Bear hunting over gut piles

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Has anyone successfully hunted a bear over a gut pile from their own elk or deer kill? I am looking to hunt Elk and Mule deer in Idaho this season, and was wondering is it even something worthwhile to pursue in the fall?
 

Ftguides

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They'll come to them typically in 48hrs. From what I've seen, the best gut pile to attract bears is a bear gut pile. Lots of times you won't catch them on the pile but working the general area from a distance.

Be a little careful and check your regs. Some places do consider this baiting I believe. Just have to check your area specifically. good luck
 
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Make it look like a coincidence, it's technically illegal. If there are many bears in the area and you have time, there's a decent chance for it to work.

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Kulshan

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Make it look like a coincidence, it's technically illegal. If there are many bears in the area and you have time, there's a decent chance for it to work.

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How is it technically illegal?
In Washington where near baiting is illegal rcw 77.15.245 (d) talks about exposing, disturbed, placed.... If we don't place, intentionally disturb or expose gut piles you can hunt over them.
 
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OP
P
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Make it look like a coincidence, it's technically illegal. If there are many bears in the area and you have time, there's a decent chance for it to work.

I will look further into the regulations in Idaho. I know it is legal to bait bears in Idaho, but I will double check to see if this is outside of that scope.
 

toddb

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I checked one of our elk gut piles 2 days later and 2 cubs chewing on carcass and momma bear was chasing a pack of coyotes off it. Wind was in my favor and quiet stalk got me to close for comfort. She was mad, barking ,huffing and growling at them. Me with a muzzle loader that was maybe gonna go off or maybe not. Very exciting needless to say.
 
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It's illegal to use wild game to bait in Idaho, but if you just left the carcass where you killed it, maybe it wouldn't be considered baiting. I'd do it personally, as long as you don't arrange it as a bait site I can't imagine they'd find anything wrong with shooting a bear off it. The law is to prevent wildlife being harvested and wasted as bear bait, so a chance encounter over a gut pile shouldn't be a problem.

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OP
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It's illegal to use wild game to bait in Idaho, but if you just left the carcass where you killed it, maybe it wouldn't be considered baiting. I'd do it personally, as long as you don't arrange it as a bait site I can't imagine they'd find anything wrong with shooting a bear off it. The law is to prevent wildlife being harvested and wasted as bear bait, so a chance encounter over a gut pile shouldn't be a problem.

That all makes sense. Of course first I have to first get an elk, then knees and back willing determine if it is something to try!
 

wawhitey

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How is it technically illegal?
In Washington where near baiting is illegal rcw 77.15.245 (d) talks about exposing, disturbed, placed.... If we don't place, intentionally disturb or expose gut piles you can hunt over them.

A lot of people try to interperet the law like that but yourr playing with fire. The way i see it, you placed that guy pile there. The deer / elk etc didnt naturally shed its guts. I feel shooting a bear on your gutpile is baiting, and i know for a fact at least a couple game wardens do too.
 
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I hunted a gut pile for seven days last year. Not a single bear even touched that thing. A buddy went up the next week and from one day to the next the entire carcass was gone.
 

BRWNBR

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We had a grizzly kill a moose where I was working this spring. He only returned to it once in two weeks. Hardly fed on it at all. Just because it's there doesn't mean a bears gonna eat it.
 

lang

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This is off the frequently asked questions. I'd say that is big yes.

Q: Is it legal to hunt bear over the remains of a quartered game animal?

I know it's against the rules to use any big game animal as bait when hunting bear, however, I have a question about hunting over a legally harvested elk kill. My brother-in-law recently took a cow elk, and after we harvested all of the meat we left the cape, entrails, and most of the skeleton on the mountain. The next day when walking by the kill site to fill my elk tag we encountered a large boar eating and burying the remains. If I would have had a bear tag, would it be legal to set up and hunt bear over the kill site, essentially using the remains as bait?


A:

For bears, the definition of bait is any substance placed to attract game animals. You are not allowed to place parts of animals or fish that are currently classified as game animals or fish that come from the wild or commercial domestic sources. However, under the scenario you explained:

Under IDAPA §13.01.017, an activity qualifies as baiting only if the substance is placed for the purpose of attracting big game animals. If a carcass/bones/gutpile happens to be at a lion/ bear/wolf hunting location by coincidence—whether through take by the same or another hunter, roadkill, predation or other causes, a hunter may legally hunt over it. Lawful harvest and field processing of a game animal consistent with reasonable hunting practice does not qualify as bait placement. However, it is baiting if the carcass is not at its location by coincidence (e.g., the hunter or someone else moved it for the purpose of attracting big game animals), or if the hunter adds other substances to it (like salt or scent). Although it may also qualify as baiting if used to attract big game, leaving excessive meat in the field is more clearly illegal under IDAPA §13.01.08.351 and Idaho Code 36-1202(a) (waste of meat).
 
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I discussed this one with a retired warden here in Ca. His explanation was that if the animal (Deer, Elk) was legally harvested, and the gut pile was left as part of the harvest process, with all edible meat taken, then it was NOT considered baiting (it's illegal to bait here in Ca), as thus sitting on the gut pile was a legal method of take. If an animal was killed by another animal, and you came upon it and hunted the predators kill site, it was not considered baiting, as both of these in Ca are considered natural processes. As such you could hunt the kill site.

Granted, every state could have differing regulations, so you want to be sure of the regulations for the state your hunting.

Killing an animal, and leaving the carcass, or leaving edible meat on the carcass, would be considered baiting, and thus illegal in Ca. I would imagine leaving any carcass other than those you are not legally mandated to retrieve the meat from, such as coyote, would be an illegal method. But again, check your individual states regulations.
 

Bar

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I get more coyotes coming to a gut pile than bears. Which isn't all bad as I always have a small game license and will always take out a coyote when I see them.
 
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Like Lang said, it would only be illegal if all of the required portions of the meat were not removed from the animal. Then it would be two violations, wanton waste of a game animal and illegal baiting. I had a co-worker get cited for both violations several years ago because one hindquarters was bloodshot and he didn't remove it. By the time the F&G got there it was difficult to tell if it was bloodshot or not so he received a citation and lost his hunting privileges for a year along with a fine. A few years later he was unable to get a high paying DOE job because of that citation. Just take everything into consideration before deciding to do something that can be accomplished more easily with a bait permit and a pile of doughnuts.
 

Bar

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Like Lang said, it would only be illegal if all of the required portions of the meat were not removed from the animal. Then it would be two violations, wanton waste of a game animal and illegal baiting. I had a co-worker get cited for both violations several years ago because one hindquarters was bloodshot and he didn't remove it. By the time the F&G got there it was difficult to tell if it was bloodshot or not so he received a citation and lost his hunting privileges for a year along with a fine. A few years later he was unable to get a high paying DOE job because of that citation. Just take everything into consideration before deciding to do something that can be accomplished more easily with a bait permit and a pile of doughnuts.


You won't get a bait permit here.
 
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Hunt your hunny hole for deer or elk. You can not use any portion of "game" as bait. Do NOT put parts in your bait station, but if you take an elk / deer near your bear bait station, I see no reason that you can't leave it where you take it, and if it adds an attractant near your bait station, as long as you don't PLACE IT at your bait station, you can't prove or disprove that it was even you, let alone that you didn't use it as bait that you have PLACED.
 
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