# How much to bait. A lot Or a Little



## ruttin club (Jun 16, 2011)

Ok I have heard it both ways. Bait only small amounts so they come in daily. Or bait a lot so more then one can eat. I have about a three hour drive house to property. Do I bait a lot every weekend. Do I bait a smaller amount and try to come up a couple of time a week. What does everyone on here do. I got a permit about 15 years ago and would come up every weekend. I baited a lot but it was all gone usually by Thursday or Friday. I hunted state land. The bear dogs came in my area all three day I hunted. I heard one shot. I got frustrated and stopped hunting. Big mistake on my part should have stuck it out. I only set up one bait station in one area . Second mistake. I will probably set up two on my property. One on my brothers who is about 20 min north. and one on the state land down from my cabin. Then see what activity is like at all the spots.


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## SWMbruiser (Jan 25, 2012)

If not tending several times a week, I would say a fair amount. If you are, small amounts. When season starts I would cut back to get them checking more frequently. They hate to think they missed out cuz they were too slow. But baiting season isn't open just yet remember

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

We have been successful at least seeing bear every time we had a license in our family. Baited about 10 gal once or twice a week til the last week then 5 gal every other day and a small amount daily while hunting. It's all we could practically do being 2 hours from the property.

The 10 gal was usually gone day 2...


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## cotote wacker (Jun 12, 2012)

Unless you have several thousand acres of property putting out 2 baits your only going to compete against yourself....one good bait is much better....I never put baits closer than 2 miles apart....its still possible to get the same bears hitting baits 2 mile apart.... 

Private property you can use barrels....get a 55 gallon barrel with a top that is not removable weld a 20' piece of heavy chain to the large plug... drill a 1 1/2" hole in the middle of barrel on the side....fill with corn and pour 5-6 gallons of cooking grease into barrel over corn....attach chain around at least a 6" tree with a 3/8" bolt...several bears can roll the barrel for over a week and not empty it....put the barrel where there's a lot of room so not to get tangled around trees ground will look like it was plowed even some holes several feet deep...don't put bait in barrel during your hunt....do not attach to the same tree as your second barrel....
This barrel fill on pre-hunt baiting at least 5 gallons when hunting I like to have a little bait left when I re-bait ....take a 55 gallon barrel with a removable lid and band to hold lid on....take a piece of 4"x4" that will fit upright in the barrel using #10 screws attach to the inside up right...then drill 3/8" holes on each side of 4"x4" 6" from bottom and top use a 2 pieces of 1/4" aircraft cable to loop around 4"x4" and tree attach with cable clamps....then cut a 9" hole in the middle of barrel on other side from 4"x4".....when setting up barrel have the hole 90 degree to your position sitting in blind....when baiting put several 3'x 3"-4" diameter pieces of wood to fill the opening in barrel....bear will come in pull out wood sticks with paws or mouth...

With a 55 gallon barrel it will help you judge the size of bears....

Always bait pre-hunt at the time you plan on going hunting....if you can during your hunt 2 people in hunter stays....also during pre-hunt baiting leave a soiled T-shirt in blind of the person thats going to hunt putting a different one every couple days....

Never ever bring other people other than who's going to hunt a bait site....you don't need strange human odors...bears can be conditioned to the same odors over time....

You don't need to worry about making noise walking in or filling you barrel....you are conditioning them in the pre-season baiting....just try to do the same thing every time you walk in and bait...


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## HTC (Oct 6, 2005)

cotote wacker said:


> ....bear will come in pull out wood sticks with paws or mouth...
> 
> With a 55 gallon barrel it will help you judge the size of bears....


Like this....and for reference that is a 55 gallon drum.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Careful of where you can use corn. not all BMU's allow it.

Leaving a stinky shirt from the hunter is something I have done in the past and works great. The only bear I know to have spooked was a sow and cubs that I never had pics of. They hit the trail I walked in on and took off like lightning. Other bears didn't have a care in the world.


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## Tilden Hunter (Jun 14, 2018)

ruttin club said:


> Ok I have heard it both ways. Bait only small amounts so they come in daily. Or bait a lot so more then one can eat. I have about a three hour drive house to property. Do I bait a lot every weekend. Do I bait a smaller amount and try to come up a couple of time a week. What does everyone on here do. I got a permit about 15 years ago and would come up every weekend. I baited a lot but it was all gone usually by Thursday or Friday. I hunted state land. The bear dogs came in my area all three day I hunted. I heard one shot. I got frustrated and stopped hunting. Big mistake on my part should have stuck it out. I only set up one bait station in one area . Second mistake. I will probably set up two on my property. One on my brothers who is about 20 min north. and one on the state land down from my cabin. Then see what activity is like at all the spots.


Baiting is a little easier for me than it is for you. From driveway there and back including baiting takes me 1-1/2 hours. I put out 25# of corn or a similar amount of dog food and a small bottle of the cheapest syrup I can find. I try to get this done every third day. The corn is cheaper, but the stores don't usually have it at the start of baiting. I hike my bait in so I need something manageable. When I can get them I put pike and walleye carcasses left over from filleting on top of the logs. These are for the crows and ravens to advertise the bait to the bears.

I've always hunted third hunt. Last year I started baiting August 25th instead of August 10 as an experiment. I couldn't detect any difference to the bears, and it saved me two weeks of baiting. My thoughts are that frequency is best, but if you can't then try to get that same quantity out in the fewer times that you go.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

fish carcasses? YICK!!!!


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## Tilden Hunter (Jun 14, 2018)

sureshot006 said:


> fish carcasses? YICK!!!!


I carry them out there frozen.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Tilden Hunter said:


> I carry them out there frozen.


Still...
I've used meat before but not fish. Horrible smell and the birds crapped so much the trees were white lol ... never again for me.


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## SMITTY1233 (Dec 8, 2003)

Fish carcasses great bait starters. After that they suck.


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## alaska86 (Sep 29, 2010)

I called the DNR a couple of years ago about the use of corn. Was told that it couldn’t be used until September 1st , the same as fruit and as mentioned , not in the areas that baiting wasn’t allowed


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## cotote wacker (Jun 12, 2012)

sureshot006 said:


> Still...
> I've used meat before but not fish. Horrible smell and the birds crapped so much the trees were white lol ... never again for me.





SMITTY1233 said:


> Fish carcasses great bait starters. After that they suck.


I don't mind crows and ravens when starting a bait a little stink never hurts starting or a couple squawking to let the woods know there's food....I don't want ravens and crows when I hunt they will squawking and let every animal in the wood know there's a human in the woods....

Also using meat and fish will attract coyotes and wolves I don't want wolves on my bait....I have had wolves, coyotes eat donuts out of a barrel after a bear has pull sticks out of the barrel....

You have heard the saying "You are what you eat" I'am not feeding bears nasty rotten meat or fish....sweets, grains, and fruit make for very good bear meat....


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## Tilden Hunter (Jun 14, 2018)

I suppose it would somehow be possible to get to much fish on a bait, but that isn't what's going on at my bait. I'm talking about a half a dozen fish carcasses at a time that the bears never even get. The birds get them first. I've never seen any mess. Last year I had a coyote try to hunt my bait while I was hunting it, but that didn't last long. For reasons that are a complete mystery to me apples lay in the bottom of the hole and rot. Nothing eats them at the bear bait.


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## cotote wacker (Jun 12, 2012)

alaska86 said:


> I called the DNR a couple of years ago about the use of corn. Was told that it couldn’t be used until September 1st , the same as fruit and as mentioned , not in the areas that baiting wasn’t allowed


From 2018 Black Bear Digest....

Baiting

It is illegal to use chocolate or cocoa derivatives in bear bait.

Baiting bear is legal from the start of the bear baiting period (31 days before theopen season in that bear management unit) through the end of the bear huntingseason.

LEGAL BAITS THAT MAY BE USED IN UNLIMITED QUANTITIES:

meat and meat products, including dog food;


fish and fish products, including cat food; and


bakery/confectionery products, including jams, jellies, sweeteners, candies,and other cooked or commercially processed products such as pie filling,yogurts, or granola.

LEGAL BAITS LIMITED TO 2 GALLONS PER BAIT STATION:
Grains - Fruits - Vegetables - Salt - Minerals


or any materials that may attract or entice deer or elk


May be used with baits above listed in BROWN. Baits in BROWN can be used in unlimited quantities.

Before Sept. 15 Only grains may be used but must be inaccessible to deer and elk. Grains remain illegal to use in counties closed to deer and elk feeding and deer baiting.

After Sept. 15 Any use of these materials must comply with the current baiting and feeding restrictions for deer and elk.

In areas closed to deer baiting or deer and elk feeding, the only legal baitingmaterial is meat, meat products, fish, fish products, or bakery, confectionery products.

Like to see a deer or elk roll a 300 lb. barrel of corn...or move 50-70 pound logs to get to a bait....


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## Biggbear (Aug 14, 2001)

The OP was a question about how much. When I start a bait I put out alot, I dont want bears to show up and find it empty. As season approaches I put out less and less until I'm down to less than 5 gallons at a time. I want the bear that waits til after dark to show up and find it gone. Doesnt take long for them to figure out they gotta be early to get to the food first. Thats what seems to work well for me.


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## cotote wacker (Jun 12, 2012)

Biggbear said:


> The OP was a question about how much. When I start a bait I put out alot, I dont want bears to show up and find it empty. As season approaches I put out less and less until I'm down to less than 5 gallons at a time. I want the bear that waits til after dark to show up and find it gone. Doesnt take long for them to figure out they gotta be early to get to the food first. Thats what seems to work well for me.


I had a skinny 200 lb. boar come to the bait while filling the barrel....ears back, snapping teeth, stiff legged walk .....kept the barrel between him and me...yelled at the bear twice...shot him at 12 feet twice in the head with a 45 ACP....
When I skinned him out looked like a spring bear very little fat....was aged as 3 years...

Wife shot a nice 300 lb. boar on Sept. 15 couple years ago...we walked in she got in blind I when to barrel and put a 5 gallon bucket of bait in hit the bucket a couple times like I've done when refilling every time....walked 50 yards to blind got in sat down...bear came in in less than 2 minutes....


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## Biggbear (Aug 14, 2001)

cotote wacker said:


> I had a skinny 200 lb. boar come to the bait while filling the barrel....ears back, snapping teeth, stiff legged walk .....kept the barrel between him and me...yelled at the bear twice...shot him at 12 feet twice in the head with a 45 ACP....
> When I skinned him out looked like a spring bear very little fat....was aged as 3 years...
> 
> Wife shot a nice 300 lb. boar on Sept. 15 couple years ago...we walked in she got in blind I when to barrel and put a 5 gallon bucket of bait in hit the bucket a couple times like I've done when refilling every time....walked 50 yards to blind got in sat down...bear came in in less than 2 minutes....


Holy Moly, when I said I did this to get them to come in early I didn't mean I wanted to wrestle them at the barrel. I guess it can work a little to well!! I'll bet you'll never forget that hunt!


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## Flag Up (Feb 15, 2009)

I never found a bait site half eaten weather it was a little or a lot. They ate everything every time. 

I would not recommend two bait sites on the same property unless they were a mile apart. You run the risk of the bear hitting the bait you are not at.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Flag Up said:


> I never found a bait site half eaten weather it was a little or a lot. They ate everything every time.
> 
> I would not recommend two bait sites on the same property unless they were a mile apart. You run the risk of the bear hitting the bait you are not at.


We have done it twice. We just stop baiting one of them a week before the season starts. Just wanted to see which bears are coming to which bait during shooting light before stopping at one location.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Biggbear said:


> The OP was a question about how much.


Yep. but almost immediately corn was proposed, without knowing the OP's hunting location. For example, in the TB zone of Red Oak, corn is not allowed at all.


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

A lot of good advice, and one good story (gotta love the .45)

Start with a lot of bait and cut back to 5 gallons or so a week before your hunt. This has always worked for us even in the last season.

Good luck!


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## Biggbear (Aug 14, 2001)

sureshot006 said:


> Yep. but almost immediately corn was proposed, without knowing the OP's hunting location. For example, in the TB zone of Red Oak, corn is not allowed at all.


I'm not sure what the point was to pick that line in my reply. I was simply answering the question that was asked. I'm assuming you were defending your comment because it strayed from the original question. That line in my post had nothing to do with anyone else's reply.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Biggbear said:


> I'm not sure what the point was to pick that line in my reply. I was simply answering the question that was asked. I'm assuming you were defending your comment because it strayed from the original question. That line in my post had nothing to do with anyone else's reply.


Certainly appeared you tried to corral everyone back to the OP's question because it was wandering. Why else would you say it?

No big deal I should have just moved on.


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