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Thread: Black bear hunting

  1. #1
    Boolit Master pmer's Avatar
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    Black bear hunting

    I'd like to give it a try hunting for black bear. I saw an adult sized bear while out for a walk this evening. I was rounding a corner and saw it cross a road and the neighbor saw it in her yard a few weeks ago. Seems like there is a chance for one this year.
    I could use some help on building a bait station, does anyone have some tips for a bait station?
    Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Lots of ways to do it but first check the hunting regulations to make sure what's legal. Some guys use pastries, meat scraps, anise oil, bacon grease, etc. Also you can do a Honey "burn", that is burn some honey & get the scent moving in the area, do this a few times & then check to see if there's any bear sign in the area.
    You can also do a Honey bucket. Take some honey & put it in a coffee can & punch a few small holes in the bottom, when the weather warms up it will drip & when it cools down at night it should stop dripping & last quite a while. Put it so the bear can't reach your bucket. A bear hunts with it's nose, not it's eye sight, which is only fair compared to other animals. You have to over come their nose.

    Dick

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master
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    +1 ^^^. Pour molasses on a stump. Stale doughnuts, etc. Chain a barrel down and cut a restrictive hole in it and place bait within. Bear will have to work to get the bait out and thus give you a good long time to pick your shot.

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    I use hollow stump. I normally burry it so it sticks a few inches out of the ground. That way the bear dosent carry it off or chew it up. Ill put a rock as heavy as I can find over the hole with or without a 3/4" piece of plywood over it. This will keep raccoons out. For bait I go to the thrift store and buy old donuts, ding dongs, twinkies, ect, along with bread. I also use bread as a filler and mix it together. Dry the bread out first. Ill lay out a tarp in the hot sun and leave the bread lay on it till its crumbly. Then you can store it a lot longer in garage bags without it getting moldy. I also like to use cooking grease. If i run out of donuts ill buy some maple syrup or jelly, or use the old cooking grease to mix with the bread. They get it on their paws going back and forth. It creates a smell highway for them. I also like to mix spiriment, peppermint, and vinilla in a spray bottle. Ill sspray it around the site and on some little sapplings. Ive had little pine trees completely rooted and ate after spraying. Ill also bang my feeding pales together when baiting. Its like a dinner bell. They will eventually know that noise is associated with a fresh supply of donuts. Come season use a buddy to bait, bang buckets, and walk back out while your already in your stand. You'd be surprised how fast a bear will show up afterwards. Showing up to the bait just depends how much competition the bear have in your area. Places I hunt in wisonsin they might show up every night or once every three days. Canada bear show up 5 min after buckets have been banged together. No meat can be used in Wisconsin here.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 07-11-2018 at 12:42 PM.

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Oh, if you don't own a game camera...which bear like to steal BTW. Get a pale of fine sand. Dump it around your bait and rake it smooth. That way you can see by the paw size how big of a bear is visiting your site. I ran trail camers last year without any provlems. My buddy baited while I set up the camera a good 10 yards away and higher than the bears eye level. I never touched any bait so the camera didn't smell like bear chow. I also tried to hide it around thick cover and branches so it was less conspicuous. I ended up with some nice photos and gave me an idea what times they were comming to my bait.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 07-11-2018 at 02:30 PM.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master pmer's Avatar
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    Thanks guys! When it was on road I new it would leave wet paw prints on the tar so I went down there to look but it was kinda inconclusive to look at the wet spots. I'd guess they were close to the size of my hand with my thumb tucked in and fingers bent at the first knuckle.
    Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Sounds good size. I was always told that if the front pad measures approx the weight of the bear, whether it's true or not. But I've been told a 5" wide pad is going to be close to a 500 lbs plus animal. I shot a 7'6" black in Canada that had a 5.5" pad. The guide never weighed it but I. Guessing it was a good 500-600lbs. It had a 19 3/16" skull

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    Boolit Master brewer12345's Avatar
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    I have a tangential question as my state does not allow baiting. I will be hunting for mulies and have a concurrent bear tag in the event I see one. I will be hunting deer with a 3006 using a 198 grain flat nose boolit that does about 1900 fps. Is that enough for black bears?
    When you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Easily enough. Black bears aren't hard to kill. Take your time and get a good shot placement.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Any boolit/bullet that will kill a deer will also harvest a black bear. Black bears are thin skinned game. Their front shoulder bones are a lot thicker than deer but brake just as a whitetails would. Bear have a lot of fat that likes to plug the bullet holes so a lot of time blood trails are non existent. The bigger the diameter the bullet the better and you definitely want a pass through for two bleeder holes.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master brewer12345's Avatar
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    Thanks guys. Figured as much. I will chiefly be hunting deer, so glad to hear that a deer load will work.
    When you care enough to send the very best, send an ounce of lead.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy glockfan's Avatar
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    the hype is setting a candy ''store'' as bait. i know that, around here some companies are selling scrapp candies in 45 gallons format. needless to say it work great.

    then the 32 special with a 170 grainer super x ,or a 170 vital shok at 2000+ fps is taking care of the rest.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master zymguy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pmer View Post
    I'd like to give it a try hunting for black bear. I saw an adult sized bear while out for a walk this evening. I was rounding a corner and saw it cross a road and the neighbor saw it in her yard a few weeks ago. Seems like there is a chance for one this year.
    I could use some help on building a bait station, does anyone have some tips for a bait station?
    in some areas the lotto (over for 2018) can be tough, but you can acrew points. also pay attention to the date they put the unclaimed lotto liscens back for sale, you want to be in the store at midnight if your in a popular zone

    Good luck !!! there are too many bears, least up here.

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Never had luck with candy. I was given 8, 55 gal drums from brachs candies years ago. Almost blew out my 10 ply tires on my 1/2 ton truck hauling it home. It was all the stuff that hit the floor and gets sweeped up. Mostly gummy worms and jelly like candy. The bear actually pulled the globs of candy that melted together out of the bait piles to get to my bread and donut mix. Had 16 baits at the time and the same results with all of them. The baits would be cleaned out with a pile of melted gummies laying next it. It was like they shunned it.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tripplebeards View Post
    Sounds good size. I was always told that if the front pad measures approx the weight of the bear, whether it's true or not. But I've been told a 5" wide pad is going to be close to a 500 lbs plus animal. I shot a 7'6" black in Canada that had a 5.5" pad. The guide never weighed it but I. Guessing it was a good 500-600lbs. It had a 19 3/16" skull

    thats a nice bear Trip
    I shot a bear in Winter ,WI with 6" pads that went 430#
    18" skull
    Hit em'hard
    hit em'often

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy glockfan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tripplebeards View Post
    Never had luck with candy. I was given 8, 55 gal drums from brachs candies years ago. Almost blew out my 10 ply tires on my 1/2 ton truck hauling it home. It was all the stuff that hit the floor and gets sweeped up. Mostly gummy worms and jelly like candy. The bear actually pulled the globs of candy that melted together out of the bait piles to get to my bread and donut mix. Had 16 baits at the time and the same results with all of them. The baits would be cleaned out with a pile of melted gummies laying next it. It was like they shunned it.
    funny,it worked for me in 2015 last time i went to a black bear hunt ....i'm not the one who settled it up,but i figure that having different '''meals''' in the bait, yogi is picking what please him the most.....i know we had only candies ,seems like they were enjoying it from the camera pics we had .

  17. #17
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    I assume the OP knows the MN lottery already passed, I don't think I was drawn. I have been seeing more and more bears in the no-quota area. I've never in my lifetime seen a bear in Alexandria, and yet they are starting to turn up from time to time. I'm still thinking of giving it a try this year, but I'd be getting as close to the no-quota border as possible.

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by glockfan View Post
    funny,it worked for me in 2015 last time i went to a black bear hunt ....i'm not the one who settled it up,but i figure that having different '''meals''' in the bait, yogi is picking what please him the most.....i know we had only candies ,seems like they were enjoying it from the camera pics we had .
    I have a feeling it was because the candy melted and was all globed together. There were piles of it in basketball diameter chunks laying on the ground by every bait station. They liked it at first when we started using it but didn't want anything to do with it when it turned into huge sheets of goo.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master pmer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by megasupermagnum View Post
    I assume the OP knows the MN lottery already passed, I don't think I was drawn. I have been seeing more and more bears in the no-quota area. I've never in my lifetime seen a bear in Alexandria, and yet they are starting to turn up from time to time. I'm still thinking of giving it a try this year, but I'd be getting as close to the no-quota border as possible.
    I'm in a no quota area so I should be good to go for licensing.
    Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.

  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by white eagle View Post
    thats a nice bear Trip
    I shot a bear in Winter ,WI with 6" pads that went 430#
    18" skull

    Awesome, big bear! The last time I hunted in Winter was the day after the dreaded 9/11. I remember it like it was yesterday. At the time The twin towers got hit I wasn't watching the news or owned a cell phone so I had no clue what was going on till I turned on the car radio driving up north. Every gas station from the southern Wisconsin Minnesota boarder all the way to Winter was packed with crazies lined up at the gas pumps a good block and a half in every direction. Glad I had a full tank...and my 300 RUM. I shot a 250 lb sow in the Forrest the next morning treed by the group's trusty hounds around 6-6:30am. I shot a 350lb 7'2" boar 7 years ago in Rib Lake on private land sitting over bait. I have 8 points now. I put in for preference only this year. Before I draw I need to find another place to try up north. Winter is awesome but the group I hunted hounds with broke up and with everyone running dogs end up running them off of my sitting stands and turns them nocturnal. I need to find someone with private property. If someone has property up north and want to get rid of a few bear myself and one of reponsible friends both have 8 points. I have been friends with him since we met in cub scouts when I was 7....40 years ago.
    Last edited by Tripplebeards; 07-12-2018 at 01:04 PM.

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