NTELK]

Well the spring season is over no bear on the ground(or should I say in my freezer and on my wall).As mentioned in my previous reply I set a camera and timer out, the timers revealed that the bait is hit at 11:35pm--11:58pm--12:21am camera my mistake I set it faceing into the west so the setting sun triggered the camera and all I got pictures of is sunshine.I reset the camera saturday night no picture but sunday daytime I got a picture of a small (2yr old)bear it hit the bait at 12noon only got two pictures of him as he did not hang around .I had the camera set to take two pictures every five min.sunay approx 5pm I removed the camera and my stand so the big boy did not show again ,must be chaseing the girls now but to my surprise when cleaning up the junk from around the bait I came across a bunch of hair and blood thinking the big guy caught the little one eating at his table and was not impressed. well hopefully come fall the bears still around I know he,s fatter nowI fed him enough.maybe I,ll cach up to him then.Hope your season was more productive then mine.