1. Donut Shops – Start building relationships with donut shop owners long before season. Become a customer, support the owner and genuinely help their business as a customer first before you ask for favors. Secondly, after you’ve established some trust ask them if you can purchase their weekly donut throw-aways. Some will give it to you for free, but start by offering to pay a small amount of money.
  2. Butcher scraps – Most small-time butcher shops have a certain day of the week they butcher animals. On those days they have scraps that are usually sold or given to companies that make dogfood, etc. Find out their schedule and offer to pay a small sum. Make it easy on them by being on time for pickup. Remember, these are business owners that won’t waste too much time on non-productive activity. Meat scraps will be worth it in the end.
  3. Local food industry in roads – In most areas you’ll find some type of food related industry that often has scraps. In our area there is a national snack cake company. In another area it maybe be a place that makes ice cream. By doing a little homework you can sometimes find what they do with their leftovers or out of date materials.
  4. Commercial bear bait – The easiest route might be to buy all of your bait at one time. In areas of the country like Minnesota and Wisconsin where bear baiting is big, you’ll find some bear bait companies. For the person that has more money than time, buying bait in one lump can be worth it and can actually be affordable. Consider getting some guys together in your region together to buy a trailer of bear bait. It might make it worth the drive.
  5. Start storing it now – It’s now getting to be mid-summer, so for fall bear baiting it’s time to start storing up bait. Look on Craiglist for chest freezers in your area. I’ve bought two 24-cubic foot freezers in the last year for under $150 each. Compress your bait and store it so you’ll be ready.