2016 WI Bear hunting
Wisconsin
It here once again. Coming fast for all of us. Many have the baits going, or prepping for it. Us hounds people take the field Friday. Exciting time of year for everyone. Lots of rain this year. Has the most incredible berry crops coming that I have seen in many many years. This is going to do some very interesting things to the baits this year. Also going to make them bears fat, and tasty. Expect baits to shut down, or at least slow up over the next couple weeks when some of these crops ripen. If I turn a shade of blue you know why! Got our cameras deployed here a few days ago. Already getting pics of some nice bears on them. Some seemed to do real well over winter. Going to be a strange year it seems overall. heck, its strange enough for us not being fully booked yet at the end of June. More options for our other hunters which I guess is good too.
Lets start seeing some pics if you got them. Any questions lets hear them. Fun times ahead for all!!
Here's a nice one the morning after firing up a new bait.
Private land Portage County.
Steve --- Did you hear anything about changing the dog training season, to shorten it up..... a guy told me here up at the cabin, that there is a push in Madison, to shorten the training season, that it is too long........ was wondering what you thought....
Mike will send you a PM,,,, nice pics everyone
I have not heard anything. That would be all over a few places I frequent if it were.
Not heard a word on it either. But there is always someone crying about it. Never going to happen. It hard to get then in shape as it is for many. Even myself out almost daily it can be hard to get them in running shape.
I will do HUGE HAPPY DANCE. If the day ever comes all the critters are scared away by the dogs. At least maybe then them stupid deer would stay out of my yard!!!
One of the big fellas courting a sow.
New to bear hunting. Drew a zone C tag. Anybody know a guide in zone C that isn't booked up? I live in the Aniwa/Birnamwood area of Marathon/Shawano County. Looking to use the bow. Thanks!
going to be real tough to find anyone at this point in zone c. try craigslist
Nobody I know really books hunts years in advance. It's always a first come first serve type of thing. Most are booking as soon as tags are out online. My sitter clients seem to be a bit faster at it. Not always, but it does seem the first couple hunts booked every year for us are sitters. Even on the dogs first years.
Headed up this weekend to start our baits. We have 3 tags in camp. Bayfield County
Bow - I'd at least talk with a guide and see if he would be willing or at maybe point you in the right direction!
I will send you a PM.....
If I know a hunter who is drawing next year I will pencil him in. I like knowing the number of hunters earlier than later.
BE sure to get a list of references, hunters who have killed bears and hunters who have not killed bears and make the calls so you know what you are getting into well before booking a hunt.
Just about ready to start some baits going. Zone C just north of St. Point in Portage Co. I'm the only one who drew a tag this year.
Started this brand new bait site and 1 hour 10 minutes after I left this bear opened it up. The picture is from the next day when he hit it again, thought this was a better picture of him. So far he is the only one I have at that bait.
Same here TrapperJack. Going to start baiting next week here in Chippewa county.
There are 3 cubs in this picture, the third one is just below the cub on the left. This brand new bait was hit 3 hours after I started it. It is being hit by at least 6 different bears, including the 3 cubs. Possibly 8 bears. Did not surprise me as the game trail going past about 5 yards from the bait site is pounded hard and saw scat while looking around for about 2 hours for the perfect spot to put this bait.
This bait was set early but again I did not put a camera on it right away. The bait was cleaned up and did appear to be hit by bears. Next time I added the camera and got around to refreshing it again yesterday. The bait went for 14 days being hit constantly by 3 coon but not a single bear. Then this guy showed up, he did not eat anything and did not return yet. (maybe the coon had eaten it all) He did walk over to sniff the camera. The leaf he is sniffing had some of my top secret attractant on it.
I learned something today while refreshing another bait site that had a camera set on video. It is being claimed by a mature wolf (I think male) and a 1 year old. I also had 3 wolfs sounding off from different directions while I was there around 0630. I had always thought that only bears could move logs more than just rolling them a little. I intentionally left some branch stubs on logs just to make them harder to roll. Well not any more, I will be cutting branches clean off from now on. The big wolf would just grab the log by a branch and swing it off to the side. The wolfs and crows got the camera to fill up in just over two days so I really don't know if a bear ever got to it.
I have some landowners I work with in Rusk County that are looking for hunters foe this year if anyone is looking for a place to hunt. Both A and C. PM me if interested.
This is one of my favorite times of the year on this site....love the bear baiting pics and bear hunting talk. I don't have a tag this year, but for those that are hunting please keep this thread active and updated!
Steve, how was Day-1 of hound training? If your weather was like Hayward it was a nice one, not too hot.
Jeff, it was great day. Started a 9hr old track and treed it after a nice 5hr race. Day 2(today) was much hotter but still fun. Got a tough track going, had a nice 6hr race. Getting some young dogs worked. In the end got out run. Could have gone after it with fresh dogs. Just got too hot for safety. Best part of it all. Was that I got to spend these 2 days with a living legend. A man that has been breeding/hunting the same dogs for over 50 years. It's truly a humbling expierence to walk the woods with him. A absolute priveledge to be called his friend. Icing on the cake when he smiles over the success rewarded with hard work running dogs he has bestowed upon me. Many might get a big ego from this. I feel humbled being able to exceed his expectations. Even better when I can surprise. Like today, walking 1.5 miles into a swamp. To catch one of his dogs that laid up. Then lead it out without a leash. It's opportunities like this kids today take for granted, and put themselves above. Learning from your elders seems to have been forgotten by our youth.
I have talked in the past, and again recently about the effect of mast crops on baits. Have warned people about the absolute huge crop coming this summer. Well it has started to hit. I seen one string of 7 shut completely down starting the June 29. Another string of 9 has slowly dwindled to near nothing in the last few days. Only 1 of those 9 was really hit today. Another was visited, but only walked by. Knew what was going on. Not seeing much for ripe berries near the baits or in my travels. However, on that 1.5 mile hike in. The blueberries were fully ripe along the edge of the tag swamp. Near the baits they are just starting to form, with a ripe one here and there. Found several large areas over 1/4 mile deep. That were just now flowering. No doubt the berries will be influencing the baits hard over the next month. Right now ripe ones combined with heavy tourist traffic in the area, and fireworks everywhere. Game is hard to find.
Sure would be easy to make excuses, and point the blame at many things. Keeping an open mind, and looking for the cause/solutions. Is far more rewarding in the end.
Looking forward to watching, and figuring out things this year. With this huge amount of mast this year. One always has to be learning.
Steve, glad you had a good time.
I was picking strawberries Friday and asked the owner if he had bear problems yet as I know he has in the past. He said not yet, the corn isn't ripe yet and that is when they will be there. So yes, crops of almost any kind will pull bears to them like magnets when ripe. A couple of us used to do some crop damage (oats) shoots for the DNR in Minnesota. There were evenings when we would have 5 bears piled up for the DNR to pick up in the morning. Kind of sad in a way, the hides were worthless but the meat did go to locals that wanted it.
Steve,
Sounds like you had a good couple of days. Yup, the berries, nuts and crops will all make us work harder to get the job done. I have noticed the choke cherries are way ahead of schedule and the raspberries and black berries will have a banner year. Not much for blue berries down here.
It's another learning experience for us all!
Thought I would read thru the bear hunting regs to get new stuff in my head and refresh my memory on other stuff. Some of the new possession tag rules were a slight surprise but make sense.
The field quartering has me a little puzzled.
"A bear may be divided into not more than 5 parts, not including the hide, only to facilitate removal from the field. The head and neck shall remain attached to one of the other parts of the animal, not including the hide."
OK, so if I were to skin a bear in the field I would leave the head with the hide as I am not that good at capeing out a skull especially in the dark laying on the ground. So the head/hide would count as one part. Now I can only have 4 more parts but the legs and torso add up to 5 more parts. Hmmm, cut the spine and leave the back two quarters as one piece? Sounds heavy and would take a huge game bag. Cut the spine in the front so the front legs can stay with the front of the spine? That would be lighter than the back legs in one piece. Still would need a big game bag. Maybe somehow leave one front leg attached to the hide with the head? Sounds heavy and cumbersome too.
Then there is this little requirement. "may not divide any bear in a manner that does not keep one part of the bear intact to allow it to be measured in a straight line from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail to determine it was an adult bear of 42 inches or greater" But wait, above it also said the head had to stay attached to the spine. So now it sounds like about all you can do is remove the 4 legs and leave the body intact from nose to tail. That would be hard to do unless you totally skinned the whole thing including the head. Even then that chunk of bear would be heavy to carry out.
I don't know how some groups get large bears out of deep woods totally intact including entrails so they can get a live weight on a certified scale. If you can get a skid steer to the bear fine, but how often can that be possible especially on public land?
We always field dress our bears. Even then it takes a good group of strong people to get them out of the woods.
As far as proving the bear is 42 inches or larger I don't think there would be the need to field quarter a bear that size. Just put it in an otter sled and away you go.
A bigger bear would be a challenge to quarter in the field. I believe that the hide attached to the skull would prove length if laid out and measured.
You could skin it so you could remove the ribs, attached to the front quarters and the hind quarters leaving the spine attached to the hide.
Sounds like tough way to bring it out of the woods.
I'm not talking about a 200#er. Thinking more like those in the 350+ dressed out category. Sure if you break one of those down to even a dozen pieces it will be obvious it started out over 42 inches long. But would not meet the letter of the law.
Getting a group of strong people together is the trick. Best I could probably come up with is 2 that come close to that description. One of my baits takes me an hour to bait on foot and another one over a half hour. Both are a snarly mess to walk through. Logging slash, tall grass, stumps, humps/holes, and new popple growth 5' tall. Pulling a sled would even be hard and 4 wheeler for the most part out of the question. I guess I just have to get the bear to run toward the truck and die about 10 yards from it. I know stretchers work well but that still takes 4 people on a big bear and half way easy terrain to walk.
I helped skin a bear that was in the 550 ballpark laying on a driveway with lighting. Doing that laying on the ground in the woods, in the dark, fighting skeeters would be quite a challenge. Just getting it up the ramp of a low atv trailer was a chore with 4 people.
Hey Jeff how life treating you? Seem to have the bears figured out!
My 2nd daughter has a zone "D" tag and were starting two baits this coming weekend. Just got a load of cookies today and had all the trimmings from my first daughters hunt in 14'.
Jeff,
I thought about your question while running a bait that is a mil and a half form where we park, a big spruce swamp. I guess we'll just deal with it when we have to!
The biggest bear I have harvested too us over 3 hours to get out of a tag alder swamp, a little over 1/2 a mile, no atv, nothing but an otter sled and some strong backs. On the ground at 5:15 PM in the back of the truck a little after 9 PM.
Hey elk, good luck. Some nice bears in D. We used to hunt the east central part of it back when it was A1 and did well.
What did you mean about having trimmings from your daughters hunt? If you meant meat/fat trim from a bear or deer then it is not legal to use. No animal parts allowed for bear bait.
Mike, yea sleds are the way to go with bears as long as you have some muscle around. Protects the hide/hair real good. My sled is about 5' long but only about 4" deep and tips sideways from time to time but pulls nice. It has hauled a lot of deer and bear out. I have a pretty good size otter sled now that needs to get broke in if the location and pulling muscle make it practical. Either will probably work well at 5 out of my 8 bait sites.
I have even heard of people hooking their atv winch to a good stout tree branch and winching the machine to a vertical position. Then lashing the bear real good to the rear rack and pulling the atv back on it's wheels. But if you can get the atv to the bear that is a perfect situation for a sled. A sled and ATV ramps make it a lot easier to get a bear in the truck too.
Jeff, The trimmings are the frostings and pie fillings etc....no animal parts!
Jeff, I used an otter sled all the time for hauling out bears for years, for the last 7 years we use the Big Game Cot made by Bear Scents, much, much easier. We carried out that big 638lb monster with it.
Here's a little guy form one of the baits. Looks like he in pondering something....
Aw, he looks like he is dancing.
Mike, I bet you had 4 strong helpers carrying that bear out and maybe some extras to trade positions. I might very well be the only one getting mine out. Maybe one neighbor (who is seldom available) and Smokey if they are available.
I tried to look up that cot but they don't even have a picture of it on their web site.
Elk, those trimmings should work really good.
Jeff-
Here's the link to the cot, with a picture of them carrying a bear.
I checked a new bait we started a couple of weeks ago. He looks like a keeper to me.
Jeff, No we had 15 strong helpers, we found out with a otter sled only 4 people could pull it at one time, we were stepping on each other etc. With the Big Game Cot and poles attached there are 5 handles on each side, it kind of reminds me of a body bag without the zipper. Its allot easier getting a bear out no matter how small or big it is. I understand your situation, if you shoot something huge and do not have the help you will have to quarter it out. Make sure you have a new tarp, lay that bear on the tarp and skin and quarter, take your time don't rush it, you will only burn more energy. Its allot easier than you might think.
Ok so with a very good berry and presumable nut consumption in the near forecast for this years bear hunters what works best for you when the going gets tough when the baits get hit sporadic ?? I know everyone has their go to bait and little tricks let's hear them ! For us it's getting inside the bears core living area and popcorn and pnut butter seems to have worked for us when it gets tough...
Ah, looking at the picture in the ad that the other Mike posted I thought there were only loops to hold onto on the 4 corners and that didn't seem too usable. With the 5 loops for a pole on each side makes much more sense. So, popple saplings are good for something after all.
Do you think two people on the front of the two poles could drag the back two ends across the ground? Sort of like they did with horses in the old west movies. You would have to lash the front two loops down to the poles good so they can't slide back. That might even work nice with a 4 wheeler if you can get the poles up and attached to the rear rack and not end up doing wheelies. Might need a cross piece toward the back to keep the poles separated too. Wouldn't work at the two sites I am concerned about but might on some others.
I think I will order one.
Jeff... I use a aluminum fence tube, cant remember how long, but it sticks out about a foot to a foot and a half on each end of the cot. I thread it threw the loops and tape it secure with hockey stick tape, this way the cot does not slip and bunch up too one end. I also wrap the ends with the hockey tape, its nice and sticky, your hands don't slip. Easy to carry on your shoulder in the woods. Two men can carry a 200lb bear out with no problem.
Drag across the ground like the old west movies? If you don't have that bear seat belted in he is going to slip right flat on the ground. I always thought about attaching one of those plastic Dock wheels to the end for a one man operation drag out.
Seat belted in, funny but I get it. That's why I was thinking a spreader stick on the back end. That way the cot (and bear) would hang lower than the spreader and in theory I think the spreader would keep him from falling back farther than the spreader. Wheels, hmmm got me thinking that my game cart with wheels on it somehow attached to those aluminum poles would work but probably not so good in rough terrain and probably not so good with anything much over 300+ pounds cuz my game cart wheels would probably break.
Aluminum fence tube, where the heck do you get that? I know where I could get square aluminum tube from Alum Line trailers in Cresco IA. But not sure if they would have anything round. Ya, tape the whole tube good idea too so you don't get that black color on your hands from handling aluminum too.
I bet this rig would be awesome for getting quartered elk meat in game bags off the mountain too.
GREAT PICTURES GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a link to a bunch of video's I put together from one of the baits form last week.
Enjoy!
Buddy and I are going to R distributing to pick up a truck load of bait tomorrow morning. I have always used liquid smoke to open baits. Buddy wants to use anise and or some kind of liquid bear scent. These would be along with the regular bait goodies of course. Does anyone have better luck with one over the other for opening baits?
I used R Distributing for years. Most attractants will do the job, I like the Gel form scents, it lasts longer, it only takes one visit, once those bears find the bait of goodies there repetitive behavior kicks in.
Find one that you like and stick with it. MF is correct that the gels last longer than the sprays. Once a bait is established the fun begins!
My brother and myself set three baits yesterday and all 3 were cleaned out this morning. Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come!
We use an old aluminum medical stretcher - military style and we have had good luck with that!
Everyone seems to be getting some great shots and video -
Things will change for sure. With all the berries starting to ripen and then acorns in a little over a month. Remember that will slow them down, if you aren't ready for the changes.
Started two baits in the last day and a half. I'd like to have started more. But they are both over 2 miles in on public land. By the time we hauled bait,stumps and everything in on foot and set things up. It pretty much takes all the free time for the day. Also I'm pretty wiped out after that;) Will be starting 3 more by Monday. But 2 of those are established baits.
It's a lot of work isn't it! But well worth it!!!!
I have 11 baits going now and I am going to look at 1 more this weekend. A bear that is causing a little bit of trouble at my friends place. You know one of those that likes to tear down bird feeders and such. He removed the feeders a week ago and the bear has been back every day at 11 am and is eating the flowers in the neighborhood. I wish I knew what kind of flowers they are! kind of makes me laugh!!!
It is a lot of work and yes it is gratifying. I really don't mind the physical part of it. But I HATE the bugs. Specifically the damn deer flies. Other than tanglefoot and a hard hat. Does anyone have any suggestions for a repellent for them? I use my thermacells. But they do nothing when you are moving.
Just some good OFF spray...seems to work good.
We were soaked in Deep Woods off the last few days. The damn things still were attacking. Probably just something I will have to deal with when hunting these swamp areas we are hunting.
Three weeks ago we got struck by the deer flies something awful, but yes you just have to deal with it. Ticks are out in full force again this week. We have placed 26 stands and baits so far and have about 10 more to go then the baiting routine will pick up. We will juggle our trail cameras as much as possible but will not get excited until mid August about what bears are committed to what bait stations.
A week ago I replenished to baits, both long walks thru thick popple sprouts, grass, and stumps. Forgot to bring the bug spray along, only had a T shirt on and too stubborn to go back for it. Learned from that mistake.
Another thing that got me a couple weeks before that was pine pollin laying heavy on the leafs of underbrush. I inhaled a lot of it that I knocked off while walking through that brush. Huge headache came soon after that.
It is all just part of the fun of DIY, and part of the job for guides.
Yup ticks were terrible today. The two of us had 31 between us. Then I had 3 more tonight when I came in from shooting my bow.
Soaking your clothes in permethrin will take care of the ticks. Tred-not deer fly patches make a huge difference with the deer flies.
well I am not a fan of permethrin, just do not like the chemical make up, so I wear a bug suit, its super lite, clings to the skin tight, breathes well, and works great......
however I do agree on the fly patches, they are awesome, I know, I trout fish, ha ha
Permethrin is actually a natural chemical.
No ticks here, plenty of mosquitoes and deer fly's. The ticks will be back, they always come back.
The link is to the deer fly relief method used by Treefarm. He swears by it. If you walk around in the woods with it on it might get so heavy from all the deer flies that your neck will get sore.
Baited in the rain this morning, deer flies were still BAD. Both of my new baits were hit. Opened up an established one today also.
Berries are getting ripe and will be plentiful. Be interesting what the baits so during that time. Baits got hit good yesterday.
I can tell you what the baits are doing with the berries getting ripe. SHUTTING DOWN!!! I said before might be the biggest crop I have seen in 15yrs or better. Well, I might be wrong. It may be the biggest I have ever seen. They are just everywhere. The bears are moving with the patches as they ripen. I will have a string of baits go dead for a few days. Then a few hits, then dead. Then like today it was Christmas. A string that had been mostly dead had multiple bears on each. Right now loads of blueberries. June berries are almost fully right. I call them sugar plums. Some raspberries are starting to pop. Black berries out just a bit. Chokes really starting to form and will be early. Same with hazelnuts. Acorns looking real good too. Some mushrooms even out there already so much food in the woods it's crazy.
Been super busy trying to get ahead. That I only got 24 baits going right now. Really not being fully booked yet. That is way more than I will need. It's a full time job keeping up with them. Benn trying to keep it to baiting not feeding. I got guests right now and they were surprised I went through a barrel in 2 days.
As for bugs. Being out 8-12hrs a day in the bush. I can tell you toss the off. Unless you use a whole can at once. Even then it wont last. I use repel 40% most of the time. depending on weather etc. About every 2 hours lather up. Then the dogs are nice enough to share their horse spray with me. Permethrin and citronella. Spray myself couple times a day with it, and them. Even with that still get a few bites. Fun stuff for sure!
Enjoy the bear porn!!
Not to concerned about the natural food sources right now, never have, every area is different. Most will be gone by the time the season starts. Bears cleaning up bait stations day after day, some times I wish we could use more bait. Apple trees, don't know what happened in the Spring but some hardly have any apples on them and then drive 10 miles and there loaded with apples. Great crop of wild black berries which will be ripe by end of August. Bugs are terrible, must be from all the rain we received a few weeks ago and early Spring. Twenty miles to the South of us we have a few thousand private acres to hunt on, the farmer hardly planted any corn or sun flowers this year, its going to be interesting to see what happens. Usually we have bait stations right inside the corn & sun flower fields and do extremely well. Bear populations seem to be getting better under control on public lands, big chunks of private land they still have problems with more bears, wish more land owners would cooperate and lets us in and hunt (don't complain about bears during deer season then). The picture attached is a big old Sow (Sally), she is over 300lbs and has had many cubs over the years, she is as smart as any seasoned mature boar. Its neat seeing her year after year on this bait station, when she has cubs she usually has 3, this year only two. I bet she is close to 15 to 20 years old now.
All of my baits were cleaned up this weekend. I always switch up the bait to keep in tune with the natural forage. The apple trees by me are loaded with fruit and critters are cleaning them up.
As far as the crops go, I have very few corn fields near my baits this year. A lot of soybeans and zero sunflower fields.
Must be no money in the corn & sun flower crops this year.
My apple crop is close to none this year. Four nights during blossom time that got down in the 26-28 range did a number on them. In spite of the protection the peninsula offers that is probably what happened to the trees with no apples in your area too. Elevation might explain why some are doing better than others.
I am talking wild apple trees here. The farmed Apple Orchards seem to do well up here, no matter how much frost we have or blossom kill we have.
MF-
I am talking about the wild apple trees also. We didn't have the late frost like you guys had. My personal apple trees are loaded this year. I started some honey bee hives to help them. It was a good decision.
The soils around here are not used for sunflowers. Mostly corn, beans and potatoes. Farther east they grow some in the heavier soil.
The wet spring made a lot of farmers go to beans instead of corn.
All my corn drowned this year.
Got to two of my baits today. Small bear on one and average bear on the other. This picture is from the bait with the small bear on it. Another picture after dark that same day has 5 of them on it. This is the same bait that I have numerous videos of an adult wolf and another one that is probably a one year old with it.
Thought I would add a few pics. Trying to stay more organized this year. TRY is key word, lol Folders are starting to fill up. Down to 18 cameras, and 3 of those are sketchy at best. Way to many big bear around!! I want to train on smaller ones, but all these big ones make it hard. Maybe will get a few more hunters to get them cleaned up.
Anyone hunting the Millston area? Man we're getting a lot of bears in this area!!!! All over our cams and been seeing them on stand more and more every year.
Refreshed 6 baits this morning. Put a camera here last time and got lots of pics of a small bear. Then this guy came, in under 3 minutes he messed with my camera and broke one of the holes that you mount the camera with. Camera was tilted and did not take any more pics until I got there today.
Got a message saying I wouldn't know a big bear if it bit me!!
So I got to ask. IS THIS A BIG BEAR???? LMAO!!!
Besides this sow and cubs there is a small bear on it and a wolf with pups.
Besides this nice bear there is a sow with 3 cubs, a small bear, a wolf, and a bunch of coon using this bait.
Steve, Jeff or anyone. If you guys have baits that are getting hit really good. But only by small bears, do you keep baiting that area hoping a bigger one shows up? These are new baits, in deep, and what I think are great areas. Both got hit within 12 hours of setting them up for the first time. Both are cleaned up every time I bait. Which for now is Weds and Sunday. I will bait more often near season.
on a side note. Two of my established sites seem to have been taken over by other baiters. I've baited these sites for 6 years with no problems. Last year I had a few people on camera near one of them. Now there are baits within 300 yards of both of my favorite bait sites. Not much you can do on public land. Plus technically they were there first (this year). So I will stop baiting those baits and open up 2 new ones in areas I've wanted to try anyway.
Rut, that is a difficult question. I have 2 baits in exactly that same situation. I am only baiting weekly now, sometimes as long as 10 days. I need to cut back a little at some point as it takes me over 8 hours to do 8 baits. I don't plan to make that decision yet as the rut is just about to end. It could be that our small bear baits are in the home range of a nice boar that is too busy looking for sows all over the countryside to spend time at home. Also the berries have really exploded in the last 10 days and that could be a factor too.
So, give it a couple more weeks before you give up on those. You are looking for a couple new spots anyway so just be ready to replace a few more.
Other than time and bait/fuel cost it doesn't hurt to wait and see.
I stumbled across someone that said they had a big bear in their yard two weeks ago. It was a one time sighting in the neighborhood. I figure that was a boar on the roam and kind of brushed it off. Plus just how big is a big bear when you hear it from someone you don't know? But it is on the back of my mind as a backup location as there is some public land near there that I could jump into.
Oh how cameras make things so easy now but also complicate decisions like these.
RutnStrut...why would you abandoned baits that you have had for 6 years, I bet the bears will prefer yours over there's. It is common for immature bears to pound bait stations this time of year while those mature older bears & sows are out gallivanting (in love). After checking my cameras today the breeding season must be slowing down, lots of single bigger bears. Give those bait stations at least until first week in August before you decide to give up on them.
RutnStrut-
Even if the bears are small I run my baits all the way until we are finished hunting for the year. And NEVER give up a good bait. All you need is one of those other guys to make a small mistake and the bears will be all over your baits.
I run the baits because the bears remember where the food is.
One thing I do if someone has put a bait near mine is run 2 cameras. One to cover the trail I take in to the bait and another that covers the bait. That way in the event I get someone messing with the bait I can get their picture.
I do respect that on public land it's first come and I haven't had any issues with anyone coming close to my baits since moving down from Iron county.
MF-
Yes the mating season is winding down and the mature bears are staking their claim to the baits and the younger bears are coming in and doing their usual "grab and go"
Here is a link to shot placement that may be helpful. I send it to all my hunters.
Thanks for the replies guys. I'm definitely going to hang in there on those "small" bear baits. They are in awesome spots and have only been there a week. They are getting hit and cleaned up every time I bait/check them twice a week. As far as not baiting my established baits. I was giving the other person the benefit of first come first serve. But you guys bring up good points about the bears hitting my baits also. MAybe I will try and talk with the other hunter and explain the situation. It's more consideration than others give me on public land. But that's just the way I am.
RutnStrut- I ran into a situation a few years back, I was going to back out of a bait station I had for many years because another hunter fired up a bait station just down the road (1/4 mile) from mine. I found out who it was and went to talk to him, I do not like the territorial issue, I had good intentions of backing out until he mentioned he new I had a bait station in there.
I have had run ins with other guides also but we have always worked things out, for instance, We both didn't know we were in the same area (150 yards away) until one of his helpers was baiting at the same time as me. This is what we did seeing we already had much time invested in our now established stands. The other guide hunted his spot the first 3 days, then my client hunted my spot after that, they both shot nice bears. It worked out.
You just never know about a bait site. Folks tend to rely far too much on what they see on camera's this time of year. It means absolutely nothing!! How many times have you heard. I had a real big bear of camera all may, june, or july. Then it never came back. Then all sorts of blame gets tossed around. Truth is, that's not where that bear lived.
More and more I really dont like showing clients pictures of big bear on the baits this time of year. Unless I know it's a resident bear. I dont like giving false hopes. Even then fall mast crops will cause them to move as well. There have been numerous times we have harvested bear. That I have never seen before. That most likely came for the fall mast.
Many of our clients want to know early where their stand will be inf sitting. Want to put a stand up this time of year. I tell everyone the same thing. I DONT KNOW!! I wont make the decision until the very end of August, and normally not until the last couple days before the start of your hunt. A perfect example again is Growly. Last year made some changes to really target him. Had him consistently daily at several sites around the same time. Knew where he was coming from, and when. Had the hunt started Aug 15th. He would be on the wall. His pattern started to change the the 3rd week of August. By the last week it was far to spotty to take a chance. The hunter that really helped me a lot with things. I had planned to put it spot one. 2 days before season I decided it was not going to happen. Told that hunter where I was going to put him and why. I trust what you are doing, is what he said. Opening day he missed clean on a 400 pounder. Growly only showed up twice during the harvest season. The last time just 5 days in, and never returned until this year.
Cant tell you how many times I have been side baited over the years. It very rarely works out for that person. Most of the time they are trying to take advantage of an established bait. The bear always seem to go to the established bait first. Especially when the food is more consistent there.
It's amazing how many first time hunters suddenly become bear hunting experts. Think they got it all figured out. Got a friend of over 20 years just like that this year with a tag. Last couple years knew the tag was coming soon. Planned to hunt with us the whole time. Knew I would take care of him. Then when the tag was in hand, and time to start baiting. Has now also become and expert. Has decided not to help out at all. Putting up 2 of his own baits, and going to go it on his own. Telling me how things need to be done. Going to live, and die on 2 baits. being baited once a week. Because that is all you need. Going to get a hard lesson in things real fast when season comes. At this point now. Our paid hunters will come first as they should, and always will!
I have been doing this most of my life. Will be until I can no longer go to the woods. The only thing I have learned and know with 100% certainty. Is bears are the same as women. You will never be able to figure them out!!
I tried to contact the other "hunter" today. The reason I knew it was him. I decided to start those established baits anyway. The bears hit them less than an hour after I baited them. Less than a day later the other hunter was nosing around one of my sites. I know this guy well, he also moved in on some of my public deer hunting spots. I was surprised and yet not when I saw it was him. He wouldn't talk to me today. But our last meeting wasn't the best. He admitted that him and his buddy drive around public land looking for my truck and others. That's how they would find their deer and apparently bear spots. I thought he meant they then went where the other hunters weren't. Nope he corrected me, he said they know if certain guys are hunting a spot it must be a good spot. They then move in.
Armed with this knowledge, I don't feel bad at all for opening up my established baits. I would have felt bad had it been a kid and father or an ethical hunter.
Sounds like you need a new truck to throw the stalkers off for a while.
Looking at a lot of your bait sites, it looks like a lot of them are fairly open. My wife drew a tag this year and I have never had any desire to bear hunt before. I'm kind of going at it like I deer hunt. I have two baits right know and they are kind of tight. Probably couldn't shoot more than 30 yards. I know bears have a good sense of smell, but do they usually circle a bait before coming in. My wife plans on using her bow, but that might change if she doesn't get one right away. Am I messing up her chances by hunting in the thick stuff?
Shedhunter-
30 yards is too far to shoot a bear with a bow. I use the 15/15 rule.15 ft up and no farther than 15 yards from the bait. Just remember not to skyline your wife.
Learn that the kill zone is a lot different on a bear than a deer.
We kill a lot of bears. in the edges of thick stuff. Do bears circle the bait, not always. A lot of times they use the same trail I use in and out of the baits. Remember that you are hunting a predator, not prey. If they want to come up the tree to say "Hi", they will. Read anything you can on bear hunting, talk to local guides and you will be just fine.
Good Luck!
One sin is when you see bear trails going to your bait do not walk on them. It is normal to want to investigate but when you do that you are telling him you are onto him stealing 'your' food stash and will be more alert or even go totally nocturnal. If he walks your trail that's OK because he already knew you used that trail. When you go in to hunt then leave your normal baiting path to go to your stand then zig zag a little on the last 10 yards of so to your stand. Point is when the bear smells where you left the trail he doesn't look right at you. Or walk past a little then double back to your stand.
Another obvious trick, where you can, plan your trail that you use to bait so it stays upwind of where your stand will be.
Plan each bait for specific wind directions and only hunt that bait when the wind is right for it. Vary your bait setups to cover expected wind directions. West, Southwest, and South being most common in September. Consider multiple stands per bait if you have a limited number of bait sites.
If you can do a setup with a barrier downwind of you that is best. Like a lake/river, beaver dam, swamp, highway. open field.
Trim Tree -
Don't worry about Millston - they have more baits down there than ticks on a bears back!
The "practice" hounders keep the area pretty much riled up chasing bears nearly everyday it seems.
Used to hunt down there - too many people now along with "guides" and tired of getting pictures of hounds with radio collars at my baits!
Sad!
Guys, got a question for ya...I've been finding a lot of these hollow stump style baits on public land around my cabin...most are within 100 yards of roads and when I look around almost none of them have a decent stand tree in sight...are these just starting spots to get the dogs some fresh scent to run on? Also, what is the time frame this season in which you can run dogs for bear, I heard it changes year to year?? Just curious, I don't bear hunt Wisconsin as I heard I'll be dead before I ever draw. lol
You can "train" your Dogs in all zones July 01 -August 31.
This year the baiters go first! Dogs wait till the 14th!
What you are seeing is most likely bear dog guys putting out baits to run their dogs on.
Hunt bear in Wisconsin - Wont be any longer than 3 years I would suspect. Unless your planning on dying sooner -
Then don't!
Took me 8 years to get my zone A tag this year. But more tags being issued now so could be sooner in the future.
The picture is from a bait I set on Thursday. Saw matted down foliage and bear crap on the trail. (with corn in the crap pile) Friday I set my stand and added 5 gallons of bait to the 5 gallons that was still there from the day before. Today (Monday) I went back, bait is cleaned up, logs tossed, 3 inch oak tree tore up (the one in the pic), rotten tree stump tore up. I was anticipating some awesome pictures. Well one small bear came in first, soon followed by a nice sow with 3 cubs that came back repeatedly day and nite. She scratched her back on that tree on 3 of her visits to that bait. Bummed...
Another bait that I have not gotten much for pics from I was anticipating some nice pics of bears this time. (camera was filling up on crows, coon, and wolf videos before bears got to it. Forgot to turn the camera on so nothing on it. Double bummed.
Zone C - sometimes 2 years, most 3 years and I have heard of 1 year....for what's that worth.
SouthFarm-
Zone C you can draw every other year with the amount of tags they are giving out, it's all in the luck of the draw. Other zones take a few more years.
I have 2 hunters that drew the first time they applied.
If you are a Purple Heart Vet you can get a tag transferred to you.
Yes, they are using those baits to train the dogs and if they get a good bear in the area they will run that bear in hopes of harvesting them.
Thanks for the info guys! When I built my cabin three years ago the neighbor told me don't bother applying as it takes 8-10 years to draw. I'm a non-res., if that matters, but now you got me thinking he might have been trying to tilt the odds in is favor. LOL! Would be nice to hunt around the cabin as there seems to be quite a few bear in the area, but I can also be in Minnesota's no-quota area in about 10 minutes, too, and forgo the whole apply/lottery thing.
Do the No Quota and invite me! :^)
No Quota area in MN is tough. First it is a lot of private land. Second in the western no quota area guides have a lot of that private land tied up along with what little public land there is. It is no quota for a reason, the state and farmers in those areas do not want bears around. I hunted the eastern no quota area public land probably 15 years ago, baits everywhere you looked.
Non resident is treated the same in WI and MN as far as the draw goes, only price matters.
You're right about baits everywhere in the no-quota Jeff, but then my baits stand just a good a chance of being hit as the next guys (I HOPE). I miss the days back in the 80's when nobody hunted bear and bait was readily available for the asking for FREE! I remember back then most people looked at you like you were crazy if you told them you were going to hunt bears...and many of them were hunters. Times have changed for sure..
South Farm - Why I the MN site dying? Used to be pretty good several years back and now no one posts anything really... Any ideas?
I don't know why, especially considering how many sportsmen there are in Minnesota?? Really strange to go MONTHS without any new posts. Ontario forum pretty much the same. Maybe everybody's out fishing/hunting!?!
I have never noticed much posting on the MN bowsite. They must not see much value and that is their loss.
I was going to quit this bait, gotta cut back some it is taking too much time to run them. Was only getting pics of a small bear on this bait and it was messing with my camera. Turns out he was using the tree the camera was on as a scratching pole, that is the tree on the left just in front of where the camera was the last 6 days.
Anyway this bait is a little hard to get to so today I pulled the camera and planned to quit it today. But I was smart enough to dump one last bucket on the bait just in case I got a picture like this one. He was there yesterday and that was 6 days since being baited so the little guy got all the bait by then, the big one just walked over the bait and kept going.
Lets get opinions on size. The logs are big diameter so they are only about 3.5 feet long to keep them a little lighter.
On another bait site there has been a small bear there occasionally. This week he was there a lot more often. Also new at this bait is a sow with 3 cubs and another dang wolf. That makes 4 out of my 9 baits having wolfs on them.
The breeding season is pretty much done, from now on you never know what's going to show up. From now until it starts to be an average of 50 out, food will be the only thing on there mind.
The MN site used to be pretty active at one time. Aspen Guide used to post allot and I enjoyed his posts. The locals would go back and forth - miss that for MN bear hunting.
South Farm. Bear season is the same time every year in WI. Hound training start July 1st until Aug 31st. Harvest season always starts the first Wednesday after labor day.
Hollow stumps could be for use by anyone really. Almost all; of my baits have stumps on them. Think I still got 6 with just logs. Some of my better stand sites. Have trees the most would not consider. Can put a ladder on just about anything.
Bears are generally lazy. When the fridge is full. They are not going to walk to the neighbors fridge for dinner.
BloodTrail, that might be the case in Millston but they can't be doing a very good job of harvesting bears as they are all over the place!!!
There's bears "around" Millston, just like just about anywhere else. Used to live there and have friends there now residing full time.
As far as bear hunters not doing a good job - please refer to the State average for kills across the State, I suspect them boys are right in line.
Many moons ago I hunted there without any competition, back when you got your bait for free or for next to nothing from local food stores/bakery....
Trim - You may have stumbled across a honey hole of bears! Get a tag and join in the fun!
Good Luck
Friend has this one coming in one of his three baits, for his daughter hunt this fall. hope he continues his daylight visits! She is debating if he is big enough since she took a four hundred pounder for her first bear years ago!
I drew a tag for Zone C. This my first year bear hunting. Only doing one bait site, since I'm limited on time. Started the bait today and set up the stand. I'm on private land in Chippewa County south of Cornell on friends farm. Looking forward to getting some pics of what's in the area. Tried cookies buttered popcorn and pancake syrup to start and will change it up as I go.
"She is debating if he is big enough since she took a four hundred pounder for her first bear years ago!"
That's funny. It would take about 4 of the bears that are hitting most of my sites to average that one.
That one has a big head. That is what matters. To many folks hung up on weight. People sound like southern states deer hunter. I got a 190lb buck last year. Yeah? How big was the rack? A fork but it was 190lbs. Make sense?
budbow, With just one bait you really need to watch the wind and stay the heck out of there when the wind isn't right. If the setup supports it you might want to consider adding a second stand to that bait if that opens up more wind directions for you. A second stand can also help if you think the bear has figured out when you are in your stand.
one word Huntcell - shooot
I tell all my hunters -
If you are happy, I am happy. That's all that counts.
And
Never pass on a bear that you would harvest on the last day of the season.
"Never pass on a bear that you would harvest on the last day of the season."
Done that several times. No regrets either. But I do agree it is good advice.
Jeff, I thought about putting up another stand for a south/southwest wind. There is s spruce about 15 yds off the bait that I could tuck into if needed. I'll see what the camera tells me and go from there.
I read in the paper, milw journal, an article by Paul Smith, on the current wolf situation,,,, one suggestion was that the baiting season, from April on is too long, there for, wolves take over the baits as feeding stations, and then by training season, confrontations with dogs......
also suggested the training season is too long,,,,,
your thoughts?
The baits I had wolfs on early (mostly pups) are no longer showing up. I currently have some on baits where they weren't before. So my initial take is even if you couldn't start baits till say July 1 (just to pick a date) the same potential for conflict would still be there. Although I don't know squat about hunting with dogs so I don't know about the wolf/dog issues.
There is an "effort" about to shorten the "baiting" season for bears!
Those involved in it cite MN short baiting season prior to opener.
Just so ya know....
I agree with Jeff-in fact most bear hunters wait until June or July to set the baits out. I think the Mn. Aug 15th is a little extreme and to late. The April 1st start is not a problem, nobody that I know is jumping on that date and doing it-the bear are usually eating grass if there even out of the dens in Northern Wisconsin. Wolf hone in on the hounds sounding off on the chase and the dog scent- that can happen anytime regardless of the chase-cat hunters loose hounds in mid winter=no bait or bear involved at all. Its a political move at best to satisfy some tree huggers and bear hunt haters.
Bloodtrail, yes the post above my response is why I posted that comment.
Actually I did start baiting pretty close to the starting day. Most of my baits this year are new locations and even those that are reused from 8 and 4 years ago had no noticeable bear sign that I could see. Not even compressed grass from them walking around. Starting later would have maybe helped that process just a little as popple got broken off for bears to nibble on, rolled over logs, and pounded grasses, especially in areas with berries made their presence obvious. The one advantage starting early is that vegetation was not up so I could evaluate areas a lot easier. Down side is that vegetation came up taller than I expected at some baits. All that said, even if baiting did start later all the scouting and site setup could still be done early if you wanted to.
So, net is that Jim is right. Bait starting in April is too early but see no harm in anyone doing it if they want to. The MN start date is too late for the average person but it does save guides a lot of money they would have to spend on fuel and bait if baiting earlier. (like WI guides already do) Guides in MN really have no choice but to start the day the state says they can because DIY hunters would jump in. Since WI hunters start baiting whenever they get to it then guides sort of can too. Obviously many of these comments only apply to public land. And yes, I suspect that there is no significant relationship between hound/wolf issues and when baiting starts.
I have ZERO wolves in Portage and Marathon county on my baits. They are around.
I did find that if you mix liquid smoke and Gold Mist that it attracts wolves like crazy when I hunted/guided in Iron County.
Needless to say I don't mix that combination any more.
For the first time ever I think she has won. I am going to give it one more week and if nothing changes I will pull the plug on one of my favorite stands. This big old nasty 300lb Sow with cubs has taken over one of my baits, she will not let any other bear feed at it, she sleeps on it and stays all day. I have not one picture of another bear and I have baited this stand for two months now. In all the years, I have never had this happen.
She is a very dedicated mom doing her job to raise those cubs. So, hope your nearest bait is a ways away or she might take over that one when the food runs out where she is.
How did we ever manage to shoot a nice bear before cameras? Tracks, markings on trees, how the logs were repositioned and maybe more indicators but none were sure things to know what we can know now.
MF-
Just a thought, I continue to run baits with sows and cubs in hopes that they don't go and take another bait over. I have baits that had sows with cubs for years and now the cubs are grown and ready to be harvested.
Years back I had a sow with 1 cub take over a bait and shut it down. Less than a week later she showed up at a bait just under 3 miles away and took that one over. Ever since then I have always kept the baits going when a sown with cubs shows up. I just cut back a bit on the bait. I figure it's just part of the program.
I have done this for years and it works out pretty good.
Got my bear tooth collection information in the mail today. Glad they get them out early, I have not even purchased my license yet.
Wife got hers yesterday as well.
Stopped out at Triple R today in Cadott for some more bear bait. Nice folks!!! Treated my wife really well!!
I'm seeing many "new" berries (green) coming in - Oh no!
Ok bear experts. I need help on sizing this one. I know it's a bad pic.
Our baits are getting cleaned out nightly. Really mixing up the food.
Here's the biggest wolf track I've seen in Wisconsin. (I'm 6'5 and have no problem palming a basketball)
Rut- 250ish
Kyle T surely looks like a wolf track, but size needs better reference, lol Most males are going to be between 5-6" The biggest I have seen in couple inches of snow is 7". Snow gives the most accurate size normally. Unless it is slushy stuff. Gives a more distinct track. Where mud, and sand with expand some. Making the track look bigger. I carry a 8" square just for measuring tracks. Need to get one that has metric on it as well. Inches alone is not good enough for our DNR wolf program, LOL
There is the most amount of food in the woods this year that I have ever seen. It is just crazy the amount of berries that are out there. Loads of mushrooms out there already. Choke cherries are going to be early this year. Tons of sugar plums out there. Already seeing green acorns falling from the red oaks. Still finding blueberries out there in spots. Found a bunch of them over a mile in the swamp yesterday. Black berries are still coming yet. Many are red with a few black on each bush. Yet there are still a lot of green ones.
The strange thing is, I am still seeing some skinny bears. Had one today that is about 2-225 right now. Tall, lanky and skinny yet. Should add at least 50lbs I would think before nap time.
What really bothers me. Is with all this food out there. I'm sure a few more than normal will go to sleep early. Especially if we get some cold weather right away.
Going to be interesting for sure!
Thanks Steve. The buddy that I'm baiting for was sure it was a 350 plus bear. I told him it's very easy to misjudge their size. But I told him I would ask some experts on here. He just saw his first live wild bear ever last week and was excited as a kid on Christmas. That one was right around 150 I would say, and he said he would be very happy with one that size.
Ditto on natural food all over Hayward and has been like that for at least a week. LOTS of berries, mostly green yet but plenty ripe to eat, some of which are in my belly.
There was a pile of bear crap on the blacktop in front of my neighbors mailbox Friday. Filled with what I am pretty sure were choke cherry pits.
Loads of food in Portage County too. The first acorns are dropping also. Plenty of bear sign in the berry patches. Little or no choke cherries down here.
wild cranberries are also out there this year. which is very rare!
Getting excited for season. I'm hunting in zone D. I printed my license and carcass tag-I'm out of state--is that all I need?
I've got one bait that is surrounded by berries on one side and oaks full of acorns on another. It is my best bait right now for getting consistent daytime hits. I'm sure that will slow way down soon.
here is a nice shooter in the daylight along with a Collared Wolf!
Here is the shooter-not the wolf! Not until we get our season back that is.
Jim - Some nice pictures - do you like your WEildgame?
For the money-yes. There are many better cameras that are easier to use and shoot better video. -but I'm only out $60.00 if one is taken. last year I lost 2 cameras-1 on state and one on private land. I m just looking for the size of bear and times to determine if I should put a hunter on it-looking for shooters like this and weeding out my baits a little. I have some pigs out there-just need some day hits like this. Cooler weather will help with that. Here is a larger one-same bait but in the dark.
I would really like a day lite one on this one! look at the head and small ears-this is a good bear.
dang camera! Maybe I should spend more money-have a great head shot but I cant show it-oh well!
The pictures look pretty good if not as good as my Moultries or better Jim!
All 13 of my cameras are Wildgame too. Don't think I spent more than $60 for any of them at Menards after the season sales. Like Jim says, they aren't the best out there but plenty good for what any of us need. The latest ones I bought are 8 Meg, when I bought them I thought that meant 8 meg max but 8 meg is the only picture it will take. I would rather use 4 meg to speed up the upload process, with bear baits it is not unusual to get over 200 pics per week. I actually like the older ones better from a usability standpoint. The new ones do not tell me how many pics it took, or maybe I just don't know how to get it.
Got to one of my baits today and the camera was gone and there was a card from a warden tacked to the tree. My first thought was WTF, I know I've done nothing wrong. So I call him, and yes he has my camera as he finds it makes people follow through better. Someone complained that my bait was on a trail. Well it was a logging trail 20 years ago or more. Funny I scouted this land in April, no sign of anyone back there and thicker than heck on the "trail". Scouted it again just before the 4th of July to make sure there were no baits in the area and check for bear sign. Again NO human sign and new growth over 7 feet high. I literally blazed a trail back in. But in the last week. Some asshat follows my trail and says it's a walking trail and reports it to the warden that someone has a bait on a walking trail. I'm 99% sure that some d.bag was too lazy to start a bait early. Got back there last week seen my bait and threw a tantrum.
The warden was great about it. He just asked me to move my bait 50 yards off the "trail". I'm a bit perturbed that he took my camera. He's bringing it back this week. But now I have a moved bait without a camera on it. Question for other bear hunters, well actually 2. 1. This bait was my best daylight bait with good bears hitting it. Do you think moving it less than 100 yards will hurt. I really scented it up, just like opening a new bait. 2. What constitutes a trail? I walk repeatedly into an area baiting. This gets beat down and is now a trail. So if other "hunters" start using my bait trail as an access trail. Am I in the wrong? How about a trail or logging road that hasn't been maintained in years? All the warden would say is yes it's a grey area. He said without a complaint, he would have no problem with the set up. I'm already sick of public land for the year.
Rut, that sucks. I don't think the warden had any basis to make you move your bait. I doubt moving it this early will be any concern to the bears. A lot of extra work for you and no camera coverage for a while. I would be worried about your camera disappearing so if you haven't already I would engrave your name or DNR number all over it. I always thought trail in this regard meant a marked public trail.
So, I have a bait on a game trail, wonder if I am in the grey area. I seriously doubt any human besides me will be anywhere near it so not worried. Another one at the end of a 50+ year old logging skid trail. Not worried about that either.
The pic is another example of why you should never put a camera on a tree close to a bait that has no low branches on it.
I was surprised to see this bear show up. As a size reference, a 5 gallon bucket can easily fit inside this bait log.
RutnStrut
Should make any difference moving your stand but never place a bait station near an old logging road "trail" even if its legal, people gravitate, explore to trails like that even if its all grown up. Get off the beaten path. Move that bait you will be alright.
I would look at what constitutes a trail.
Bears often roll bait logs found one 20 yards away the last two runs. Bears are used to the area. You will be fine. That is not a great distance for a bear as it seems so for humans.
MF, I totally agree with avoiding being close to old logging roads, or any logging roads for that matter. But the one mentioned above that I am near the end of is so remote I would be shocked if anyone has walked on it for many many years. I don't even know where the other end of it is, I walk to it from an obscure approach route. This is the third time that site has been used with no issues. Well, except that it has lots of coon getting some of the bait before the bears get there.
I usually agree with the staying away from trails thing also. There are two reasons I set the bait there. 1. The old logging trail bordered the swamp and the bear sign was heavy. 2. I was sick of carrying the bait stump;) The funny part is now that I have moved it I actually have an easier walk and it's all woods/swamp no trail. Now if the darn warden would get my camera back. It was supposed to be today, but no dice. But I understand that they have a lot to do.
A bear has been climbing in my truck-so I set a camera out!
Jim, too bad he is boo boo, or I would recommend keeping that bait site going. If you put a client on it be sure they know to watch out for the propane tank when they shoot. What kind of bait do you have in that truck?
I never understood why this never happened to the guide I worked with in Minnesota. There was always at least 2 trucks parked overnight with a 55 gallon drum and half dozen 5 gallon buckets filled with bait in each one. Plus a cement mixer with bait residue in it and plenty of spilled bait on the ground and never had any bears become a nuisance. Came close once when I positioned a 3d bear target where they would see it in the morning (season had started) but positioned right next to one of the trucks so nobody could take a shot at it. The main guide about shit his pants when he came around the corner, still half dark out, about 15 feet from it. He quickly realized what was up and knew exactly who did it. Then he told someone else to put something in his truck and they got a thrill too.
I had my normal baiting stuff in it-cookies mix, spray bottles, icing-everything that makes a bear drool. I have had this happen for years- I have a bait on my 40-they just track me right back to the house. This bear has been in my yard for a month along with another one slightly bigger. The bigger bear over the years only walk in to the yard at night-little guys do it all day long-despite getting barked at by my dogs. once the season starts they stop coming!
Trail cam video of a bear catching a young wild hog on a texas ranch.
Facebook warns it is graphic and loud.
Why is it we cant post YouTube videos on here? or can we?
You can post video directly on bowsite, but you already did one of those. Guess you would need to link to it in order to 'see it' from a post.
MF
Just post your link.
I think they don't was us to post video's here because of the space needed to store them here.
This one showed up this week, no cubs with it, biggest one I have pics of so far. Boar or sow? How big?
Hard to tell, but chances are its a Boar.
I just had to post this picture. So cute. No he is not dead. I baited this bait yesterday but pulled the camera because this little guy plus tons of crows and coon were all that were using it. I did rebait it just in case something bigger showed up on this set of pictures but didn't.
Another cute pic. Didn't know bears were into pole dancing. You gotta be happy when every picture out of 128 taken has at least 1 bear in it. They are all small bears but I will use this site in the future and plan to keep this going till the end to see what happens.
The camera here has been getting turned by bears and I was getting zip for pics. So I moved it to where these pics were from, so far so good. I did add a second camera to this site yesterday just in case the camera turning continued.
I'm actually thinking of starting a few new baits on Thursday. I normally wouldn't add any now but I have had people move in on all my others except 1. I just found a bait on Sunday that's not 100 yards from my best bait. The guy just split off my entry path and started a bait. I guess there is no common courtesy amongst bear hunters. Most of these spots are not real easy to get to. But evidently I need to start picking baits that are even tougher to access.
That kind of stuff happens more frequently when more tags get issued.
I just heard yesterday that someone else is baiting in an area where I have 4 baits and was not really expecting anyone else there. So far we have not crossed paths. There is plenty of room there for more than one hunter so with some luck we will never cross paths.
The thing that gets me is that some of these guys move in and try to cut you off. There is plenty of land for them to get of their ass and do some scouting and start their own baits. But some of these guys wait until now and just look for others bait sites and set up near them. Before I start any bait on public/open land. The first thing I do is a huge walk around the whole area looking for other baits. If someone is there first within 400 yards depending on terrain, I back out. But as I have stated before, I guess that kind of common courtesy isn't that common.
Had a camera out before I had a 3 week work period that just ended and grabbed the chip yesterday. What do you think? Wolf or coyote?
Wolf pup. Look at those paws.
Round ears, HUGE feet, wide jaw = wolf, a young one though.
I like to flag my bait trails -I know that makes them easier to find but I'm not trying to hide them. I find if I flag them 9/10 guys will turn around because they have some respect or they cant play the stupid didn't see it trick! I had a guy who thought my trail going in to my bait- was a bear trail-he saw a bear on it. He put a bait on it. I told him it was my trail to my bait-he abandoned the bait-so after that I started flagging a little-not a lot but enough. At the end of the season I pick up the tape. Have never had anyone or the DNR which I know saw the tape say anything. It also helps my hunters get out of the woods!
I flagged one of my trails on private land. I found I was taking a different route each time I baited because of bear trails already there, my trails (crushed grass/weeds) from figuring out the best route in and out. Plus I figured it would really help to stay on the best route when dragging a bear out in the dark. With the route I settled on I could get my skid steer in to haul my monster bear out by just knocking down a few small popple and driving over some brush. That is, if I actually shoot one and the landowner approves.
On public land I do my best to leave no sign of my presence for the first 30 yards or so. From there on the route becomes obvious.
Nice boar with small ears coming in-just at shooting hours.This was the best picture to show the ears-came in about 10 minutes earlier but was just a couple partials on my camera-was on the move circling the bait.c
One of Portage Counties finest young wolves.....
Not a good sign, keep him up by you!
Small bears and even those are all at night now. Hopefully something changes by the time the season rolls in.
This pic and the next one show how easy it is for a wolf to open up a log covered bait pile, especially when you have not cut off part of a branch from the log.
the result of the move, and that is a relatively heavy log. They are strong beasts.
Here's one that I would be more than happy to put my tag on. Coming in at 430 pm
Eating me out of house and home
What a beautiful day to be out in the woods baiting bear. Temp varied from 65-70, light breeze, blue sky. Only encountered a few skeeters at the bait in this picture.
I started this bait 6 days ago because I don't have a bear on my others that I really want to shoot.
Two days after starting it was cleaned up but looked like coon did it. It was covered just enough to be legal but without a saw along it was the best I could do. Camera on it is crappy and no pics taken. I cut some better logs and added a better camera.
Two days later it was cleaned up, the coon dug under the logs and got into it. Lots of pics of coon, but not bear.
Today, another two days later it was very obvious a bear had been there, logs were scattered around. Hopes were high until I saw the pictures of this little bear had been there three times, midnite, 4am, and 7am yesterday. Maybe he will bring big daddy along next time.
Another new bait got it's first hit 2 days ago, after also being started 2 days before that. No camera there when it got hit but I added one that day. Another crappy camera but best I have for now. So, today I had High hopes there too. It was not hit again.
Here is another pic of that same bear from the crappy camera. It took about a quarter of the pics the better camera took. Reason I included this pic is it shows a setup trick I like to use. The pond in the pic is about 20 by 30 yards. Nice white pine on the other side in perfect position for a stand and about 30 yards from the bait. The setup makes it unlikely that a bear would approach the bait from my direction and provides clear shooting space between us in an otherwise thick cover area without having to clear limbs.
"Nice white pine on the other side in perfect position for a stand and about 30 yards from the bait."
30 yards is longer than I would prefer for bear hunting. My preference is 10-15 yds with 20 yds max. However, the setup to prevent approach with the pond and cover is sweet. In the future, I'll have to look for setups like this, but with a shorter range.
Jeff- I had a wildgame camera taking bad pictures or taking some then missing some. I took a lens cleaner and cleaned the lens and the PIR-its working perfect. Looks like your going to get an opportunity next week for sure.
Jim, we need to meet someday. Never thought of cleaning the lens, daaa. Today, same bait with the bad camera had 8 pics of me, 2 crow, 1 coon. The better camera had 158 coon pics, 15 of me, and 5 of crow. This is over a 24 hour period. Now to be fair the good camera has a better angle for the coon pictures but a lot of the coon (6 of them) were in full view of both cameras. Did you notice I did not mention any bear pictures? :-( It is a newish bait and only had 1 small bear on it so far.
30 yards is perfect for me, plan to use the 30-06 this year. Ever since needing to use an xbow due to a shoulder injury it just ain't the same. Did muzzleloader for a couple bears. But now that I am baiting and hunting pretty much by myself, including recovery I want to drop them right on the bait site, or darn close. I know archery kills don't run far if hit properly but I don't trust my xbow to do that.
Yes 20 yards would be the sweet spot for bow hunting.
I have gotten more pictures of deer than ever before. All doe and a few with fawns. I think it is because I have 9 cameras out there which is more than I have ever used. Also most of them are way better than previous cameras used.
Jeff you have to be careful about Jim, sounds like a shady character LOL. No Jims a good guy
5 baits only one hitting with bear at this time - berries - RIPE and ready to eat and that's what the bears are doing! Bear dung purple in color with seeds - Great...NOT!
Blackberries have been ripe here for weeks and did not matter on bait hits till now. For some reason only little bears and sows with cubs are coming in during the day. My two best boars did not make an appearance at all.
I think even the wolfs are eating blackberries. I have a pup on one bait and now appropriate size dog tirds that are mostly black with tons of those little blackberry seeds in it. Or could be from the 3 cubs on that bait. They did not even visit the bait yesterday.
As for the picture, sort of like getting your ducks lined up. 198 pictures in 24 hours and all are coon. They are digging and doing whatever they can and are getting to the bait. I don't even know how they got it because the logs did not look disturbed. Must be reaching in and pulling out a little handful at a time.
Yes, still lots of berries in the woods. Chokes are coming in now as well. Yesterday was scouting around a new bait in the open oaks next to it. Very few acorns had started to fall in that stand. I scouted throw it 2 weeks ago as well. What I found a bit odd. Was that the bears had hit the dead logs and stumps hard looking for grubs. With all the other food out there. To mess around like that is strange!
My cameras are telling me nothing has changed, still very active. Berries have pretty much dried up here, still a few black berries but very small and almost gone. Have seen increased acorns and apples in the scat, but visits to the bait stations are steady.
Jeff in Mn... So many of them little guys
If coon pelts went for more than 3 dollars - you may see fewer on the landscape -
Expect more in the future the way the fur market is now...
The good news is my baits have really picked up with daylight activity in the last few days. Bad news is they are smallish bears. How do you keep a hunter that has never shot a bear from shooting a small bear? They are all legal size, just small imo. I guess it's like deer hunting. The "trophy" is in the eye of the beholder.
This guy has been MIA for several weeks. Disappeared about the time my camera stopped getting messed with.
Then later that day I get this picture, presumably of him. 10 pictures over about 8 minutes showed different views of trees and sky.
When I got there I thought someone had stolen the camera. Then found it behind a log about 5' from where it was. He pulled 3 of the wire hooks on the bungies right off. I moved it again but I am not optimistic about seeing it in the same place tomorrow.
Jeff, I take one of my climbing sticks and hang my cameras about 7' high pointed down. This keeps them out of reach of thieves and a nice benefit is the bears don't bother them. The downside is I have to take a climbing stick every time I bait so I can switch memory cards. I use the Muddy 20" sticks so it's not bad as they are very light.
I am going to do that today. I have that setup on another bait but I use strap on steps, they fit in good size pockets and only really need 2 of them. Can bury them under some leafs too or just leave them up. I don't really like to go that high as the camera and sensor only see the small area you point it at but I don't see any other choice with this location.
Hayward has had south wind the last 3 days, today and tomorrow will be too. Hope you all have a couple of stands that are good with south winds. Of my 3 hottest baits two are good with south. Back in MN I shoot most of my big bucks on south wind stands.
So today I'm talking to my buddy that I am baiting for. He says well all sounds good see you Thursday night. I asked him why not Tuesday since season opened on Weds. For some reason he thought it started the 9th. He has worked the last month of his days off to get time off to hunt. Now he's scrambling to try and get Weds off. He's a correctional officer so it can be tough to switch shifts on short notice. Not a real big deal other than our best bait will have a great wind Weds.
Weather doesn't look so great so he should be ok
Weather forecast for Hayward on Tuesday (baiting) and Wednesday (baiting and hunting). I may play it safe and pass on opening day. My bears are pretty unpredictable as far as time on bait.
My best bait went south a week ago, heavy logging equipment not too far away across the creek from it. But they have been logging all around me for 6+ weeks now, not sure why it would spook the bear now other than his trails do go toward where they are logging now.
Speaking of logging, would hound hunters try to stay away from an area that is recently logged with a harvestor? Slash all over, near impossible to walk through it. I would think dogs would get all cut up and potentially break a leg.
We are making 75% of the hunters not hunt opening day. They understand but still some what bummed.
I am taking a pass opening day too. Hard to do but it has to be. The bear I am most interested in is on a bait where east wind totally will not work. Thursday forecast for west wind, perfect. He is not huge but the biggest I have on camera since breeding season.
What we all been waiting for is finally here. Headed out soon with the first of our hunters. Rare for me to put hunters on stand in the morning. It's always a crap shoot. Where I will be putting them, the bears have been coming in between 8-10am. Then again of course the last 2hrs. Having 2 of them take a crack at Growly. Sure hope this is the year for him!! Looks like the rain for now is going to stay in the southern part of the state. Sure is a real nice morning here. Light wind out of the west, and decent temps.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL THIS YEAR!!
One lucky hunter for us today. A nice boar to start the season!
Good start Steve, nice bear.
Steve. I started another bear hunt thread yesterday morning at the same time you posted. This one was getting too slow for those of us on slow internet speed to open.
