|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 13, 2021 0:18:11 GMT -7
It is one of my greatest shames that I have not yet killed a bear at 27 years old, so I want to give it a serious go this spring and see if I can fill a tag.
I’m guessing to best bet for a early spring hunt will be a bait station.
Any tips for setting up a bait station? I was thinking about using a couple bags of Sweet feed mixed with either beaver or porcupine meats.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bullshop on Jan 13, 2021 9:57:17 GMT -7
You will have to make the food hard to get otherwise they will keep your container empty. Most that I have seen use a steel drum with a smallish access hole near the bottom with a top to fill from that locks on in some way.
Also hang some scent in a perimeter maybe 50 yards out from the bait. I have made some bees wax blocks with rope cast into them for hanging and scented with fish oil and anise oil. I found some of those this past summer when we sold the horse trailer and they still have a strong enough scent that I can smell them and they have been there for about 9 years. I will see if I can find them again and head them your way.
Another good point to make is to keep your stand about 50 yards from your bait if possible. You might have to clear a shooting ally to do that. A bears nose is what keeps them alive and it is what you have to overcome to get a shot.
I have left survival stashes in the mountains up Hydoukavich sealed in plastic and double wrapped in garbage bags and placed them in dense brush very hard to get through but the brown bears up there have always found them if they were left over winter. If their nose can find that it can surely detect you and that is your battle.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 13, 2021 12:46:15 GMT -7
I’ve been reading a lot about bear baiting. And the guys who do it for a living and seem to have a a very similar system. Unfortunately, I’m not made of money, so I’m not spending a couple hundred bucks on a bait station, but i have some ideas.
Right now I’m trying to decide on a location. I know anything out by the gerstal River is probably good, and I know that area very well. But, since I live north of delta now, it’s a fair drive to go out there. My other option, is last year hunting for moose behind quarts lake, I found a VERY well used game trail and I’m heavily considering building a nice stand back there since it’s a any bull area. If I were to build a stand there, I could make it a dual purpose stand and make it a bait station as well. And my third option, would be to use a location down by dry creek, and a massive tree stand a found last year and no one has been using for several years. I’ve been thinking about making a claim to that tree stand, and I could run a bait out there.
For a actual bait, I have a bunch of 35 and 55 gallon cooking oil drums with the removable lids that clamp on. I figured I would cut a slot about 4”x10” half way up the drum. Large enough for them to get a paw in, not not their head.
For bait, I’m going to use a mixture of sweet feed, and bran flakes. Both of these are cheap bought by the bulk bag. Mix some extra molasses into that, which I can get a gallon jug for about 10 bucks at the feed store. The last item that I’ll mix in will be peanut butter thinned in peanut oil. Apparently bears go crazy for that stuff. Down in the lower 48, I was watching guys who were wiping peanut butter on the trees, and the bears would eat the bark off the trees to get it off.
Now, you mentioned your honey blocks for scent, and I had a idea here as well, but I was going to go the opposite direction for scent. Since the base of Feed is all sweet, I was going to go for stink for my scent. I have been saving onion bags for awhile. My plan is close to baiting season to go shoot some rabbits, and put the front half of the rabbit, along with the guts and fur and all that in a onion bag, and tie them up in the tops of some willow trees that I can bend over and tie them to. If I would have thought about it, I would have went and got some Dog salmon last fall and saved them for this, but I know how much rabbit guts can stink.
I’ve also heard that the sweet meat of a beaver will drive a bear crazy, so if I can get my hands on a beaver carcass I’m going to chop it up and add it to my bait can.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bullshop on Jan 13, 2021 14:08:53 GMT -7
Beaver for sure as I know it drives k-9's crazy. I use it in coyote bait. If you can get the castors they will also be great added to your scent. BTW did you know that beaver castor is used in making artificial vanilla ? Be cautious with the cooking grease because when you officially close out you bait station if it has spilled they will make you clean it up and that could involve removal of a pick up load of contaminated dirt. F&G wants the area pretty sterile when you leave.
Stay on the good side of them as once your on their bad side they wont give up in trying to get you for something. Believe me I know as there are still some wanting to be the one to get Skelkaho Dan. The message gets passed on to each incoming newbie "" he's a bad one, and dangerous""
Wow what a changing effect the lord has on a hard heart !
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 13, 2021 14:45:21 GMT -7
Yeah, I was watching videos and reading about bear baiting in the lower 48. Those guys were dumping buckets full of grease on the ground to make a grease pad so the animals would drag the scent through the woods. I don’t think that would fly over very well up here
|
|
|
|
Post by todddoyka on Jan 13, 2021 17:19:56 GMT -7
here in PA, we either sit on a stand or get a group together and we drive the bears to our standers. i got one, 396lbs, back in the day.
|
|
|
|
Post by shootist---Gary on Jan 13, 2021 18:14:25 GMT -7
Todd, if I'm correct, you are from PA. Did you ever drive over 7 mountains on Rt 322, north of State College? The location is between Potter's Mills, where Rt 144 joins 322 & Milroy. When I was driving truck, I ran that way many times when it was still a 2 lane road. Coming west, curving uphill past the reservoir, before the last straight away, east of the top, there is a "shelf' behind the guardrail, where the bear hunters set up their shooting tables & scopes, watching the valley & hillsides below. A few years ago, a 700+ lbs. black bear was shot from there. I always wondered how they got the dead bears out of there.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 13, 2021 22:13:31 GMT -7
Well, unfortunately I hit a small kink in my plans today. Found out that the state now requires you to take a class in order to set up a bait bate and get a permit. Unfortunately, they are not offering the class right now because of Covid. Might have to find someone that’s already taken the class, and use their stand, or maybe a class will happen before spring.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bullshop on Jan 14, 2021 9:25:08 GMT -7
You can still spot and stalk hunt for grizz. Did I ever take you up Hidukavitch ? Its a place I always saw grizz while camping up there. Its pretty hard to get to and I cant explain the trail but if I took you you might remember.
I remember taking Texas Wes one time and his 4-wheeler registered 11 miles on the trail. He wanted to get a grizz and we saw one when we got there late in the day. That night we got deep snow so we skinned out early in the morning to get down the mountain before we got snowed in for winter. He never got a shot because we never got a chance to hunt.
I have seen several bears at a time up there in late summer when the blue berries are ripe . The berries grow thick up there and the bears go up and gorge on berries. I have sat and glasses that maybe square mile bowl and seen several both black and grizz scattered about gorging on blue berries. One thing for sure though is when you spot a black up there he will be big enough that the grizz wont want to tangle with him.
Normally a grizz will kill or run off a black. Blacks will climb trees to get away from a grizz because a grizz cant climb trees. Blacks have hooked claws like a cat and can climb as fast as a cat but grizz have straight claws so cant climb straight up a limbless tree. That is why when or if you make a bait you want to do it near some big tall spruce trees because blacks generally stay near trees because that is their safety out from grizz.
Oh and another thing is if any of the farms on the north side of Delta near you plant oats in the spring that is always a good place to sit in the evening just before dark. Oats are a bear magnet from the time they sprout to harvest. Sit at the tree line on the edge of an oat field and at about the last 30 minutes before dark you will see bears. I have gotten a few that way both black and grizz. If they are gorging on oats and berries they are good eating either black or grizz.
Remember what I used to tell you, """ if they are blue on both ends they are good eating """
|
|
|
|
Post by todddoyka on Jan 14, 2021 11:17:21 GMT -7
Todd, if I'm correct, you are from PA. Did you ever drive over 7 mountains on Rt 322, north of State College? The location is between Potter's Mills, where Rt 144 joins 322 & Milroy. When I was driving truck, I ran that way many times when it was still a 2 lane road. Coming west, curving uphill past the reservoir, before the last straight away, east of the top, there is a "shelf' behind the guardrail, where the bear hunters set up their shooting tables & scopes, watching the valley & hillsides below. A few years ago, a 700+ lbs. black bear was shot from there. I always wondered how they got the dead bears out of there.  they had to drag them out. they/we used a come-along winch or anything that made life(back) easier. nowadays its the utv/atv on private ground, on public ground its the old way. we had a camp(grandfather) just northeast of state college. the town closest to it is called coburn. we used rte322 and it still is a 2 lane road. back about 20+ years ago, the state finished the rte99 (route 220) and it saved 20-30 minutes. we mostly fished there, penns creek, pine creek, big fishing creek(penns & pine creek come together) and the big attraction was spring creek from university park airport to milesburg. we did hunt deer, but slowly there was more and more posted ground. we sold the camp just after my grandfather died. the taxes were/are enormous. most of the farmland has houses and streets on it. so selling it doesn't hurt too bad. the fish commission slowly started to use less and less trout and they named rivers no kill(which i catch and release anyway) and they quit stocking them. i believe that penns creek (not the big fishing creek) is the only one they stock. and stock means they drive the truck and they put a 5 gallon bucket or two of trout into the creek. on penns creek they "claim" that they released 5000+/- trout before the season and another 5000 after the season opens. its a shame that the commission could go from 20,000 trout a week(for 5 weeks) for penns creek to 10,000 trout total. ahhh well........ back when i was 12yo there was group of guys that drove bear around coburn. i didn't have a chance to hunt with them, but boy they could tell stories!!!! |
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 14, 2021 13:19:44 GMT -7
You did take me up Hidukavitch once. I tried to make it up there last year, but we rained all summer non stop. The trails everywhere between 1408 and the gerstal were nearly impossible to make it down, even on a four wheeler. The 1408 road was just a creek about 2” deep, and the creek bed near the Hidukavitch Trail was just roaring. This is what forced me to try to find higher ground to hunt, which is why I started looking for ways to get to the good pasture river from behind quarts lake.
Oats was one of the reasons I wanted to try sweet feed as a base for my bait. I figured sticky molasses covered oats would make them happy.
Over the hunting season I found a old abandoned cabin back up donnally creek. Even getting close to the place made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Looking around it was pretty evident that a bear had taken up residence in the cabin. I’ve been meaning to go back there and check it out during the winter, although I’m a bit too chicken to go poke a sleeping bear.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bullshop on Jan 14, 2021 13:53:45 GMT -7
The old natives used to hunt bear in winter with an ax. They would locate denning sites by the mist from their respiration coming up through the snow then dig them up and whack them in the head with an ax.
There was a real funny account in the book "The Wolf Man of Alaska" about Frank Glasser digging up a bear that turned out to be three bears that weren't quite as lethargic as he had hoped. I read the book several times because it reminded me so much of your Grampa Dell Glasser.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 14, 2021 13:56:06 GMT -7
I read the book once. I would like to find another copy and read it again. I don’t remember much about grandpa del, other then that colt woodsman he gave you.
Also, I found I can take the bear baiting class online, and do the test online. The test is 23 questions, and has to have a 100% score. I’m sure I can manage.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bullshop on Jan 14, 2021 14:16:37 GMT -7
When you were about 6 months old we took Dell & Lorain out to dinner because we were moving to Alaska and knew we may never see them again. You had never had real food yet and being our first your mother was afraid to give you any at only 6 months because what she was reading advised against it.
I had been telling her you needed real food but she wouldn't listen.
When we went to dinner Dell had ribs and he gave you a large rib bone . Mom didn't want to argue with Dell so she let you keep it but I doubt you would have let it go anyway. You sucked on that bone until we all went to bed that night. From then on you got real food.
He used to wear a belt buckle with a silver dollar in it that was minted on his birth year. When we moved he gave us that buckle to hold for you as he wanted you to have it. If you dont already have it I will go about trying to find it and get it to you.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 14, 2021 14:36:42 GMT -7
I actually don’t have it. I think mom still has that silver dollar I won at the BPCR shoot where you messed up the sights on my rifle. (No, I’m still not gonna let you live that one down 😉)
|
|
|
|
Post by shootist---Gary on Jan 14, 2021 16:19:14 GMT -7
Todd, do or did you know a man by the name of Ed Hockenbury from the Snowshoe--Moshannon area? I worked with him at Roadway Express. He had gone thru a divorce, & was living at a hunting camp near Moshannon. He had some very interesting stories about hunting & fishing in that area. He was once trout fishing in a stream that crosses under I-80, west of Snowshoe, wading in the stream, with his camera hanging around his neck, near some bushes at the edge of the water, when he heard a rattling sound, looked in the bush, & a big Rattlesnake was there. He said that he threw the fishing rod, & dove to the side into the stream, submerging himself & his camera.
|
|
|
|
Post by todddoyka on Jan 14, 2021 20:29:55 GMT -7
that is funny!!!! no, i've never met him. back ago 25 years ago when i was fishing, i accidentally stepped on the head of a rattlesnake. it must have been sleeping and i was looking at creek, not at my feet. i heard it rattle the same time it "punched" me in the leg. when i looked down at my leg, my mind said "dummy, you have stepped on rattler. now what are you going to do?" what indeed!!!! all i could see is the rattler biting me, continuously. i know, i'll cut off his head. and my mind says to me, "with what? you left your pocket knife at home. and i don't think that your nail clippers will work either." i guess i stood there, on top of rattlesnake, beating my leg, quite a long time. i was all out of ideas. i resign myself to be bit and i was judging the distance to the car and driving to the health care clinic.(about 10-15 minutes), the emergency room was 40+ minutes away. i gulped and i went like rocket to my car. the rattler was tired of beating me and he didn't bite, he just laid there, happy in the fact that some dummy got off of his head. and he was sore and tired, but i'll do the dummy thing instead!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 16, 2021 0:18:26 GMT -7
I went out and did some scouting today. My first choice is going to be off of a old logging road behind a local lake. It’s about 10 miles from my house, with easy access on the logging roads, although no one seems to use them. I did ride around on the 4 wheeler for awhile and did locate one other bait station in the area, and 3.5 miles closer to the highway then where I’m wanting to set up at.
This area is also a any bull area for moose, so I’m considering building a nice tree stand out there overlooking the clear cut areas that can serve as both a moose hunting stand, and a bear bait stand.
Also, I can take the test online to get approved for my bear bait permit. I renewed my hunting license today, and will start getting things but together for a bait station as soon as the snow melts.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 16, 2021 2:49:23 GMT -7
Looking at the Regs, I found a perk to hunting the area I am thinking about setting up my bait. I can shoot grizzly off of bait North of the Tanana River.
|
|
|
|
Post by missionary on Jan 16, 2021 6:45:27 GMT -7
The awful hardships to face........
|
|
|
|
Post by Bullshop on Jan 16, 2021 7:14:11 GMT -7
I was thinking Shaw creek up by Walkers. I dont know if you can access the Pogo mine road if so that will cover a large area.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 16, 2021 11:53:38 GMT -7
I actually know a way to get a truck onto the pipeline right of way. You can then access the pipeline all the way from the Tanana River, to the salcha River, and that may be some extra area to check out, however it is quite a bit further from my house. I know dying moose season I was exploring back there, and there are a ton on bear boats around tenderfoot.
|
|
|
|
Post by Junior on Jan 16, 2021 12:23:48 GMT -7
Let’s talk about one issue I’m worried about.
I passed my bear hunting class last night, and I can start to put out bait on April 15th. Alaska does not allow permanent tree stands on state land anymore, so any tree stand on a bear bait must be removed in order to be a full clean up. I’m not looking to spend a thousand bucks on a flimsy prebuilt stand, so I’m thinking about maybe just doing a ground blind uphill of my bait.
I’ll get some bigger logs on close of three sides to try to avoid a bear sneaking up on me, but my main concern is time of day to hunt. I’m guessing you really don’t want to shoot a bear right at last light, and then be trying to gut and skin it right next to a major attraction in the dark.
Any ideas on the best time of day to sit on a bait?
|
|
|
|
Post by shootist---Gary on Jan 16, 2021 15:46:29 GMT -7
Todd, on a trip, returning to Ohio from Buckhorn truckstop, somewhere near Kylertown, the first driver, of 3 of us, spotted a dead red fox lying on the right fog line, & told us on the CB. Iasked if it was mashed, & he said it looked like it was just sleeping. I was # 2 in line, spaced about a 1/4 mile apart. I said I was going to stop & pick it up. Hawk, (Ed) was behind me. I stopped, bungee corded it on the right fuel tank step, with the head to the rear to keep blood from getting on the fur. When I caught up, Hawk slowed down, for me to pass him. He got on the CB, & asked what I was going to do with that stinkin fox. I told him that I would skin it out, clean it, cut the meat into small pieces, & make skish ka bob out of it on the grill. He replied : 2-Timer, you ain't gonna eat a G-d D---d stinkin fox are you? I said, Hawkn you are a big time backwoodsman, don't you eat all wild game, as once it's cleaned, it's all good. He must have told everyone that we worked with that I ate fox meat. I really took it home, then to a local fur dealer, & gave it to him.
|
|
