Bear Bait Set-ups / Impliment of Choice /Equipment

[Daveinthebush]

I might be jumping the gun here but it is 36 degrees out and raining here in Valdez.  But I am still getting gear ready and planning trips and such.  

So how do you other guys bait bears and what do you use to harvest them?

Myself:

We take a 55 gallon barrel and punch 8-10 1/2 inch diameter holes in it.  At the larger hole we open the side enough to get a chain through so that we can chain the thing to a tree.

It is then dragged into a likely area and filled with 50 pounds of Dad's dog food.  Actually any cheap food will work but Dad's has a lot of grease in it. We also spread quite a bit around and pour some grease from a local restaurant around.

It is best to lean some poles against the barrel so that you can tell if you have a hit.  The bear will knock them over and you can see the hit easily.

This set-up worked well last year.

Harvest tool:

I was thinking of the .35 Whelen until a friend said bears were easy to kill.  Yea, right!  Well I ended up using the bow and I think that bears are an ideal target for bow hunters.  They proved not that hard to kill, traveling 40 yards and 20 yards last year before dying and in less than 20 seconds.

Back-up:  

Sometimes for the costal black I carry the 629 .44 mag.  Up north the 870 and Brenneke slugs are a must.  There are brownies up that way, the brush denser.  I have a hook on the side of the top of my pack frame that I can hook the sling over.  The gun lays straight down my side and I only have to lift it up with one hand to retrieve it.

Bugs:

Coastal bears, nothing.  Up north, everything - Bens 100.  I bought a Thermocell this year and am going to use it next year as it proved effective last year on a deer hunt out in the sound.

Fun:

Take a slingshot and keep a bag of dog food with you in the stand.  Reds and camp robbers are great targets and driving away the smaller bears is a blast.

So what does everyone else do?

[Sourdough]

I use a 55gal drum with the end cut out, and chained to a tree.  I put a heavy steel band around the drum at the top with eyes  to attatch chains.  I then suspend the drum from two trees so it will only tilt to about 15 degrees.  This slows the bears down, and they don't empty it so fast.  I load it with dog food, then pour 1 gal of pancake syrup over the dog food.  I mix 1 package rasberry jello in 5 gal of water.  I hang the bucket of jello water in the tree above the drum.  I tie an old towel to the suspension rope, then let it hang to the bottom of the bucket.  the towel acts as a wick to get the rasberry smell out on the wind.  

I use a .350 Rem Mag, or a .35 Whelen, in the stand.  My son uses a 45-70.  I also carry my recurve bow with blunts to run off the sows, and small bears.

[summitx]

never bear baited before thought I might give it a try next spring, you posted some good idea's, question how often do you go and refresh your bait. Sourdough did not make it up to the rex for moose, everybody backed out, oh well next year.

[Daveinthebush]

We run shrimp pots at the same time as when baiting starts.  So we head to the pots first, near the stand, that way we replenish the bait every 2-3 days and kill two birds with one stone.  It is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour round trip to the bait stand by boat.  We might carry in 50+ pounds at a time.  I am getting older than I want to so 50 pounds is the limit on my old back and pack frame.

Up north on solid ground we replenish evey 2-3 days too.  It takes about a week for the bears to find the bait site.  

Pouring grease around the site helps too.  The bears walk in it and then spread the scent out along the game trails leading other bears in.