Best bait for black bear
Contributors to this thread:Bears
From: Hunter4459
17-Feb-15
I blew my only opportunity for black bear in Canada last year, but I'm heading back this year. There were 6 hunters in camp, but only two got bears. The unsuccessful hunters were complaining. There seem to be a number of bear in the area, but they weren't coming to the baits. The outfitter used a commercial bear bait (looked like it was mostly oats) and added molasses. Later in the week, he gave me some raspberry jello powder and vanilla spray. This time, I'd like to start earlier at enhancing the bait. Just wonder what everyone else feels the "foolproof" bait is. I've read pastries and mint work well. What has everyone found to be successful? Thanks!
From: Bear Track
17-Feb-15
Depends what time of year you're hunting, spring or fall. I would use different depending on the time of year. Lots would depend on when the outfitter started running the baits.
From: patdel
17-Feb-15
My cousin runs a bear camp in Saskatchewan. He swears by beaver castor and beaver carcasses. Gets them from a native trapper. Also old donuts candy and anything sweet.
From: Julius K
17-Feb-15
I hunted bears for the first time here in Maine this year. I used mostly popcorn covered in a homemade cherry kool aid syrup and doughnuts.
I'd read about using oats and heard of people locally using them. I went up the local horse supply place and got 80 lbs. I filled up a couple five gallon buckets with them at home and drenched them in imitation maple syrup, hersheys syrup, and peanut butter. It was sticky and tasted great.
Long and short of it, the bears barely touched the oats depsite being covered in the good stuff. My trail cam showed them shaking my barrel until the donuts and pop corn would come out lol. There was a pile of it that eventually became a pile of mush.
I'm sure oats work, but they didn't for me.
From: geneinidaho
17-Feb-15
geneinidaho's Link
Best stuff I have ever used
From: Mule Power
17-Feb-15
Doughnuts. They love them. That and plain bread such as dinner rolls. It was a non-stop all you can eat buffet on them every year I hunted. The last year I was there we hung two beaver carcasses. One got pretty nasty and the other was fairly fresh. I had heard so much about using them. I saw the fewest number of bears I had ever seen on that bait site. Huh????
From: Stealth2
17-Feb-15
Only hunted bears in the spring and found doughnuts work real well along with a "butterscotch" burn. James Valley makes a Sow In Heat bait for spring that our guide had good luck using. However...you don't want to get any of that stuff on you. It will turn your stomach. LOL
From: Hunter4459
17-Feb-15
Sorry. Should have added that this will be fall hunting. It's the second week of season, which is basically the first week of September. Blueberries are everywhere. The bear crap in the road is full of it. I've seen a couple of votes for donuts. I'm thinking about contacting a mom and pop bakery and seeing if I can get them to start saving me the scraps. Maybe I can scrunch and freeze them into bricks. Other ideas and successes?
From: Chief 419
17-Feb-15
Donuts and more donuts. On my last bear hunt, the outfitter used dog food coated with powdered sugar. It seems like bears have a sweet tooth.
From: spike buck
17-Feb-15
Google "Lucky Seven Bear Bait". MN. They have candies, granola, pie filling and everything a bear will eat in the Fall. They delivered bait to our door.
Also "Otter Lake Outfitters". Wisconsin. Has some excellent choices.
From: Jake
17-Feb-15
I like the popcorn and cool aid like julius said because its very lightweight if you have to pack it into your spot. Plus the bears loved it. The next year I tried 50 pound bags of oats because it was just as cheap as popcorn and I didn't have to spend hours preparing it. I couldn't keep the dang deer off my bait until bears started showing up consistently. And, they would eat the few donuts I had and barely touch the oats. I went back to popcorn. But I have a friend that runs baits in another area with oats and does very well.
Food is food and bears will eat it all. When I was running out of popcorn I cleaned out the pantry and used anything that was expired. One bear ate 5 year old cream of mushroom soup for hell sake. Use whatever is easiest and works best for you. If you can't decide, ask the bears, maybe they'll tell you what they are craving!
From: lawdy
17-Feb-15
I don't bait bear, but find a beechnut ridge in the fall and up here, you are just about guaranteed a bear. Mountain ash berries and apple trees are magnets, but a bear will leave anything for beechnuts in my experience. If there is a beechnut crop, baiting up here is a waste of time.
From: trackman
17-Feb-15
BEAVER and donuts for desert you cant bet it
From: Buffalo1
17-Feb-15
beaver carcass once a bear gets system regulated after winter dormancy period.
From: spike buck
17-Feb-15
Hard to keep enough beavers till a fall hunt.
From: LBshooter
17-Feb-15
I would think strawberry jelly would work great and easy to take along.
From: Kdog
17-Feb-15
The outfitter I have hunted with in the spring uses 55 gallon barrels with corn and grease/cooking oil. One of the guys who does the baiting told me he also puts oil out on the ground around the bait site, so that the bears will get it on their feet and leave that scent on the trails they use.
Personally I would rather hunt where they are feeding the bears as opposed to baiting. (5 gallon bucket versus 55 gallon drum.)
I was also told that beavers/meat works well too. But not if you have wolves, because they can run off the bears.
From: Shug
17-Feb-15
Variety along with lots of bait is your best bet in my opinion to keep lots of bears coming regularly.
If I had to pick one bait and I had an unlimited supply and lived where I hunted (8 hour drive now) I would use bearers. Big boar truly love beaver.
If its a place you can't re bait regularly a 55 gallon drum of donuts that can last a week or two would be your best bet.
From: Ursus a. Horribilis
18-Feb-15
A sow in heat is probably the best bait for a mature boar. Go during the rut. If the sows are feeding, the boars will show.
From: Zebrakiller
18-Feb-15
fall is tough to fight mother nature but I never add bait to my baits that the outfitter was nor already using had some guys put out liquid smoke at there baits never were touched again but at a different camp the outfitter puts it out every time he baits and works great
From: bigguy
18-Feb-15
I agree with Zebrakiller. Anytime we switch up bait materials in mid season, baits get very quiet for awhile. Bears are skittish creatures and they will change their habits if you change the smells around bait. We always keep at least two 45 gallon barrels full of an assortment of baits at each site. Different bears have different tastes. Some like sweets more than meats and vice versa.
From: bowriter
18-Feb-15
There is no "best bait". Almost anything will work. Sweets tend to be one of the faves but I have seen bears flock to everything from beaver carcasses to oats.
Often, when bears are ignoring or lightly hitting baits, it is because some natural food source such as green grass has just come out.
personally, I have always been partial to just about anything that has a good layer of used grease (cooking oil) mixed with it. If you can get old commercial pastries free, they are usually great. Just about anything works but of most importance from my view point is the scent attractant to get them there. Anise or liquid smoke soaked into a long rag and thrown high in a tree gets my vote.
From: bnt40
18-Feb-15
Sunflower seeds and trail mix work quite well. Oh and don't forget some cookies.
From: South Farm
19-Feb-15
They love marshmellows, salted nut rolls, anything sweet really. Somebody mentioned Lucky 7 bait...they have just about everything, but the one thing I would NOT get is the green licorice. The bears won't touch it and I've tried several times. Don't waste your money on that.
I haven't had much luck holding bears with meat other than chicken...the stinkier the better it seems.
From: Alexis Desjardins
19-Feb-15
If they have natural food in the fall they are though to bait the best that's worked for me is honey but you need to give them some everyday that's not possible for some people. Good luck
From: Fuzzy
19-Feb-15
beaver and donuts .......I think I'm a bear
From: Jim Leahy
19-Feb-15
sweets for sure- if used cooking oil is legal in that area-its deadly. I would carry a 5 gallon jug in and use it heavy. I like to pour it on the stumps and logs- bear get it on there paws and attract other bear. To top off the bait get a spray bottle and use it as a mist on the leaves and then a straight shot as high as you can spray it on trees- a mix of Vanilla and smoke is great. Water it down a little so the spray bottle doesn't clog. Good luck
From: dkidaho
19-Feb-15
Have used these Spring and Fall. Best part is NO MESS, easy handling and it WORKS... Bear (and Deer,etc.) PELLETS from 'Master-Bait' ... Howe, Idaho *Master-Bait.net I think
From: JamesV
19-Feb-15
My local game warden told me that when they trap bears they use Honey buns for bait.
From: Rob Nye
19-Feb-15
This beast only ate 1/2 a fresh frozen beaver every night for 5 days and died on 6th day after we relocated the stand. Also on the menu were oats, fryer grease, chocolate fudge, cherry pie filling, cake frosting. He only ate beaver and no other bears hit the bait after he showed up, lots of "regular" bears were there before him. I do like variety but IMO fresh beaver rules (for northern bears).
From: Bou'bound
19-Feb-15
5% choice of bait
95% choice of where you are baiting
From: Zebow
19-Feb-15
Beaver, donuts, popcorn
From: Bear Track
19-Feb-15
Years ago we used to use potatoe chips and nothing else, by the ton. Sometimes we'd use donuts but they only last so long when you're running 60 baits. Anyhow we'd have guests telling us the bear would smell a donut in the bottom of the barrel that was filled to the top with chips. The bear would empty all the chips out to get at that one donut then at another bait site a guest would come in tell us how the bear emptied the barrel full of donuts to get at the one chip left in the bottom of the barrel. Great noses and some times picky appetites.
From: DirtnapOutdoors
20-Feb-15
Possibly find another Outfitter and let him do the work. Do you homework on picking one, and you will have no troubles killing a bear in Canada. I had previously hunted Maine with no success. Went up to New Brunswick with another outfitter and seen multiple bears and killed one the second night.
From: Fuzzy
20-Feb-15
Bear track, sounds like they just like to empty barrels :-)
From: Bear Track
20-Feb-15
You're correct, even when season is over. What a mess I had to clean up!
From: Fuzzy
20-Feb-15
sheesh! well if you ever want some free labor at that time of year, hit me up. I've got more time than money these days and I don't mind hard work, just feed me, and maybe trade out on some fishing or ptarmigan shooting or something....
From: killinstuff
20-Feb-15
Zebrakiller is correct, in the fall if you change up what the outfitter has been feeding the bears, you'll most likely screw up the bait. Bears know what's going on and they know you're in the stand. More than likely you're new smell on the bait site killed it. Lot's on guys in Ontario use meat/bones in the fall if the berries are heavy. Oats/granola is just smell and filler not a great bait in areas that are hunted year after year like most places in Ont IMO.
From: kellyharris
20-Feb-15
When I was in POW we used dog food (1 large bag) mixed with 1 bag of powdered sugar, 1 bag of raspberry gelatin jello mix, and I would take 2 table spoons of peanut butter and rub around hole on bait barrel. At first I didn't see anything first 2 days that's when I rubbed the peanut butter and wow what a magnet that was.
From: Drahthaar
20-Feb-15
sounds like you need a different outfitter. bear bait needs to be put out well before the hunt not when you start hunting. anyway for big southern bears peanut butter and corn. dry corn picked out of the field, left on the ear works better than corn out of a grain bin. whole shelled peanuts with salt. Forrest
From: thesquid
24-Apr-15
Bacon grease, pop corn, peanut butter, Frosted Flakes, fresh bread, and more bacon grease.
From: Roose
24-Apr-15
Sunflower seeds and used fryer grease for flavour works well.
From: carcus
25-Apr-15
Corn has worked for me in the past, using it again this year!
From: Mike Ukrainetz
25-Apr-15
It's like asking what food do humans like best? We just don't want ours quite as smelly.
From: Rob Nye
25-Apr-15
From: Shug
25-Apr-15
Rob...is he trying to keep her from running away?
From: Ken Taylor
25-Apr-15
I think it has been well answered...
But to all you "ole" bear baiters... is there any other scent that lets you know more that spring has arrived, LOL!
From: Rob Nye
25-Apr-15
Some sort of circus training maybe?
From: Ken Taylor
25-Apr-15
And they say hunters don't have a heart...
From: woodguy65
25-Apr-15
I think Rob Nye said it best..."fresh beaver rules", and he backed it up with pics!
From: Rob Nye
25-Apr-15
Hi Jerry; Was wondering who and how long it would take for someone to connect on that! haha Stay well bud!
From: Shug
25-Apr-15
I think one thing to point out as well...not a rub on those big boars even in mid June...
From: Manitoba Bohuntr
26-Apr-15
If the same question was asked in regards to the best food source for whitetails, the answers would be largely based on the well being of the herd and the overall health benefits we could provide them. Some great ideas here but just wondering if making our bears have plugged coronary arteries and diabetic is really the best thing? I realize some of the "sweets" are luring as well as the bad fats we feed them, but how about also having food there that is beneficial? Just saying'...
From: Bushbow
26-Apr-15
MB - they don't live long enough or sedentarily enough for it to matter. Have bears start reaching their 80's and beyond and hardened arteries become an issue. But to do that there needs to be a dentist helping them out and there health plan(even in Canada) doesn't cover it.
From: Manitoba Bohuntr
29-Apr-15
Bushbow - bears live twice as long as deer (or more) and we always speak of deer nutrition. It's not that they'll actually have health issues but rather that every species thrives when food is healthy and abundant. Just trying to get people to rethink what we feed the animals we love to have around.
From: 49°+North
29-Apr-15
MB- you are right, many hunters don't consider bear nutrition, as they do deer. It is definitely "food" for thought.
From: Callingalldeer
29-Apr-15
The best food is what ever is free. The Bears surely love lard,lol.
From: TSI
29-Apr-15
It be hard to beleive bears here all eat at baits.but natural food makes up most of the diet.health wise i think bait increases cub survival.less competition.we take bears 20-30yrs old every year and one which is still a canadian record of 34.5yrs old in heavily baited area.I think the plus side of bait trumps any negatives by double.
From: 49°+North
30-Apr-15
I don't think to bait or not to bait was the argument. Simply that a bears nutrition deserves as much attention as other animals that we hunt, such as deer.
From: CT bow junkie
30-Apr-15
I've been collecting from my local DD for a month now. I got 3 1/2 barrels of donuts that I compacted so I can get as much into each barrel as possible. the bagels I give to a local pig farmer in trade for bacon.
