We have a lot of places where, if we are going to have moose/caribou to shoot for meat for the table, we simply have to reduce the number of bears (and to some degree, wolves) that prey on the calves. Areas where over 80 per cent of the calves are taken by large predators.

We are trying a number of different ways to reduce bear numbers. "Majestic" and how you "feel" about it has nothing to do with the issue. We are trying to reduce predation and thus we have to reduce bear numbers temporarily.

When I hear people prattle on about "jelly doughnuts," it sort of tells me that they do not understand much about bear baiting, nor do they have a good grasp of the predator/prey dynamics at work here.

You can be "sad" if you wish. But we are trying to solve an important conservation problem.

Pete

Speak for yourself, that's exactly how I "feel" about it.

I spent a good number of years in Alaska, maybe before you landed there. I have a solid understanding of the issue.

Oh, Posco. You clearly don't know much about Pete.

I'll stand by to be enlightened.

Check your messages, Posco.

Viking, why not just let him bask in his own ignorance. It's entertaining!

Well, I shared a tiny sliver of Pete's endeavours privately
If he chooses to blather on, I have no doubt he will be further "enlightened".

When I encounter "experts" on anything Alaskan, I usually just shut up and listen. The ignorance can be astounding.

Well, You see Ken has my signature as "two years without censor".
It is indeed the result of mighty effort on my part!

I didn't claim to be an expert, just a lover and former resident of the state. Jay Hammond was governor when I first moved to Alaska. I mention that only as a means of conveying what I know Alaska to have been and what it has become in the present. You guys seem to have a really exclusive little club here and I should have known better than to set foot in it. You carry on with your mutual admiration and I'll go back where I belong. Sorry to have interrupted your peace and quiet. Where do you buy your donuts?

Egan ( Alaska's first governor) was in office when I first set foot in Alaska. The point of the thread was advice on baiting brown bears. The magnificence or lack thereof has nothing to do with baiting. It is a method of hunting where you can be extremely particular about the animal you choose to take. It has only been legal to bait brownies for a very few years and then only in units where there is a need to reduce predation on ungulate calves. There was no need to criticize or diminish an individual's choice in legal harvest method.

Amen.
How 'bot those Vikings!!!

Well THAT didn't take long to digress.....!

Threads usually take on a life of their own and go off on tangents. I knew my point of view wouldn't be popular when I posted it. I apologize to the OP for hampering his question.

Well no reason it can’t get back on track.

I’ll be heading down to kodiak in a month to Hopefully find a big ol bear.

As long as we are off track, I am ORIGINALLY from MN, and the Vikings suck. Good thing we have a reasonably good viking on here who is putting great effort into making it three years without censor!

As you were....

I was waiting at my gate in Seattle for a flight to Fairbanks a couple weeks ago. The Alaska Airlines pilot was waiting for them to get the airplane ready and we got to talking. He noted that I was wearing a necklace of hornpipe that featured a brown bear claw. He asked if I was a bear hunter (I told him I used to be....!) Then he proclaimed that he was very excited because he had been drawn for a GMU 8 Brown Bear permit at Zachar Bay for this fall!

We had a great talk while we waited for them to get the airplane ready for him to drive it to Fbx. I guided at Zachar Bay back in the mid-70's. Times have changed, but I was able to relay a few tips on good places to glass from. I also explained to him how I learned not to take a sounding out one side of the skiff and then jump out on the other side. Don't ask me how I know!

Last I heard the cannery there had been turned into a "lodge" of some sort. It's probably more crowded in Zachar Bay, than it was the last time I hunted there (May of 1978!)

Pete

Yes I believe I researched that as a place to stay. I think they call it "The Cannery." DIY place but you can go guided too.

Keniakid, that is some really good info you shared Over the years I have lost a few barrels due to tear outs. One actually ended up in the river, we had no idea were it went, about a month later the water dropped and we found it. I use your method now.



Another thing I have changed up is where I put the hole on the barrel. I use to put it on the sides, but learned that once a brown bear can't find any more food in it they get angry and pancake it. I put the hole on the top, stand it up and put a piece of ply wood over it once it is topped off. pretty good indicator you got hit when it is knocked down.

One problem I have is having both brownies and blackies come in. The blackies love the sweet stuff and will stick around if it is sweet. If it is just dog food and oil they do the hit and run. A brown bear will hit it irregardless whats in it and will stick around till it is all gone.

Another observation I had is that once a barrel gets emptied a brown bear normally moves on and is looking for the next easy meal unlike a blackie that keeps coming back. Everytime I have found half eaten barrel by a brownie I have seen it that evening. If I show up and it is empty I don't see that bear again for a while.


I had marshmallows mixed in with this, the dang bear sat there and all but emptied the barrel gold mining those dang things



I hang a cut milk jug at the bait station to help scoop that mess up and put it back in the barrel.

The other thing I do for both types of bears is I spray the area down with a mix of cooking oil and skunk. Any left over skunk lure I have I smear all over the place, acts as a attractor and as a cover scent.