# update of baiting after the first week.



## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Well time to report my findings of my first full week of baiting.

I was counting on my boy scouting, helping me locate and baiting for me. Problem is he is working to much and fishing the walleye tournaments. Which means I have done everything solo. He lives where I am hunting.

Bait location: I found them by studying the topo's. Tried to get back where there would be less chance of human inference. A swamp with water near by. I have one spot behind my son's place that should produce? He has seen bears around his house on the highway.

Saturday:
I was able to get back up to make the first bait/camera check: I drove in Saturday around noon to check the first bait. This bait had been cleaned out. Pulled the card from the camera and re-baited. I was anxious to see what cleaned it out. I have a card reader I attach to the cell phone. When I got back to the ATV I checked for pictures. The darn camera was set wrong and took pictures non stop after I turned it on. Filled the card with 1040 pictures of nothing, dang.

Second bait, much deeper on a hard to get to logging road. I get to this site and once again its cleaned out. Now I am a little excited, maybe I will have some bears on my first two spots. Could be the same bears since these are 2 miles a part? I don't care..... I have bears on this DIY hunt. I re-bait and check the card. Bears On this card, nice. This bait, I can actually drive right to with the atv. My past experience with a guide hunting bear, the bear don't seem to be bothered by it.

I had a big sow with two cubs frequent it from Wednesday to Saturday. A couple of other bears, can't tell the bears knocked this camera around. Even opened up the latch where you see the controls.

Nothing has hit the Bait off my son's place.

Sunday: I go back and check the baits. My son's place first....Nothing.
Get to my first spot on state land. The bait is still covered up, nothing.
Go to my second spot and once again it is cleaned up. Just in 12 hours everything I left is gone. I am putting a lot of bait out to.
I re-bait and quickly check the card. Its full of bear pictures. Once I get home and review the pictures. They were there from dust to daylight. Best I can figure I have a sow with two cubs and two different possible big bores. They have the longer nose and look to be bores. Based on pictures, I think they are shooters. I realized I am probably going to need to figure out a way to keep more bait around to hold them. I have decided to put a barrel here just to keep something there until I can get back up on weekends.

Now to keep them and not push them nocturnal. Might put up a ladder stand instead of using a climber. That way I can leave a shirt of mine on the stand so they get use to it.


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## Luv2hunteup (Mar 22, 2003)

Sounds great. Bears will pick up burrs. They usually are there through the season. We use them as identifiers. We have the same bear coming in on the same night 5 miles and two rivers apart. 

Good luck.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Long noses?

Big boars get blocky heads. Look for small looking ears and maybe a crease in the center of the head.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

sureshot006 said:


> Long noses?
> 
> Big boars get blocky heads. Look for small looking ears and maybe a crease in the center of the head.


Thanks I am aware of those identifiers. Ears and belly are definitely signs. I notice a boar tends to have a longer snout. Sows have a shorter snout.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

kingfisher 11 said:


> Thanks I am aware of those identifiers. Ears and belly are definitely signs. I notice a boar tends to have a longer snout. Sows have a shorter snout.


I didn't know about the snout length difference. If I see what appears to be a longer snout (relative to its head) I think young bear.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

sureshot006 said:


> I didn't know about the snout length difference. If I see what appears to be a longer snout (relative to its head) I think young bear.


That falls into the blocky head I guess. My experience if the ears really stand tall and a narrow long snout you do have a young bear. Look at some sow pictures. You can see the difference. Like everything else there is always the exception.

I hunted several full seasons for bear in the past. I wanted a big bear so I waited for one almost two full seasons. I shot it the last week of the second season. I passed a couple of smaller bears each season until a big bear showed up.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

kingfisher 11 said:


> That falls into the blocky head I guess. My experience if the ears really stand tall and a narrow long snout you do have a young bear. Look at some sow pictures. You can see the difference. Like everything else there is always the exception.
> 
> I hunted several full seasons for bear in the past. I wanted a big bear so I waited for one almost two full seasons. I shot it the last week of the second season. I passed a couple of smaller bears each season until a big bear showed up.


Yea I always looked for the size of the front end. Fat arse with small front end = sow.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

sureshot006 said:


> Yea I always looked for the size of the front end. Fat arse with small front end = sow.


You got that right, i have a sow with two big cubs. When she faces away and sits down she looks huge. Not something I would say to my wife.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

kingfisher 11 said:


> You got that right, i have a sow with two big cubs. When she faces away and sits down she looks huge. Not something I would say to my wife.


Yeah... "you look like a sow" would not be good


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

Any of your bears have white bibs? In the past at least, there were bears around your hunt area with large, beautiful white "V"s on their chests. Personally, if I had one of those coming in it would be a case of "size *doesn't *matter" as long as it was legal. FM


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Forest Meister said:


> Any of your bears have white bibs? In the past at least, there were bears around your hunt area with large, beautiful white "V"s on their chests. Personally, if I had one of those coming in it would be a case of "size *doesn't *matter" as long as it was legal. FM


Like this?


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

sureshot006 said:


> Like this?
> View attachment 565965


Yep. Some even more pronounced. FM


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Forest Meister said:


> Yep. Some even more pronounced. FM


I didn't know until I walked up on it.


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

sureshot006 said:


> I didn't know until I walked up on it.


A white chest is easiest to see when a bear is standing on its hind legs on the other side of a small opening and popping its jaw at you. It was the opening afternoon of bear season. That bear had more white on its chest than any bear I have ever seen, dead or alive. Not sure what was more entertaining, watching the bear pace back and forth and stand up every minute or so to threaten me, or watching the cubs, both with white on chest, wrestle and chase each other up and down a nearby tree while in process of devouring the bait. One of those hunting moments a person never forgets. FM


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Forest Meister said:


> A white chest is easiest to see when a bear is standing on its hind legs on the other side of a small opening and popping its jaw at you. It was the opening afternoon of bear season. That bear had more white on its chest than any bear I have ever seen, dead or alive. Not sure what was more entertaining, watching the bear pace back and forth and stand up every minute or so to threaten me, or watching the cubs, both with white on chest, wrestle and chase each other up and down a nearby tree while in process of devouring the bait. One of those hunting moments a person never forgets. FM


More white was probably your face and knuckles LOL


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Forest Meister said:


> Any of your bears have white bibs? In the past at least, there were bears around your hunt area with large, beautiful white "V"s on their chests. Personally, if I had one of those coming in it would be a case of "size *doesn't *matter" as long as it was legal. FM


I have yet to get a head on pictures. I need to move the camera or add another. They come from behind where its mounted now and leave directly away. I can see the trail coming and going.
When I was hunting Baraga we had one on camera with the white bibs. One of the guys there wanted it so bad but never saw it.
If I get pictures this weekend with any white I will post it.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

kingfisher 11 said:


> I have yet to get a head on pictures. I need to move the camera or add another. They come from behind where its mounted now and leave directly away. I can see the trail coming and going.
> When I was hunting Baraga we had one on camera with the white bibs. One of the guys there wanted it so bad but never saw it.
> If I get pictures this weekend with any white I will post it.


Last time I hunted I had 3 cameras on my best bait, in a triangle. Its surprising how much different in size they can look one angle to the next


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

sureshot006 said:


> More white was probably your face and knuckles LOL


It probably should have been at least somewhat uncomfortable but strangely enough, that was not the case even though I was in a brushed in chair on the ground. Honestly, I do not recall any semblance of fright even crossing my mind. I think part of it was the excitement of seeing those beautiful animals putting on a show for me in broad daylight. It was a two ring circus with the cubs making me chuckle and the sow acting very serious. The cubs didn't give a rat's rear-end what the sow was doing and she never tried to drive the cubs off the bait, they cleaned it up and left. The other part of not being frightened might have had to do with a 30-06 resting comfortably on my lap. FM


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

I put a few out ,will shall see.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Forest Meister said:


> It probably should have been at least somewhat uncomfortable but strangely enough, that was not the case even though I was in a brushed in chair on the ground. Honestly, I do not recall any semblance of fright even crossing my mind. I think part of it was the excitement of seeing those beautiful animals putting on a show for me in broad daylight. It was a two ring circus with the cubs making me chuckle and the sow acting very serious. The cubs didn't give a rat's rear-end what the sow was doing and she never tried to drive the cubs off the bait, they cleaned it up and left. The other part of not being frightened might have had to do with a 30-06 resting comfortably on my lap. FM


Yeah I've walked in on them multiple times. Never a sow/cubs that I know of though.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Lots of bears, no white V's yet as far as I can tell. Had lot of camera miscues so I lost a week with cameras at each bait site. The site with the least activity had the biggest been so far. Even got a picture of a collared wolf. Need to get him during the day


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

kingfisher 11 said:


> The site with the least activity had the biggest been so far. Even got a picture of a colored wolf.


Who you calling "colored"? lol
Looks like you'll be seeing some bears this year.

Good luck!


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Darn spell check


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)




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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

I'm not sure, might be a coyote actually.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Nostromo said:


> I'm not sure, might be a coyote actually.


Nope, I have better pictures. Just found a daylight picture of him. Might be a youngin but its a wolf. I saw tracks a couple of weeks ago of a wolf within 100 yards of this bait

I will try to post more pictures, hard to tell from the one I posted


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

kingfisher 11 said:


> Nope, I have better pictures. Just found a daylight picture of him. Might be a youngin but its a wolf. I saw tracks a couple of weeks ago of a wolf within 100 yards of this bait
> 
> I will try to post more pictures, hard to tell from the one I posted


I was kind of wondering why they would collar a coyote.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)




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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

I don't think anyone would collar a coyote. I know a wolf to be in the area. Just found this in my pictures


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

kingfisher 11 said:


> I don't think anyone would collar a coyote. I know a wolf to be in the area. Just found this in my pictures
> View attachment 568143


He or she hears the camera.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

They were trapping wolves on the Baraga plains a couple years ago for a predator study. Had signs up here and there. Maybe it’s one of those wolves. 

cool pics


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Fool'em said:


> They were trapping wolves on the Baraga plains a couple years ago for a predator study. Had signs up here and there. Maybe it’s one of those wolves.
> 
> cool pics


This just about as far east as you can go in the UP. Not out of the question though.
My previous bear hunts were close to the Baraga Plains. I know hound hunters avoided the area due to wolf numbers


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

kingfisher 11 said:


> This just about as far east as you can go in the UP. Not out of the question though.
> My previous bear hunts were close to the Baraga Plains. I know hound hunters avoided the area due to wolf numbers


They were trapping in that area last year as well. At least in the Sturgeon River Gorge area. They had signs posted and I saw a bunch of Fish and Game Trucks one day on 2200.

I scouted a lot east end of the plains and every likely spot I found showed signs of regular baiting activity. A few had a strip of engineer tape with a name from Michigamme and a lot of concurrent years written down. Like he used that spot regular. He seemed to have some really good spots.

This is the kind of bears I had coming in. No shooters. But no cubs either.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Well it happened, someone moved in on one of my baits Saturday. They even went so far as laying tree tops across the road/trail in three spots where I go to get to my bait. I have been bating from the first day I legally could, even using a barrel. I was going in with a Ranger not leaving to much of footprint on the trails. They really packed it down Saturday and maybe Sunday.
I had the most bear pictures the previous week at this site. Even a bear with stirrups and a sow with at least three cubs. I know its public land and I half expected this. The problem I have is they are trying to keep me out.
I plan to be up there the the three days before my hunt starts. All I can do is make my second site better and see if I can out bait the first site. I plan to pull a few strings out of my hat the day I start hunting. Hopefully they have 2nd or 3rd hunt and I am done by the time they start hunting. I went from being extremely excited Saturday night to a punched in the gut feeling going in on Sunday.

I took pink and king salmon carcasses in Saturday. When I go to the site eagles had found the fish. They flew off as we got close. Crazy how they can find them in all the tree covering.


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

May not be that bad. Hound guys often drag trees etc to scrape a trail. Then when they come by rigging they can see if there are any fresh tracks. They may have just dumped them there?

One other thought, those fish guts might draw some less desirable critters as well. So, be careful approaching your baits. Think tomato juice. Lots of it! 

It sound like you are in for a great hunt.


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## Neubys (Oct 18, 2011)

Did you locate their bait site? I'm just curious how you know that someone has actually moved in the same area you're hunting? Obviously someone is trying to restrict access.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Neubys said:


> Did you locate their bait site? I'm just curious how you know that someone has actually moved in the same area you're hunting? Obviously someone is trying to restrict access.


I guess its just a guess, suddenly lots of truck traffic and they laid trees across the road in three spots leading up to the dead end.
I was not going to walk around the area and push any bear left out. The road going back off the main road was probably 250 yards before it dead ended into a bunch of downed trees. No private land near by either.

Just hope for the best.

I know of one other guy who is baiting about half way between my baits. I can hope none of them start until 2nd or 3rd hunt.


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## Neubys (Oct 18, 2011)

I follow you. Fortunately I'm on private property surrounded by other private property so this issue is not much of one for me. I have been contemplating branching out onto state forest property to set up other bait sites in the future seasons and I just wonder how many times people run into issues with other bear hunters moving in. It seems as if the bear density is not as high as when I first started hunting this spot.

I'm up in the Keweenaw so I hope for less people density in the area.


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## kingfisher 11 (Jan 26, 2000)

Nostromo said:


> May not be that bad. Hound guys often drag trees etc to scrape a trail. Then when they come by rigging they can see if there are any fresh tracks. They may have just dumped them there?
> 
> One other thought, those fish guts might draw some less desirable critters as well. So, be careful approaching your baits. Think tomato juice. Lots of it!
> 
> It sound like you are in for a great hunt.


It was the first time I dropped fish. They were leftover from our weekend trips. If it looks like the bears don't go to them I won't do it anymore. it won't last long so it will be gone quickly.

This was a grassy overgrown logging road. They were not dragging the road, seen that done before. Just laying big tree tops across so you had to move them to drive through.


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## Nostromo (Feb 14, 2012)

kingfisher 11 said:


> It was the first time I dropped fish. They were leftover from our weekend trips. If it looks like the bears don't go to them I won't do it anymore. it won't last long so it will be gone quickly.
> 
> This was a grassy overgrown logging road. They were not dragging the road, seen that done before. Just laying big tree tops across so you had to move them to drive through.


That's a shame.


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