There are few outdoor pursuits as misunderstood as bear baiting. While 19 states with huntable black bear populations use baiting as a management tool, it still gets a bad rap from hunters who have a negative feeling about baiting any wild game, and those who are simply ignorant of the importance of this tool in managing predator populations. This is particularly true in the boreal forest areas of North America where baiting is the primary tool for hunting bears.
If you are one of those who think baiting is somehow too easy or unsportsmanlike, I invite you to give it a try in areas where black bear interactions with humans are common and bears have learned to avoid hunting pressure. You’ll discover that getting a mature male black bear to come to a bait site during legal shooting hours — while you are present at the site — is one of the toughest challenges in big game hunting.
Now, I have been in situations in the Canadian wilderness where you can spook a bear off the bait and climb in the stand, only to have the same bear cautiously return to the bait in less than a half hour. Yet in Minnesota, where bears experience heavy hunting pressure, I have known bears to be spooked off a bait and never come back to that bait again. Ever. At the very least, they’re likely to go totally nocturnal. (I know this through diligent use of trail cams.)
But don’t let this scare you off. While bear hunting harvest rates in most states are highly variable based on availability of natural foods, success rates generally run 25-40 percent. When weather conditions create an abundance of mast crops and berries, rates tend to be lower, and when natural foods are scarce, hunter success rates go up.
Here’s the best news of all: hunting black bears over bait is tailor made for bowhunters. Shots are at predetermined distances, you’ll have the adrenaline-charged excitement of being in close proximity with an apex predator, and if you’re patient, the bear will give you that broadside shot, which leads to a quick, clean kill.
I doubt if you’d be surprised to learn that the No. 1 target of bowhunters in North America is the whitetail deer. You might be surprised, however, to learn that the second big game animal bowhunters target, when they decide to expand their experiences from deer, is the black bear. The reasons? Black bears are abundant and populations are increasing. As a result, hunting opportunities are expanding and you can take advantage of it.
Bears are a DIY hunter’s dream, and with some basic strategies, your odds of success are quite high. Let’s take a look at some of the components that will up your odds of success. Using the right bait in the right place seems easy enough, but let’s break this down to help you understand the little things that make a big difference.
Location, Location, Location
Bears have an amazing nose that can detect the smell of food for miles, but if you think you can just put a bait anywhere and bears will find it, then you’re going to be disappointed. Having a bear find your bait is one small part of the big picture. The No. 1 factor in having a black bear come to your bait during legal shooting light is bait location. Let’s look at three critical components.
Security Cover: Bears don’t like to cross open areas during daylight. That may be anything from a clearcut, to a field, to a grassy swamp area. Even a forest with a high canopy and little ground cover can keep bears from coming to your bait during legal shooting hours. You need your bait site to be in relatively thick cover, and have corridors of ground cover that will give bears a comfort level as they approach the bait site. Many hunters are baffled as to why they cannot get bears to come to their bait site during the daylight, and are surprised to discover that the problem is more often their choice of location than any other factor.
Proximity of Water: Black bears eat a lot of calories in a day. They are trying to put on as much fat as possible for the winter, and they’ll consume up to 20,000 calories a day. It takes a lot of water to digest that much food, so they need to drink a lot.
Plus, keep in mind that hunting seasons are during warm times of the year; bears have a heavy black coat and a layer of fat that makes it difficult to stay cool. They will spend much of their day bedded in water. This might be anything from a lakeshore or stream to a beaver pond, but the more security cover they have the better, so swamps surrounded by forests are key. All of my best bear baits are found within 200 yards of water.
Access: By access I am talking about how you are going to get to the bait, both during the baiting period and when you come in to hunt. Ideally, I prefer to have my stand about 18 yards from the bait and set up in such a way that I can get in the stand without leaving any fresh ground scent at the bait itself, or on any of the trails the bears are using to approach the bait. Wind direction is a factor as well. Evening thermals tend to flow downhill, so you don’t want to be above the bait. I faithfully spray down with Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer to help reduce my odor, which helps, but bears have one of the best noses in all of nature.
Dinner Time!
Once you have your bait site chosen, it’s time to put out the goods. Use high-quality bait, even if you have to pay for it. I realize that a few bears have been killed over table scraps, popcorn or a pile of donuts, but for long-term consistent success, you’ll need to be more intentional about your bait and attractant scents.
A mixture of sweets and trail mix, granola or grains such as rolled oats are going to be your most successful options. I buy trail mix in bulk from bear bait suppliers and combine that with outdated pastries I get from local grocery stores. In 20 years of baiting, I have found this to be the most successful mixture.
When I first put out the bait, I add scents and lures to the site. Several companies produce great bear lures that are convenient and effective. Northwoods Bear Products makes a highly concentrated liquid called Gold Rush, which has been my go-to for opening a new bait for several years. You mix this stuff with used fryer oil and splash it around the site. It smells like a mix of butterscotch and caramel, and believe me it’s powerful stuff!
Whenever I visit the site to replenish the bait, I carry a bottle of Northwoods to spray down the trails the bears are using, and I also spray the leaves around the site. I want bears to get this stuff on their feet and fur so they broadcast the news far and wide. On spring hunts, I tend to use lures such as beaver castor or bacon, while late summer and fall seem to bring on the effectiveness of more fruity sprays such as blueberry, cherry, raspberry, etc.
Use enough bait. Hunting in competitive areas where other hunters may have baits within a mile or two means you need to hold the bears at your bait. Give them enough bait so they can fill themselves up and then go sleep it off in a nearby swamp. You don’t want bears wandering off. That means you might go through way more bait than you anticipated. If you have three or four bears visiting your bait, you can go through a ton of bait — literally.
Feed them as much as they’ll eat. If you’re hunting where the quantity of bait is restricted, such as Wisconsin where you can add only 10 gallons of bait per day, you’ll need to visit the bait more often. A good rule of thumb is to stay out of there unless you need to replenish bait. The fewer times you leave fresh human odor at the site the better. It can be tempting to go in too often because of the excitement of checking trail cameras and seeing the feeding sign. It’s exhilarating I know, but bait only as often as you need to in order to ensure that bears get something good to eat each time they visit.
I like to bait midday because that’s the time it’s least likely you’ll spook a bear off the bait. Scaring a bear away from the site, especially that mature male we all want to kill, can be a huge mistake. While bears can come to a site where they feel confident and secure at any time, early morning and evening are the most common times for them to be there. Avoid baiting during those peak periods.
When the time comes to hunt, minimize your scent and sneak in as quietly as possible. Often, big bears are bedded within 100 yards; they feel protective of their food source, and you don’t want to advertise your presence. Your consistency makes them feel secure, in fact I think they become bolder once they figure out your patterns, so don’t deviate from it.
Bear baiting is very labor intensive for sure, but it’s so rewarding when you finally bag that apex predator. You can do this. Public land is abundant over much of the black bear’s range, but be forewarned, DIY bear hunting is addictive.
Sidebar: How Much Bait?
I’ve become convinced the best strategy in bear baiting is to provide them with all the high-quality food they can eat. Some might argue that cutting back on bait might create competition and cause those nocturnal bears to come in earlier, but when I’ve tried that trick, it has had the opposite effect. The bears come to the site and find nothing to eat, so they move on. You may not get them back.
My best strategy has been to hold the bears in the area by providing a large supply of desirable food. Hopefully they will fill their bellies and then go bed nearby and sleep it off. So my strategy has been to make sure bears are rewarded with good food every time they come to the site, no matter what time. I bait as often as I need to in order to make sure they do not run out.
Sidebar: What’s the Best Bear Bait?
Everyone knows bears like donuts, it’s a running joke among bear baiters. But bears are individuals and have individual preferences. I’ve seen bears that would dig through a pile of candy and sweets to get to beef scraps. I’ve also seen bears that prefer peanuts over pastries.
Throw this into the discussion: Bears can get too much sugar, and back off the bait because they have been consuming more sweets than their bodies want. Bears are very much in tune with their nutritional needs, and they can be “over-sugared” with pastries and candies. I believe it’s one of the most common reasons baits get hit hard for a week or so and then the activity dies off.
So the best bait is a variety of baits. Trail mix is excellent because it mimics the natural food sources the bears are craving. Nuts, dried fruits and bits of candy hold bears very well. Now mix in those pastries and breads, along with meat scraps where it’s legal to use them, and you have a reason for bears to keep coming back over and over.
Sidebar: Drawing a Black Bear Tag
Most western states where bear baiting is legal offer tags over the counter. Bears are abundant and game departments would love to have you come shoot bears. In fact, most of Idaho is a two-bear area and tags are cheap. Have at it.
In the eastern United States, tags are equally easy to get, same with Arkansas and Oklahoma. In the upper Midwest, however, the boreal forest areas of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, you’ve got to wait for a bear tag. Each of these states have drawings in which preference points are awarded to unsuccessful applicants. There are far more applicants than there are tags available. The only way to draw a tag is to accumulate enough points.
In Minnesota, you can draw some zones with as little as two points, but others will take five or six. In Wisconsin, you can draw with one or two in the less desirable areas, but it can take 10-12 years of applying in the best areas. Same goes for Michigan, which has three seasons in some areas. Early seasons take more points to draw because they are more desired. While some zones may take nearly a decade to draw in Michigan as well, there are great hunts available to a hunter with four to six points.
Sidebar: Broadheads for Bears
While bears can be much bigger than whitetails, a well-placed arrow takes them down fast. They rarely travel more than 100 yards with an arrow through both lungs. But killing bears and finding them are two separate matters. While you may like a big, expandable blade and a big entry wound for deer, your objective with black bears is a low exit wound. Two small holes are better than one big hole any day.
You’ll be tracking your bear in thick cover, and it will likely be dark. A bear’s abundant fat layer and thick, heavy fur can seal up a lot of blood. That second hole might make a difference between finding or losing a dead bear. After having arrowed 37 black bears myself and been involved in tracking about 100 more, I can assure you that a low exit wound is your primary goal. Choose your equipment with that in mind. In my experience, a super-sharp, fixed-blade, cut-on-contact broadhead is the best bear medicine.
Photos by Bernie Barringer
