# Bear bait being hit only at night how to change this



## Idahobear

I hunt bear in Southwestern Idaho over bait we can only hunt during daylight hours. The bears seem to have went nocturnal feeding only at night off my bait I was hoping to find some advice on how to get them to come in during the day or scare them off at night so they have no choice but to come in during the day.


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## trout

You could try baiting early in the pre dawn light then maybe they will show up in the a.m.
Or you could dig a pit and force them to relly work for the food hoping they will come back later to get a morsel.
If your near a road you might try getting back off it farther.
A string of smaller baits may get them to check out each one and hopefully the last one is the one you are set up on too.


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## mallardtone-man

I am not at all expeirienced at bear hunting, but as for deer hunting I know that there are timed feeders you can utilze that only disperse food when you want them to.


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## stevebrandle

Idahobear,

Try small amounts of bait early in the day, as others here have suggested. Some bear hunters in Michigan carry out the bait in a plastic five gal. pail and thump on it after baiting. If the bear are in ear-shot they will begin to know it as the dinner bell. You have to leave the area each time, but when hunting have a partner bait with you and after thumping the pail let him leave and you hide. 

Some bear will only feed at night and it's hard to convince them to do otherwise. You're only hope then is to stay in the blind until the last legal second of daylight and hope it comes in a little early one tim.

Good Luck!


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## Idahobear

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you guys think that I should wait for them to eat it at night, then when its all gone wait untill morning and put it out in small amounts? I worry that if I dont have it out at all times that they will not show up. There is also a guy about 1 mile away that has a bait site he has a game cam and all 4 bears come in at night according to the pictures. They already have shot 1 bear off that site in the late evening. Someone told me to put an AM radio on a talk show at night so they are afraid to come at night?


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## Floxter

Here in Michigan, if they are only hitting the bait piles after dark when we can't hunt, we take the bait with us when we leave the stand. We leave just a dribble behind to indicate to the bears that there was bait at one time. It will induce them to hit the bait earlier if it's an active stand. The first time I did this, the bear came in after dark and was so p.o.'d that there wasn't the normal bait pile, he tore up my tent blind and dumped it about 20yrds away. The next night he came in about an hour before dark.


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## wrenchman

i have used the same methed as floxter and it does work and if you can when you are trying to get the bear to hit every day only lay about a 5 gallon pail of bait a day to much more and they will gorge and might not come back the next day and some guys i know only use half that
if you cant hunt for a couple days or get back to bait lay more but when you are hunting cut back on the bait 
also try hunny burns or grease burn when on stand i have not had any luck with this but have a freind that has and swears buy it he does it every time he baits then when he starts to hunt he sets up a burn


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## Floxter

Like wrenchman suggested, we freshen the bait piles everyday or as often as possible before the hunting season starts. Then when the season actually starts, we taper off on both the amount of bait and the frequency of baiting. It seems to prompt them to check the bait piles more often, because they never know when there'll be bait. Also like another suggested, we make a lot of noise going in to the bait stations, to alert the bears that we're coming. If you surprise a bear on the bait pile, chances are he'll never return to it. Also it's kind of like ringing a dinner bell for bears in the area.


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## stevebrandle

I'm pretty sure that any type of "burns" (honey, bacon, etc.) are not legal during the hunting season in Michigan.


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## Kevin Smith

Above is good advice, take the bait with you but leave enough sign that he missed out on a gooood pile and he'll come earlier. If it doesn't change his pattern, I'd have to believe he's on to you. Set up somewhere else and start over. You could target the same bear/area, but change sites and triple check your scent conditions, setup, approach, etc.

Good luck and let us know how you make out!


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## stevebrandle

I stand corrected about burns. I asked boehr on the law forum and you can read the thread here: http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?p=532364#post532364


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## wrenchman

thats ok steve as i was concerned you were right i had not had a set of regs in two years and it should be the first think you do when buying a lic is rad them for changes 
but to get back to getting bears to hit during light as kevin said to being maid
last time i had a lic my brother in law had a bear hitting at nite we had the bait in a small area we cleared we moved the bait about 30 yards to a real thick spot in 2 days he shot the bear it was solid black male he was 187lbs after we guted him
we had put timers out to find out when the bear was comeing in and it was right after legal light and we moved the bait hopeing he would feal more secure in more cover


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## A1RODEOSTAR

Idahobear said:


> I hunt bear in Southwestern Idaho over bait we can only hunt during daylight hours. The bears seem to have went nocturnal feeding only at night off my bait I was hoping to find some advice on how to get them to come in during the day or scare them off at night so they have no choice but to come in during the day.


Okay let's start off by bears like dark gloomy places the ones that make you scared to walk into in the dark move your bait sometimes it only takes 50 yards sometimes it takes a hundred sometimes it takes miles. Make sure it's close to water doesn't have to be right on top of it but they do need the drink. On top of that make sure you have as many bears from that area coming in as possible the more you feed the more bears you get the more bears you get the more pressure that's on the bait the more pressure that's on the bait the more they have to change their habits no matter what to even get a chance to eat. Usually when I bait I put out enough to last up to 2 weeks. I always do a bacon or a grease burn every time I bait and a honey burn.


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## Luv2hunteup

I wonder how many bears the OP has killed in the 17 years since his post?


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## Big Frank 25

Luv2hunteup said:


> I wonder how many bears the OP has killed in the 17 years since his post?


OP has not been back. Maybe HE fed da bear!


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