Bear Bait recipes

Hofhunter

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 29, 2019
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Looking for any bear bait recipes. Had success in the past with baiting and just looking for some different things to try. I’ve done bread/donuts, maple syrup, dog food, sweet COB. Let me know what has worked for you or something I can try. Thanks
 

Murphy

Lil-Rokslider
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May 3, 2016
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Bulk granola is gold if you can get it. Fryer grease and donuts if you can scrounge up enough.
 
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Joined
Apr 26, 2019
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Pacific North West
Looking for any bear bait recipes. Had success in the past with baiting and just looking for some different things to try. I’ve done bread/donuts, maple syrup, dog food, sweet COB. Let me know what has worked for you or something I can try. Thanks
I got a bulk 50lb bag of the mushroom popcorn kernels. I plan on air popping it and then coating in boarmasters rezmaspazz. I’ll let everyone know how it works.
 

jhm2023

WKR
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
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632
Location
Delta Junction, AK.
I'm fairly cheap when it comes to bear bait. For the bait itself we start saving leftover homemade baked goods and deserts in the winter time since we can freeze them outside, crap leftover Halloween candy and 2-3 bags of the cheapest dog food we can find. For scent we get 10-15 gallons of used fryer oil for free from our favorite Chinese restaurant. I mix some of the oil with the dog food inside the barrel, the rest gets poured in front of the barrel so the bears create scent trails for me. We also buy some baitem907 stuff which generally consist of 2 pints of smear paste, one is insane banana and one anise and then 2 quarts of scent spray, one is anise and one fruity rubble. The paste and spray goes on all the trees in the front of the barrel, not behind it and only in good shooting lanes so they don't stop where they can't be shot. We only use some of the paste and spray and save the rest to refresh the site each time we visit it. We make a log crib around the bait in a way that it encourages the bears to come in broadside or slightly quartering away. Our barrels are placed 15-20 yards from the blind or stand. This is a fairly cheap and simple way to go and it works year after year. Last year alone we shot 5 bears off of only one bait and didn't even use a full 50lb bag of food (I cut the hole in the barrel fairly small). I use to buy maple syrup, pastries, make popcorn and all sorts of other stuff and realized I was spending too much money and over complicating it the process. I will not set my bait prior to May 15th (for interior Alaska) because experience has taught me its a waste of time before that since the bears haven't blown their plugs and I'm just feeding the squirrels. After the bait starts getting hit I just carry a 5 gallon bucket of food with me to the stand and dump it in the barrel at the start of my sit.

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the cheaper and lighter the better. popcorn/ marshmellows/dog food/. im gonna try deer/bear lollipops. basically making a hard candy sucker in a 3/5 gal.metal pail with a chain to hang. lotsa how 2s out there... the biggest benefit from the comments ive seen is that they can last weeks. i have a 2 hour drive. im hoping this keeps them visiting.
 
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Hofhunter

Hofhunter

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 29, 2019
Messages
134
I'm fairly cheap when it comes to bear bait. For the bait itself we start saving leftover homemade baked goods and deserts in the winter time since we can freeze them outside, crap leftover Halloween candy and 2-3 bags of the cheapest dog food we can find. For scent we get 10-15 gallons of used fryer oil for free from our favorite Chinese restaurant. I mix some of the oil with the dog food inside the barrel, the rest gets poured in front of the barrel so the bears create scent trails for me. We also buy some baitem907 stuff which generally consist of 2 pints of smear paste, one is insane banana and one anise and then 2 quarts of scent spray, one is anise and one fruity rubble. The paste and spray goes on all the trees in the front of the barrel, not behind it and only in good shooting lanes so they don't stop where they can't be shot. We only use some of the paste and spray and save the rest to refresh the site each time we visit it. We make a log crib around the bait in a way that it encourages the bears to come in broadside or slightly quartering away. Our barrels are placed 15-20 yards from the blind or stand. This is a fairly cheap and simple way to go and it works year after year. Last year alone we shot 5 bears off of only one bait and didn't even use a full 50lb bag of food (I cut the hole in the barrel fairly small). I use to buy maple syrup, pastries, make popcorn and all sorts of other stuff and realized I was spending too much money and over complicating it the process. I will not set my bait prior to May 15th (for interior Alaska) because experience has taught me its a waste of time before that since the bears haven't blown their plugs and I'm just feeding the squirrels. After the bait starts getting hit I just carry a 5 gallon bucket of food with me to the stand and dump it in the barrel at the start of my sit.

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I like the paste and spray idea. I’ve checked out their product and good to know it works. Do you spray the scent at all when getting in the stand or just rebait it with the 5 gallon bucket of goods?
 
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Hofhunter

Hofhunter

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 29, 2019
Messages
134
the cheaper and lighter the better. popcorn/ marshmellows/dog food/. im gonna try deer/bear lollipops. basically making a hard candy sucker in a 3/5 gal.metal pail with a chain to hang. lotsa how 2s out there... the biggest benefit from the comments ive seen is that they can last weeks. i have a 2 hour drive. im hoping this keeps them visiting.
I might have to give the lollipop a go. Thanks
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
873
Location
Pacific North West
the cheaper and lighter the better. popcorn/ marshmellows/dog food/. im gonna try deer/bear lollipops. basically making a hard candy sucker in a 3/5 gal.metal pail with a chain to hang. lotsa how 2s out there... the biggest benefit from the comments ive seen is that they can last weeks. i have a 2 hour drive. im hoping this keeps them visiting.
Last year I coated stumps and tree bark in cheap premixed pb&j. When bait ran out it definitely helped keep them interested. I have some of boarmasters bear-ly legal blueberrie bacon syrup and plan to use it the same way this year. I also threw strips of bacon way up into tree tops on the first visit to make the scent travel. It seemed to help. I definitely had a lot of bears show up fast to a brand new bait site.
 
Joined
Jun 25, 2015
Messages
344
always fun to try new things. one year i had some orange vanilla cream concentrate.i sprayed it all up in the tree leaves high as i could.you could smell that sick sweet smell quite a ways. i had read that in Florida the bears will eat oranges so on hunt day i stuck an orange like 6 ft up above the bait. bear comes out like he hit the lottery seeing the orange. takes a bite and spits the orange out like a rocket. laughed my arse off!
 
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always fun to try new things. one year i had some orange vanilla cream concentrate.i sprayed it all up in the tree leaves high as i could.you could smell that sick sweet smell quite a ways. i had read that in Florida the bears will eat oranges so on hunt day i stuck an orange like 6 ft up above the bait. bear comes out like he hit the lottery seeing the orange. takes a bite and spits the orange out like a rocket. laughed my arse off!
That’s freaking awesome. Cant wait to be up in the tree or behind the dogs watching them!
 

jhm2023

WKR
Joined
Jan 2, 2018
Messages
632
Location
Delta Junction, AK.
I like the paste and spray idea. I’ve checked out their product and good to know it works. Do you spray the scent at all when getting in the stand or just rebait it with the 5 gallon bucket of goods?
I use a little spray and paste to refresh the site each time I visit the bait, regardless if I intend to stay and hunt or not. The bears will lick the paste off the trees and tear up anything the paste is on. I put the spray on spruce branches as I feel the needles diffuse the scent better. I can usually smell the anise and banana a good ways off when walking into the stand from down wind. It's good stuff.

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Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
873
Location
Pacific North West
I use a little spray and paste to refresh the site each time I visit the bait, regardless if I intend to stay and hunt or not. The bears will lick the paste off the trees and tear up anything the paste is on. I put the spray on spruce branches as I feel the needles diffuse the scent better. I can usually smell the anise and banana a good ways off when walking into the stand from down wind. It's good stuff.

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That’s a good idea. Seems like repeated things like that make the bears more comfortable at the site when you’re there. A friend of mine sprays himself down with strawberry extract whenever he’s hunting and sprays his stand tree with it when he’s not to keep his scent familiar.
 

bbassi

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Sep 3, 2019
Messages
287
A game warden told me they used sunflower seeds to trap problem bears. when I hunted Quebec we would broadcast semi sweet chocolate chips around the bait sight to make them "hunt" for the good stuff. It gave us more opportunities and angles than just filling a barrel.
 

lang

Lil-Rokslider
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May 26, 2017
Messages
186
Location
North Idaho
Timberline, we just save the grease in used water bottles after cooking. Easy to smear around from the bottle, and way cleaner than packing gallons of grease each trip. I'm never giving bears my bacon!
 
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HAP

FNG
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Mar 23, 2021
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Timberline, we just save the grease in used water bottles after cooking. Easy to smear around from the bottle, and way cleaner than packing gallons of grease each trip. I'm never giving bears my bacon!

I agree, I have a hard time parting with bacon. Bacon is a precious gift from the meat gods.
 
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Timberline, we just save the grease in used water bottles after cooking. Easy to smear around from the bottle, and way cleaner than packing gallons of grease each trip. I'm never giving bears my bacon!
I’ve been saving my cooking grease in quart mason jars. I planned on trying to get some 5 gallon buckets full from restaurants too for the bears to track around. Do you not think that’s necessary for a new site? And it was cheap bacon I promise 😂
 
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