Friday, June 24, 2011

Spits or Swallows

Bears that are acclimated to humans in their woods such as ATVs, grouse hunters and their dogs, deer hunters, hikers and the like are a lot more reclusive than the bears you might see on a sportsmen's channel of a hunt in Canada. Those bears may have never encountered a human before and have no real fear of us. There tends to be a lot of activity in the areas I bait - so it requires a bit more thought to get these bears to come into the bait in the daylight. What it is all going to boil down to is risk vs. reward. Is the risk to get the food worth the reward for the bear to get a free meal. All bears have different tastes much like ourselves. I have had bears come in and take one item and none of the rest. The next bear takes something else. Another bear eats everything. Try to make a little variety or simply the best that you can to make it absolutely tantalizing. The more food scent you can get into the air the better.

Try to pick a site that allows the bear to comfortably come and go in heavy cover. Utilize a natural corridor if you can. Try to get off the beaten path. The deeper you go the better. Beware that you are going to have to come out of there in the dark. Try to make it safe for yourself too.

Reduce your scent the best you can. They are going to smell you. That is just a fact. Use scent killer every time out. Wash your clothes if you can with the scent products. Chew some sort of earth gum or Copenhagen snuff - you are going to have to swallow. You can also place scent bombs / wicks between you and the bait. Beware that some scents can induce a charge like a skunk scent. Some scents may make hunters sick. So be sure if you or the hunter can handle warm dead fish cooking in the sun all day in 98 degree weather with a bad wind.

I have also heard of sticking a dead cat in a big jar in water over the summer and then shooting it at the bait sight. I don’t think that is a good idea.

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