rookie Arkansas bear baiting question
Bears
I didn't draw a KS tag, and am going to concentrate on an Arkansas black bear. You can bait 30 days prior to season on private land. I have 2 or 3 great great locations to bait, my cousin lives close to each and will help refresh the bait during the week days.
My question is this. I have maybe 400 pounds of a peanut butter and jelly granola bar ... 17,000 give or take I've had to unwrap. I have maybe 75 pounds of a chocolate cracker jack snack bites. My cousin swears dog food works.
So to give myself more volume of food .... would ya'll mix all 3 together? Break those granola bars into pieces, mix with the chocolate bites and dog food etc? Keep it all separate?
Presentation of the food is my question .... and I don't know that it'll matter, I just figured with the Arkansas heat, mixing it all would melt the peanut butter in the granola, the chocolate bites etc into the dog food and make it all a delicious bear gumbo.
Thoughts ?
The bear won't care, mix it up
If you think you need added filler, lots of guys use cheap dog food with just a little powdered sugar, or some use pop corn.
Good luck and let us know how things work out.
Talk to donut shops and ask them if you can have their old donuts.
Yogi loves dognuts.
Save your bacon grease and French fry oil etc. Dump around bait on ground, not only does it smell but the bears will walk through it and get on paws. They will track that scent on paws for miles and other bears cutting there path will back track the scent to your bait.
Woodguy65 is right on with the grease and the bear tracking it all over and advertising your baits for miles. Go to grocery store delis and ask for there used grease that they have left over from there fryers, that's what I did when I did a lot of bear baiting. The stores are usually more then happy to get rid of it.
2nd the grease/oil suggestion but the chocolate bait may not be such a good idea. Saw in another thread that chocolate bait poisoned (killed) 3 or 4 bears. The chocolate contained a toxic chemical Theobromine. Believe this happened in NH.
3rd on the grease.
Restaurants usually have a vat outside of the building where they dump their old deep fryer grease. I used to dump it over cheap dog food, corn, and even just on the ground.
Hopefully you can get one before acorns start falling. Our baits usually turn into ghost towns around October 1st. Season starts September 26 this year so good luck. I use baked goods from day old bread store. $25 for all I can load in my pick-up! Awesome bait but major PITA to open all those packages. FWIW I would mix it all together.
Not sure what part of Arkansas you are hunting but there is a heavy load of acorns in the ouchitas in Arkansas and Oklahoma. If you put all your hopes in baiting you may find your game cams with no pics around the third week of sept. You should try to also find the areas that the bears will go when the preferred food hits the ground.
Sylamore area - North Central
Thanks for the info guys - it'll be interesting
Hello, I want to second the motion on NOT using chocolate as it can be fatal to bears. Also try to have your baits set close to where they'll be feeding on Acorns and you'll be fine. They WILL be happy to have some other options to add to their diet. Used fryer grease is OUTSTANDING especially with the fact that it's usually available for free and in bulk amounts. Fortunately where I get it, it's available in 4 gallon containers that have a built in handle on the top. I found that tightly securing them to a tree with a chain or even rope works GREAT. Then I remove the cap so the scent spreads for quite a distance. The Bears come along and chew holes in the soft plastic and the grease soaks in right there where you want it. Also they'll get it ALL over their paws and leave scent trails all over. You will attract LOTS of different Bears to your baits. Last of all Bears REALLY LOVE sweets so some effective items are; ANY type of sugar, jello powder or similar drink mixes, imitation vanilla extract, and syrups or Honey. I have NOT had good results with molasses. GOOD LUCK!!!!!
Low odds of killing an Arkansas bear. save your time and money. acorns fall before the bear opener. really tough to get it done before the bears are scattered by falling acorns.
I'm committed now flyingbrass
I mixed up 50# of bacon flavored Ol Roy dog food today, maybe 6-8 pounds of the chocolate/espresso candy bites things, maybe 20 pounds of the peanut butter and jelly granola bars ....
Bears like sweet? I got sweet- surely only using that much chocolate won't hurt a bear
