i am going to be spring bear hunting here in my home province of saskatchewan. iwas just wondering what would be a better option baiting them into a stand or trying to call them in. this is my first year trying this out so maybe some of veterans can lend a young guy some knowledge. Any comments or ideas would be appreciated? I plan on using 100-200 pounds of hog fat and pieces for bait what do you think of that?
best bet for bears
- Thread starter Sask Man
- Start date
Redfrog
Moderator
I think bait is for fishing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif If you are just interested in shooting a bear, there are lots at the dumps. If you actually want to hunt them, calling is a challenge and verrr,verry, exciting. Spot and stalk also works well. I've shot over two dozen bears and none were over bait or at the dump. Just not my thing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
muleskinner
New member
Calling is exciting for sure. I would first scout out your area and do some spotting. The rest is personal preference. By the way Sask.. are you in favor of the war or against???
Two springs in a row I called several black bears up in the Nipawin area. It was all in the woods, either thick timber with heavy undergrowth or wide open fields, and the bears preferred to stay in the timber. We drove and walked back roads till we found a concentration of bear scat and other signs, then set up and called. Last trip up there I only called at two stands on one afternoon. Got one bear within 15 yards the first stand, and two within 30 yards the second. A hunter could have shot all three with a rifle, though only one of them really came into the open, on an old road. It was small but a pretty light chocolate colour. The other two were shootable but we couldn't really tell how big they were, though the first one was a pretty good bear I'd judge by how high his back was above some grass.
Had a photographer with me that time. The year before I had a local hunter with me and we tried three stands all together, on two evenings, and called in one bear. The wind shifted away from our shooting lane on the stand when the bear came in, as the bear closed to within about 25 yards. That wind shift let him circle downwind out of sight behind brush and smell us. Keep an open area down wind of you, so the only way the bear can smell you is to come into the open. Some cover in the open area downwind, like scattered small bushes in the clearing, makes it less exposed for the animal and more likely for him to circle through it to get your scent. Sometimes bears come in noisy, sometimes they sneak. These are all close range stands in forest I'm describing, no long shooting, and smack in the middle of HEAVY fresh bear sign: scat, tracks in mud, trails trampled in fresh grass, etc.
I think when a bear is working a bait, if he is not there during shooting hours, he won't be far away. You can probably call him in by calling near the bait stand, maybe even from it though I never tried that. After we called one of those bears, we found a guide's bait stand about 400 yards away. The guide told us later that he wasn't using it any more that year since they had killed a couple of bears at it. Bears were still working the area.
I've never hunted over bait so can't add much there. It looked to me like the guide let the bears smell a lot but not eat much, stuff in steel drums with holes only big enough for a bear's nose and tongue. I've called a fair number of blacks and a few grizzlies but never shot bears by any method except spot and stalk (and nuisance bears by whatever method opportunity offorded). Good luck.
Had a photographer with me that time. The year before I had a local hunter with me and we tried three stands all together, on two evenings, and called in one bear. The wind shifted away from our shooting lane on the stand when the bear came in, as the bear closed to within about 25 yards. That wind shift let him circle downwind out of sight behind brush and smell us. Keep an open area down wind of you, so the only way the bear can smell you is to come into the open. Some cover in the open area downwind, like scattered small bushes in the clearing, makes it less exposed for the animal and more likely for him to circle through it to get your scent. Sometimes bears come in noisy, sometimes they sneak. These are all close range stands in forest I'm describing, no long shooting, and smack in the middle of HEAVY fresh bear sign: scat, tracks in mud, trails trampled in fresh grass, etc.
I think when a bear is working a bait, if he is not there during shooting hours, he won't be far away. You can probably call him in by calling near the bait stand, maybe even from it though I never tried that. After we called one of those bears, we found a guide's bait stand about 400 yards away. The guide told us later that he wasn't using it any more that year since they had killed a couple of bears at it. Bears were still working the area.
I've never hunted over bait so can't add much there. It looked to me like the guide let the bears smell a lot but not eat much, stuff in steel drums with holes only big enough for a bear's nose and tongue. I've called a fair number of blacks and a few grizzlies but never shot bears by any method except spot and stalk (and nuisance bears by whatever method opportunity offorded). Good luck.