Bait or Spot and Stalk

[Jack19]

For all you bear hunters what do you prefer, baiting (where its legal) or spot an stalk? I have never hunted bears and am thinking of going this spring and am not sure what method to use. I am leaning more towards the spot and stalk method even though baiting is legal in the area I will be hunting. I think it might be a little more exciting. Also I have nothing against baiting bears.

:cheers:

[lonewolf]

Jack 19 if u are goin to bait my advice to you would be to use day old doughnuts there cheap and they work great took three bears that way they love them dont put anything stinky like rotting fish in the drum.if you cant get them to come to you that way leave the doughnuts in the drum try cooking maple bacon about 2 # that smell shoould get them closer to you then theyll eat the doughnuts and keep coming in day after day.they like the sweet smell and taste alot better plus if you're over the barrel hunting you wouldnt like the smell of the rotten stuff... hope this helps

[Dillershortbow]

Here in BC you cant bait bears . STalking bears is alot of fun but keep your wits together cause thay will circle around you just to get your sent but it will scare the - - - - out of you when thay come up behind you.

[BlueNorther]

You can't bait them in B.C. but you can run em with hounds.That's a diff way to hunt em.

[Ferg]

Jack,

Both are great ways to find bears, baiting isn't as easy as you may think though. The great thing about your part of the province is that it is fairly easy to do both. If you are wanting to spot and stalk I suggest finding an oats field or 2. The blackies love their oats and will come in to feed the same as whitetail do to various crops. If you are going to bait we have had great success with a mixture of oats and molasses. You can generally get molasses pelletts from various feed providers.

Hope this helps

[scooter]

Jack,

Both are great ways to find bears, baiting isn't as easy as you may think though. The great thing about your part of the province is that it is fairly easy to do both. If you are wanting to spot and stalk I suggest finding an oats field or 2. The blackies love their oats and will come in to feed the same as whitetail do to various crops. If you are going to bait we have had great success with a mixture of oats and molasses. You can generally get molasses pelletts from various feed providers.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the tips Ferg and welcome to the bowzone! I am heading out with Cdnarcher for bear this year and I am gonna need all the help I can get...LOL! :lol: :lol:

[Dillershortbow]

One good bear dog is afun thing but bears will climb as high as thy can get lots of time out of bow range. The logging com. have planted clover on the road side if you time it right the first green up theres are lots of bear but after about three weeks thy move back in the bush .bear have to eat green grass when thay first come out .I wonder it baiting with donuts will work early inthe season

[Top Dawg]

Just a tip too save you some $$$$$$$$$$$$$ hit the dumpsters behind your local Tim Hortons there will be bags of old goodies in there and for FREE!!!!!

[Ferg]

Top Dawg,

That's true but Tim Hortons have changed some of there processes and don't have as much waste as they used to. I know a couple of Tim Horton's owners and both have said they have had to resort to locking their bins in the spring due to people taking old donuts. Tim Horton's corporate is afraid of bad publicity if people found out their donuts were being used to bait bears.

[sir_huntsalot]

I did quite a bit of baiting back east and had pretty good luck getting bears on the baits. The bears back there were super skittish and alot nocturnal. Baiting was the only way of getting a decent chance to see a bear. Occassionally you may see one in a field or an old apple orchard but it was rare and would not be a productive means of hunting. This will be my first year bear hunting in AB. I did see one bear while I was moose hunting in thick woods and I managed to get within 20 yards. He seemed very unconcerned about my presence. He stood there and looked at me and I even drew my bow on him a couple of times but no tag unfortunately. Back in NB you would never get that close to a bear in the woods unless you were on a bait. I saw a quite a few back there but they always run at any hint of danger. From what everyone tells me and what I have seen bears act alot different out here.
I plan on doing some baiting this spring and I would also like to find some areas where I could spot and stock. Perferably I would rather spot and stock because it's a bit more of a challenge. However, baiting is not a given either. It's one thing to get bears coming to the bait but quite another to get them to come when you want. And to get a big bear coming to the bait is even more of a challenge. As I said I haven't baited here in AB so I can't say what it's like here. I guess I'll find out in the spring. Here's some pics at one of my baits last year. I had at least 4 different bears hitting this bait and they were hitting in both daylight and after dark. We never did get a bear off of this bait. I had a friend blow a good opportunity at this bait. That was the only real chance and Boris if you read this, I'm talking about you buddy. We nicknamed this bait Mr Nasty bait because one of the bears was really aggressive and chewed up quite a few pails on me as well as the seat on my tree stand and he punched his teeth through my game camera. Didn't hurt the camera just the case. Can't wait to get out in the spring and draw the Mathews back on a blackie.
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[BlueNorther]

Good pics of a young furball on the bait.

Last year the bears were on the baits early and some aquintences got some good bears.

[Top Dawg]

OK Ferg it has been a while since I have don e it so I will take your word for it.... Perhaps you could contact one and work something out.... :cheers:

[bcbowman]

I stalked mine this year from 100 yards to 18 when I arrowed her, she was ona clover patch near a gas well. Alot of the bowhunters here get them in the skunk cabbage here in the spring. there is somthing in the cabbage that gets them stoned, tehy love it!

[Jack19]

Great pics sir_huntsalot, thanks everyone for your tips. Ferg I know what you mean about the oats, last fall I hunting in a oats field and there was bear crap everywhere I only saw one bear in the field but I didn't hang around to long cause the deer weren't hanging around either.

:cheers:

[pockets]

oats and/or barley stirred not shaken into old french fry grease
works really well