If you like to bowhunt big bears, this bait site was a dream come true. The bait barrel was secured at the bottom of a small rise a few yards from the shoreline of a large wilderness lake, and was filled to the brim with donuts and sweet honey. There were several trails leading in and out of the site, and all were littered with plenty of fresh tracks on top of plenty of old tracks. I was certain that up to two dozen bruins were exiting the nearby thick bush to feed here on a regular basis.
Most all the tracks were average in size, which told me that the vast majority of bruins were sows and yearlings. It was also just as obvious, however, that a large boar had visited the bait site at least once over the past week or so, as evidenced by the seven-inch plus claw marks he left on the fir tree next to the bait barrel.
This boar was definitely worth waiting for, and if I were careful, I thought I might find out just how big this fella really was. I did not know it then, but I would have to wait two full weeks before I would have that boar within range of my bow.
As he approached the bait site he could faintly smell the human scent but it was not as strong as some of the other times. He cautiously circled the bait and crept forward. Something seemed different this time and he was not sure what it was. He was accustomed to the faint smell but this time it seemed more diluted and mixed with more of a fox smell. As he slowly edged forward he heard a limb creak above him and he stopped for a full five minutes and stared in the direction of the sound. There was no movement and he could not make anything out in the tree where the sound came from. The tree did appear different than he remembered. It seemed to have more leaves or something. As he moved forward, his ears detected the smallest metal click sound, but only once. It made him nervous but his desire to get to the food outweighed the thoughts of caution. Fall was here and he needed to put on his winter supply of fat to help sustain him during the cold.
Indeed, he came in unannounced, on the heels of an estrus sow, on the last evening of my hunt. It was obvious that she had been at the bait site before, for after testing the wind she sauntered right up to the barrel and began chowing down. The 675-pound boar with a head the size of a peach basket, was much more cautious. It took him 20 minutes to work himself in close to the barrel, and even then he did so by stopping often near every rock, stump and log available. It was a magnificent sight watching that bear work the cover, one of nature’s true stalkers in action.
Eventually, he made it to the barrel, and although he grabbed a few donuts, he never let the sow get too far away from him. Because my back was to the lake, he also never gave me a killing shot angle. Instinctively perhaps, he kept his back towards the bush while facing the unfamiliar territory around the bait site head on. The best angle I had was a sharp quartering to, which is really no shot at all. When the sow exited the bait site, the cautious boar left too, padding out of my life forever.
BLACK BEAR SCHOOL
How did we know there was a book bear at that particular bait? We read the sign! Indeed, checking bait sites is much like running a trap line. The Nearby sign can give you plenty of clues as to the size, sex and color of the bear as well as its feeding habits, breeding status and general behavior traits. Taken together, they should help you choose one bait station or hunting area over another. Study these next scenarios before your next trip afield, and I think you will see what I mean. Remember, almost all book black bears are boars.
END OF THE ROAD BAIT
The first bait your guide shows you has been placed inside an abandoned logging chute at the end of 4x4 trail. Visibility is good up and down the old road giving you plenty of shooting light even under low-light conditions. If there is a big bear on this bait, you will have plenty of time to size him up before you take your shot even if he comes in late. And speaking of taking a shot, there are also plenty of trees along the edge of the road making it an ideal location for a rifle hunter, a muzzleloader or even a bowhunter.
The guide tells you the bait has been hammered almost every night for going on two weeks. He guarantees you that you will see a bear the first time you climb into your stand if you are patient and remain still. You look around as the bait barrel is being replenished, and notice that there are several trails leading in and out of the area, and bits of food scattered all over the site. In fact, there is so much of a mess it looks like a tornado touched down nearby.
CLEAR-CUT BAIT
The second tree stand is in the middle of a two-year old clear-cut. There is not much ground cover near the bait, but there are five-inch pad marks along one of the nearby logging roads. It is undoubtedly a book animal, and your hopes soar.
A seasoned bear hunter sat over the bait for several evenings, but the bear would not approach the bait during legal shooting hours, preferring instead to weave in and out of the brush growing along the far edge of the cut. Although the hunter was able to sneak out of his tree stand each evening without spooking the bear, the outfitter blames that hunter for not getting a shot because he was too fidgety in the stand.
SWAMP BAIT
The third bait is situated at the foot of a narrow ridge that rises out of a large, impenetrable swamp. It is an ideal bedding area for bears, and the mile-long ridge is a natural travel corridor connecting that swamp with several adjacent beech ridges. The spruce and fir trees are so thick here daylight barely reaches the forest floor, making it a scary place to be even in the middle of the day. The trail to the bow stand however is well marked.
The outfitter advises you stay aloft until the very last second of legal shooting light. Getting in and out of the Swamp Bait gives him the jitters; however, so he hands you a lever-action .30-30 “just in case” you run into a bear on the trail. Then he advises you to wear a head net, plenty of insect repellent and to carry a spare flashlight. The bait is only being hit once or twice a week, but almost all the bait is taken on each visit. There are no well-defined trails leading to or from the bait.
REPORT CARD
Which of these three stands would you choose, and how would you hunt it? Well, the End of the Road sounds like the ideal black bear setup, but it is not, unless you have never seen a bear before, or all you want to do is take pictures. It is probably being hit every evening by a sow with a couple of cubs. The cubs knock the grass down and scatter food all around like a pack of first graders. To confirm your suspicions, simply check the immediate vicinity, you will most likely find small tracks and droppings in the half-inch diameter range. Food containers punctured with narrow tooth impressions will also indicate the presence of this year’s cubs.
The second bear at the Clear-Cut Bait is bait-shy due to the lack of adequate cover near the bait, which causes the bear to wait until after dark to visit. This is the outfitter’s fault. He should have put the bait in a more strategic location just off the clear-cut, maybe at the top of a ravine for example, to take full advantage of both available ground cover and local topography. If a bear does not feel safe at the bait, he will not expose himself and come in to chow down until darkness overtakes the landscape. An experienced outfitter would know that.
Stand three at the Swamp Bait is the best of the lot. Any place that scares you has massive bruin wrote all over it. Big old boars are extremely solitary, except during the mating season, and there is no better place to be left alone than an impenetrable tangle out in the middle of nowhere. In addition, that ridge is a natural highway in and out of the swamp, which doubles your chances of a sighting. I would hunt this stand in the
Timing is the key ,however. Do not sit in the stand until you fully expect the bear to show. If he is hitting the bait every second or third night, hunt elsewhere for a night or two. Your best chance of tagging this bear is on the first night you hunt it, so wait for all the conditions to be in your favor before you climb aloft.
PINE TREE BAIT
Here are three more choices. The Pine Tree Bait is being hit on a regular basis, almost every night according to the outfitter, by an average bear. You know he is not the king of the woods, but you know you cannot tag a record book bear on every trip either. You decide to sit over the bait, and an hour before dark a 200-pound boar sneaks in for a bite to eat. Just before he reaches the barrel; however, he hunches his back up, turns away from the bait and hisses before disappearing back into the bush. The rest of the evening is uneventful, but the next morning the guide tells you the bait was cleaned out.
PIE PLATE BEAR
Your guide shows you one of the camp’s newest baits. When you get to the bait barrel, he shows you a well-concealed stand and two trails leading in and out of the thick brush adjacent to the bait barrel. As you step closer you find you can easily pick out pie-plate size impressions on those trails leading to and from the barrel. They look big, but they are difficult to size accurately because they are blurred beyond their normal size. Obviously, the bear has been placing his feet in the exact same tracks each time he visits, which has been about every other night for the past eight to ten days. Nobody has sat over this bait yet.
LOVE BAIT
It is late spring, and you have yet to see a shooter bear. The outfitter takes you to another bait site that is being hit seemingly all day long by as many as 20 bears. Unfortunately, judging from the size of the tracks, none of the bears weigh more than 150 pounds. There is however, a set of large bear tracks on the edge of a nearby river. The tracks are a week or so old, but deep and wide indicating a shooter was in the vicinity.
REPORT CARD
What choices! Each bait holds a shooter bear! Let us start with the Pine Tree Bait. It has at least two bears in attendance, one of which is a dominant male. Most hunters, given the opportunity, would have shot the small boar, but if you are looking for a mature bear that would be a mistake. The body language of the small boar alone should have been enough to tell you a bigger bear was in the vicinity. Indeed, small bears are scared to death of mature boars!
The Pine Tree bear is very cautious approaching the bait. He is actually sneaking in by taking it one step at a time. I say “he” because sows and immature boars often rush into a feeding area with wild abandon. A mature boar on the other hand will undoubtedly take his sweet time and come in very carefully stepping in the same places each time he visits. This is one reason why big bears are so easy to snare. A portable treestand set up on the off side of a large tree could be your ticket to success here, if you can wait for a quartering away angle.
What is going on at the Love Bait? Would you hunt it, and if so, how? And if not, why not? Are those big tracks along the river too old, or do you think that big boar will be back soon? I would like to tell you, and I might just do that in the next issue. In the mean time, you can find the answer by turning to Chapter Three in Successful Black Bear Hunting. Good Hunting!
