# Wolves in The Bear Bait??



## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

My buddy is getting a fair amount of pictures of wolves helping themselves to the bear bait. I don't think the bears like them around. How do wolves react to a belly full of chocolate? Besides feeding them some lead what do you think? Discouragement techniques/methods? If any? This has got to be pretty common.


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## jimbard (Sep 22, 2009)

Every year this same thing happens, then the hunter wonders why the bears move on. Sweets give the wolves the ****s, but sweets also bring little varmints around. Wolves love to eat them and makes a lot of action around bait. 
Go to the log or stump that you can cover with something. I use a partial board and will put a nail or 2 in it. The bear will pull it off every day. Make sure you carry a hammer and nails to put it back together. A bear and a wolf have no predators they will walk together and eat together. A bear that has its butt chewed on by wolves is known to dog hunters as a walking bear. I noticed a picture a couple of days ago on here of a male bear that the wolves had been chewing on.


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## jackbob42 (Nov 12, 2003)

" *Sweets give the wolves the ****s*,.."

And you know this how?

" *Every year this same thing happens, then the hunter wonders why the bears move on.* "
" *A bear and a wolf have no predators they will walk together and eat together.* "

So which is it? Do they eat with the wolves or do they move on? :lol:

" *A bear that has its butt chewed on by wolves is known to dog hunters as a walking bear*. " 

There were " walking bears " long before the wolves were brought back ! :lol:


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## jackbob42 (Nov 12, 2003)

Covering it with logs or rocks that only a bear could move ( big ) is about the only thing I know of that might work. 
However , once the bear opens it up , anything can come in there and "clean up".


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Yes, we have been covering it. That works until it's opened up. You also have the residual odors around.

I did see pictures and a few lines in a WI outdoor paper where it showed a small bear that was killed and eaten by wolves in the winter as it was hibernating. I doubt many small to medium bears want wolves around.

Our lab was sick for a while about 9 months ago when some kids dropped some chocolate & she ate it. It was not a whole lot either. I was just wondering what goes on in a wolf's system with a fair amount of chocolate? Of course we have other stuff too in the pile.


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## swampbuck (Dec 23, 2004)

I would try baiting with chocolate........Lots of it.


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## Rooster Cogburn (Nov 5, 2007)

Swampbuck, you're right about chocolate, especially bakers chocolate. Just thought I should mention for your consideration there is record of chocolate poisoning adult ***** in several Michigan counties at bear baits several years ago (See 2008 Mich. Bear Management Plan). If it can kill adult ***** it can also kill bear cubs. Naturally, MDNRE is playing those incidents down, but the dead ***** poisoned by chocolate are a matter of record.


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## HAFSHOO (Nov 21, 2007)

sourdough44 said:


> My buddy is getting a fair amount of pictures of wolves helping themselves to the bear bait. I don't think the bears like them around. How do wolves react to a belly full of chocolate? Besides feeding them some lead what do you think? Discouragement techniques/methods? If any? This has got to be pretty common.


 My granddad used to use alot of fish.Seemed coyotes didn't care for it but the bears did.Wolves might not like it either.Just my .002 cents. GOOD LUCK


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

Outfitter in Ontario has always said wolves have no effect on the bears. At least any bear you might care to shoot


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## Bearboy (Feb 4, 2009)

Just a quick reminder, a board and nails make your bait dirty. I never knew it was dirty when you use a board. Hate to see anyone get busted for something so stupid. I been using hollow logs and flat rocks. I had two wolves pull the stump out. It looked just like a bear hit. I quit baiting it. I do not believe that wolves will scare a bear...or that wolves would risk killing a potential death sentence. I just try to avoid wolves so I don't loose a hound.


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Here's a few from the same pile. There are MANY more. 

Bait is a little of everything, some chocolate(25%), pastries, relatives freezer refuse, even apples & candied cherries.


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## UplandHntr (May 10, 2010)

what does your bait consist of?


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## hawkeye642 (Jul 27, 2010)

Did you put any kind of meat out there? I am still sitting here trying to figure out why wolves would come to a bear bait if there is no meat?

The wolves will run most bears off unless you have a large bear and he may eventually leave too.


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Yes there are a few meat items mixed in, I'd say well under 20% meat. I don't think you have to offer meat to attract wolves. A few look rather skinny. I'd say they are opportunist feeders.


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Let's see if I can get the latest.


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## stillwaiting (Oct 19, 2005)

that's a lot of wolves -- six too many


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

stillwaiting said:


> that's a lot of wolves -- six too many



Should we leave one for seed??


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## hawkeye642 (Jul 27, 2010)

I would quit using meat, its not necessary anyway! A friend of mine that guides advised me not to use meat as bait because of the wolves. He stated that he was using meat and the wolves were ruining his bait sites. Since he stopped using meat he has had no problems. My guess is once you have them on the bait with meat, it may be too late.


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

I checked with my buddy tonight. He said this site has frosting, chocolate, bread, & some other stuff but NO meat. It may of had some meat earlier but it's been sweets, bread, & some fruit lately. These pictures are when the site had sweets, bread, & fruit.


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Now that they are coming in to your bait feed them a little hot lead usually that is the only way to keep them from coming back. A couple of years ago there were some pics on the internet of a pack of wolves attacking and killing two bear cubs on a bait. The sow could only watch as the bears were outnumbered. The wolves seem to be attracted to deer baits too. Last time I used a deer bait in the UP was about 8 years ago.


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## Mickey Finn (Jan 21, 2005)

Robert Holmes said:


> Now that they are coming in to your bait feed them a little hot lead usually that is the only way to keep them from coming back. A couple of years ago there were some pics on the internet of a pack of wolves attacking and killing two bear cubs on a bait. The sow could only watch as the bears were outnumbered. The wolves seem to be attracted to deer baits too. Last time I used a deer bait in the UP was about 8 years ago.


I had a similiar experience with wolves camping out around a deer bait station. It was carrots. I assumed they were waiting on a deer to come buy.

For the bear bait, I was thinking he should switch to pure chocolate.:lol:

ATB


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

I would almost bet that there are other bear baits very close by. The wolves will travel form one bait to another looking for food or critters to kill. According to one of the DNR wolf specialists wolves are scavangers first and predators second. Sometimes I find that very difficult to believe.


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## hawkeye642 (Jul 27, 2010)

Sourdough the meat scraps in the beginning is what started the problem. Just because there is no longer any meat doesn't mean they will leave. They smell the other animals such as the bears or an occasional cat (predators). They figure another animal just beat them to it. 

The wolves sit on deer bait piles why? Because we just made it easy. The deer sit on the runways to the bait waiting for the deer. We just concentrated the deer traffic to one area.

Comments like put some hot lead in it doesn't do anyone any good. There are plenty of anti-hunters reading this posts just as well. Wolves have become everyone's scapegoat for everytime they think deer numbers are lower than they should. I wish we didn't have them either but they are being blamed for everything which isn't sound thinking. 

Canada has more wolves than Michigan, Wisconsin or Minnesota and I don't hear anyone complaining about Canada's wolf population affecting the deer herd. Billions of dollars are spent annually in Canada by American hunters!


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## pikedevil (Feb 11, 2003)

hawkeye642 said:


> Canada has more wolves than Michigan, Wisconsin or Minnesota and I don't hear anyone complaining about Canada's wolf population affecting the deer herd. Billions of dollars are spent annually in Canada by American hunters!


Actually they do complain about wolves, AND more importantly they are allowed to hunt them. Heck when you get a wolf tag you get to shoot 2 wolves per person.


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## SPH (Jan 20, 2004)

hawkeye642 said:


> Did you put any kind of meat out there? I am still sitting here trying to figure out why wolves would come to a bear bait if there is no meat?
> 
> The wolves will run most bears off unless you have a large bear and he may eventually leave too.



Not to get off subject but when it was legal to bait deer I had a buddy that shot a coyote during bow season that was eating corn off his bait pile. There were a pair that came in and he called me to track it and it was the darndest thing I had ever heard.


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

If a coyote will eat undigested corn kernels out of cow poop I doubt if a wolf would turn down bread,sweets, & other easy picking vegetable matter.


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## redtoivola (Sep 21, 2008)

most baits will draw lots of bird and small animal activity, lots of chippies, squirrels etc. and that is what attracts predators like yotes wolves,ravens, hawks and owls. doesn't need to be meat bait when there's meat "on the hoof" running around it! On the upside that kind of activity also draws in bear!


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## hunt4life (Dec 22, 2006)

What unit do you have sourdough? You must have half the bears in the U.P. in your area. We had a pack move in on our baits a few years back. Had know meat in the bait but had poured grease from a the top of the loggs and picture showed them licking the KFC grease of the loggs. It did slow the bear activety way down on them particular baits.


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

sourdough44 said:


> Let's see if I can get the latest.


Those aren't Wolves!
Those are really big Coyotes!


*SSS*


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## sourdough44 (Mar 2, 2008)

Location is N Central U.P., if I didn't mention it.


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