bait poachers....

Joined
May 16, 2021
Messages
75
I set my first bait back in mid April, and had my first and only bear show up one month later. I was beyond excited to see all my hard work paying off. I went in the first evening I could sit, and the bear began making his way to bait. I watched and waited for him to appear patiently. I couldn't see him but could hear him snapping sticks as he approached. He was about 50 yards out and I heard a thwack and the bear yelped. Soon after, I heard his last dying moan. The bear had just been harvested directly above my bait site by a hunter that found the site back in mid April. anyone who has baited knows how much time and money and effort goes into a bait site, and I felt robbed of all that hard work. I don't think any laws were actually broken as I have not contacted Idaho fish and game to inquire who is legally allowed to hunt a permitted bait site. I believe anyone can hunt any bait site, but if you wish to actually place bait you must purchase a permit..?? I hunt public land only and diy, so I am no stranger to losing animals to better hunters and or circumstances surrounding public land and fair chase. This one just hurt a little bit more because of all the hard work and money invested in dragging that bear into that specific area only to watch him get harvested 50 yards form my bait. :mad:
 

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Elkhntr08

WKR
Joined
Nov 3, 2016
Messages
1,078
Don’t know if it’s illegal, but dang sure unethical! Im surprised that there was just one bear coming in. I wouldn’t give up on the spot, if there was one, there should be more.
 

TheTone

WKR
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
1,577
Sucky! I packed my bait in mid April, last week I found another bait about 100 yards from mine directly in the trail I’ve been walking in on. I left them a note on the tree they have a camera on asking them to call me. So far no call, I’m planning to pack my stand in tomorrow but lost some of my enthusiasm due to the other bait and potential conflict
 
Joined
Jun 25, 2015
Messages
344
first of all congrats on your 1st set up and workin to getting them to come in.! ive been cut off to my baits with deer and bear... not much you can do unless there are laws in your area. some people are just lazy or un-ethical in doing that... in the past if i seen where they parked i would speak with the person or come back and see what the other persons set up was to try to figure out whats going on. your area may have been someone elses too and not knew.... i would take the experience and learn different methods of setting up in areas that you cant get cut off so easily.for instance i would set up on the edge of nasty knarly swampy stuff. if another hunter is going to cut you off theyd have to get in the crap they would have a harder time cutting off your bait.
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2017
Messages
812
Location
Idaho Falls,ID
Seems like every day, all season long, I hear about someone having hunters hunt their bait or sit in their stand. I had a nice bear baited about 10 days ago, then it dissapeared for 6 days and was replaced by a pack of hounds that went past my site every morning. I finally came across the houndsman, a 14 year old kid. He'd had his dogs rig that bear from the truck one morning, didn't tree it, but came back every morning for 5 more days thinking he might rig the bear again. Bad deal for me, but no laws were broken. It is really difficult to escape other hunters when you're baiting, and if you put a bait in with snow on the ground sometimes others will simply follow your tracks to your bait. There's lots of unethical hunters out there, especially in the bear hunting game.
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
10,025
Location
ID
In Idaho if you want to hunt over a bait site with an outfitter you have to have a copy of their permit in your possession. Seems like that wording needs to be applied to all bait sites. That's a douchebag move. I'd find out who it was and have a come to Jesus talk with them. They had to take it to a IDFG location and have it checked in and tagged. I'd be talking to them about it for sure, after I talked to IDFG.

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Wrench

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
5,596
Location
WA
This goes back to when baiting was legal in Washington...buddy and I were out in his jeep exploring. We broke down and were trying to get a field repair made.

A random guy pulls up and we think this will be good for us. He is pissed. He never asks whats up,just starts screaming at us. I am on the far side of the rig and this guy jumos out of his truck while telling us about how we are about to get shot. I step around the rig and make it obvious that there is a 629 on my side. He starts screaming about gassing the baits.

Apparently we were broke down on top of his baits or too close for his comfort.....we never had a clue.

It can happen.
 
OP
philson208
Joined
May 16, 2021
Messages
75
thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate hearing the stories, tips and encouragement. Idaho fish and game has confirmed that in Idaho anyone can hunt any bait. The permit simply states that you are not littering and have agreed to follow regulations regarding clean up. Even IDFG agrees that is a total douche canoe move, but no laws were broken. outfitters are offered a bit of protection by requiring hunters to have a copy of the permit, but private citizens have zero protections. I figured this would be the case as I understand that they cannot control where people hike, hunt, harvest and trying to enforce it would be a total waste of time and resources. It's been a bitter lesson but I get it that these things can and do happen. I will continue to bait and keep an eye out for the same rig at the trailhead as I go in to sit, If it happens to be the same guy that I have on my bait camera from a month ago I will definitely be confronting him/them. If it happens to be an ethical harvest with no knowledge of my bait I would gladly congratulate them and share all the cool vids and pics I got of the bear.
cheers!! 🍺
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
397
Location
Idaho
I've had to abandon bait sites due to others setting up too close. For me anything within a couple miles is too close, although I've had success even though others were baiting only 1 mile away. I once encountered a couple coworkers setting up a bait site less than 200 yards away from mine and they knew it, even after talking to me still set up their bait. Mine had already been in for 2 weeks at that point. We had talked in the past and they usually baited the other side of the drainage and ran hounds so we didn't get in each others way until they decided to move in on me. They were running a bear with hounds the morning I went in to pull my barrel and stand. I could hear the dogs coming closer for a while and got ready to shoot a bear if it ran through. What are the ethics on that one? Shooting a bear being run by someone else's hounds basically off my bait site?

Anyway, I never baited that area again, despite the great success I had there. I selected a new location 30 minutes away.
 
OP
philson208
Joined
May 16, 2021
Messages
75
idelkslayer wow! I guess ethics may be subject to circumstance? Depends on which side of the coin your on? I cant even really answer honestly what the ethics on that one would be. I would probably ready for a shot as well, but that gets me thinking about ethics of shooting a bear out from the houndsman....? I guess when there aren't laws in place it really can be a first come first serve world based on individual respect or lack thereof. I tend to back off when another hunters ethics don't line up with mine. As disappointing as these situations can be it's always best just to get away from humans when possible. Usually I will find a better opportunity if I keep with it.
 

rclouse79

WKR
Joined
Dec 10, 2019
Messages
1,726
That reminds me of my fears around setting up a blind on a waterhole for antelope. Part of me always expects to show up and find someone has destroyed or stolen my blind. There seems to be an unwritten rule that once somebody has a blind set up you go find a different hole. It is legal for someone to set up a blind right next to yours, and I believe someone can even sit in your blind if they get there before you. Luckily 99 out of 100 guys wouldn't do that, but there is always the one. I have been so paranoid, I have slept in my blind the night before the opener.
That is a bummer about your bait site for sure. Hope your luck turns around.
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
710
Location
Pacific North West
I would bet they were spot and stalk hunting and happened upon your bear but who knows. However that happened it’s crazy. I’m not sure where you’re located on the state but my sites have been slow so far. I got my bear Friday but he was one of 2 bears on that site and I’ve had one on the other and I’m thinking he was killed. I would keep running that site because I bet it’ll get hot soon and have a lot more traffic. Mine I bet will pick up a lot and the md of the month as that’s what happened last year. Went from one bear to 11 in a week and a half.
 
OP
philson208
Joined
May 16, 2021
Messages
75
timberline, I am in southern Idaho. My bait has been slow also, this was the first and only bear to show up. He showed up Monday morning on a Mountain lion kill I had cameras on, and he hit bait that same night and hit it every night until Saturday night. Anything is possible, and I have a hard time hating on anybody without knowing the full story. I do have pics of a guy who found the site early, and I am patiently waiting to see a face before jumping to any conclusions. I ran another bait in a harder to find area where I know there are bear this morning, and found my first good elk shed of the season.

huntnw that is exactly how I felt marching out on Saturday night. probably a blessing in disguise that they had vanished before I could confront them at the trailhead. I packed up as soon as I heard the bear die and they still managed to beat me out of there somehow. I have calmed down now understanding that I don't know enough info and anything is possible, time will tell.
 

Meshnasty

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 19, 2018
Messages
127
I had to work through a creek bottom before I went up a ridge so I could glass a few openings higher up the mountain the other week and ended up near someones bait on accident. I never knew it was there until he shot and I don’t think I got within two hundreds yards of it ever. He also wasn’t parked there when I started hiking. I ran into him back at the road after dark and offered help but he had someone coming already. I had never been to that area before and the guy was nice. He told me it’s a popular canyon for baiting and gets hunted hard so I moved on.

The next area I moved to was more remote. I ended up running into a guide and his client about 2 miles from the road and a couple thousand feet up in elevation. He told me I can’t hunt any of the canyons/creek in that area because he has been there for 22 years and he didn’t want me hunting his bait. I told him I didn’t go there to hunt his bait and had no desire too hunt them either. I also wasn’t packing around a 85mm spotter to hunt someone’s bait. I pulled up OnX to have a map and I asked where his baits were so I could avoid them. He said he has a bait in every canyon and told me I needed to walk another 7 miles before I could hunt or else I would be hunting his baits. He got mad when I told some other groups took a different trail into the wilderness area. He then told me and I quote “people think no one is back here and they can go wherever they want because it’s a wilderness area”. He also told me that I could hunt the other side of the river because that was a different guides area. So much for public land spot and stalk hunting I guess.

I did find another spot after that to finish my hunt with no people or bears..
 
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
710
Location
Pacific North West
I had to work through a creek bottom before I went up a ridge so I could glass a few openings higher up the mountain the other week and ended up near someones bait on accident. I never knew it was there until he shot and I don’t think I got within two hundreds yards of it ever. He also wasn’t parked there when I started hiking. I ran into him back at the road after dark and offered help but he had someone coming already. I had never been to that area before and the guy was nice. He told me it’s a popular canyon for baiting and gets hunted hard so I moved on.

The next area I moved to was more remote. I ended up running into a guide and his client about 2 miles from the road and a couple thousand feet up in elevation. He told me I can’t hunt any of the canyons/creek in that area because he has been there for 22 years and he didn’t want me hunting his bait. I told him I didn’t go there to hunt his bait and had no desire too hunt them either. I also wasn’t packing around a 85mm spotter to hunt someone’s bait. I pulled up OnX to have a map and I asked where his baits were so I could avoid them. He said he has a bait in every canyon and told me I needed to walk another 7 miles before I could hunt or else I would be hunting his baits. He got mad when I told some other groups took a different trail into the wilderness area. He then told me and I quote “people think no one is back here and they can go wherever they want because it’s a wilderness area”. He also told me that I could hunt the other side of the river because that was a different guides area. So much for public land spot and stalk hunting I guess.

I did find another spot after that to finish my hunt with no people or bears..
That guy has some serious confidence issues. I’d just say okay and keep hunting. If we weren’t able to hunt canyons with baitin them we’d not be able to hunt hardly anywhere. That’s just the reality when you set the bait and you have to except that someone may kill one of your target bears. Us hunters are our worse enemy.
 

Britt-dog

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 19, 2016
Messages
230
Location
Cheney WA
The hound guys run off my baits every year. Just have to deal with it. Have had lots of vandals and hikers mess them up too, but never had another hunter purposely hunt one while I was there.
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 1, 2014
Messages
10,025
Location
ID
I had to work through a creek bottom before I went up a ridge so I could glass a few openings higher up the mountain the other week and ended up near someones bait on accident. I never knew it was there until he shot and I don’t think I got within two hundreds yards of it ever. He also wasn’t parked there when I started hiking. I ran into him back at the road after dark and offered help but he had someone coming already. I had never been to that area before and the guy was nice. He told me it’s a popular canyon for baiting and gets hunted hard so I moved on.

The next area I moved to was more remote. I ended up running into a guide and his client about 2 miles from the road and a couple thousand feet up in elevation. He told me I can’t hunt any of the canyons/creek in that area because he has been there for 22 years and he didn’t want me hunting his bait. I told him I didn’t go there to hunt his bait and had no desire too hunt them either. I also wasn’t packing around a 85mm spotter to hunt someone’s bait. I pulled up OnX to have a map and I asked where his baits were so I could avoid them. He said he has a bait in every canyon and told me I needed to walk another 7 miles before I could hunt or else I would be hunting his baits. He got mad when I told some other groups took a different trail into the wilderness area. He then told me and I quote “people think no one is back here and they can go wherever they want because it’s a wilderness area”. He also told me that I could hunt the other side of the river because that was a different guides area. So much for public land spot and stalk hunting I guess.

I did find another spot after that to finish my hunt with no people or bears..
I would have told him he doesn't own any of that property and I'll hunt where I want. I would have no issues avoiding his baits, but as soon as he pulled the "I've been hunting here for 22 years, you can't hunt any of these canyons" he would have been told to pound sand.

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