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TRUE THAT!

Great thread!
I have enjoyed your posts. It is fun to see how you operate. I drew a tag for zone 46 it took 5 years to draw. I put out a single bait when baiting started. I went to the oaks near water where bears are seen during bow season, I have seen a lot of torn up logs from when they dig for ants and insects, paw prints in sand and picture on game cameras of bears. It took 3 days to get a pair of yearling to start working it and track the grease out and get more bears coming in. The rains have been horrible for bear activity but I rebait and grease where they will be walking. When the weather is good bears are coming in every evening. Tonights check showed pictures of up to 7 bears coming in (2 yearlings, 2 boars squaring off, and a pic of 3 bears a once).The yearlings have gone to 6 am visits to avoid competition, and the other bears show up about 6:45 pm. I believe I have 3 or 4 bears I would be very happy taking. Bears are coming in all hours of the day. It is fun being out in the woods baiting and getting ready. Good luck. I hope your crew fills those precious tags.
If I can figure out how to post pictures I will.

What do you keep on your hip ? Just Incase things get a little dicey ?

Bernie-I want to wish you and your buddies a safe, fun, and successful hunt! Thanks for taking us along!

Moosetrot

When does the season open?

Sunday the 1st.

Will you please wear a safety harness ? lol

I do not carry anything. I have learned to observe bear's demeanor and body language so I feel pretty comfortable, but you never know, there have been some situations that made me a little edgy. Couple times while leaving the stand in the dark when bears were right nearby. Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to carry my .45 or bear spray. I wouldn't rule it out.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^? Like they say.......It’s better to have and not need...than it is to need and not have.

I've been hanging treestands without a harness for 45 years and that's a lot of stands hung and tens of thousands of hours in treestands. Never had a problem.
However, I am getting older and less agile. Just this year I started wearing a harness while hunting. Big step for me.

Hi Bernie,

Got a couple of questions for you regarding Gold Rush and Cherry Burst. I'm Bear hunting for the first time. Drew a Wisconsin tag after 11 years.

How often do you dump your cooking oil with GoldRush and sprinkle the cherry burst? I know you do it the first day, but how often do you apply after that?

A little background on my situation:
I'll be hunting private farm land with 15 year old new growth bordered by swamp/river bottom. There are several Bear dens on the property that does not get Bear hunted. Only twice in the past 20 years. No hounds work this area. There is a guy that will start baiting this weekend and will hunt on the 11th. I will then hunt the same stand starting the 14th through the 22nd or I shoot a bear. He will then pick up hunting that stand after I leave.

So he will be baiting afternoons (bakery, frosting, granola), then when I get there the 14th I plan on baiting in the morning with different bait (sweet feed, popcorn, muffins and dumping cooking oil with gold rush, sprinkling cherry burst and spraying trees Gold Mist).

Do you see any issues with me laying all that down being a different bait, and then hunting it the same day?

Wow that's a bunch of loaded questions. First of all, The Gold rush really works good for opening new baits but after the bear start hitting, I discontinue it, just because of convenience more than anything. I just stick with the sprays once I get things rolling.

Regarding changing things up that much right before you hunt; I think it would be a huge mistake. Bears, especially mature bears, become more comfortable with a routine. The more consistent you can be with scent and bait, the better chance you have of holding the bigger bears. Small bears aren't as sophisticated, but if you are going to keep big bears at your bait, you need to bait with high quality bait that they will keep coming back for, and you need to keep the routine of baiting time, bait, scents and lures as consistent as possible. That's it in a nutshell. I have written entire magazine articles and book chapters on this very subject, but you get the idea.

If you don't mind a little hit in what your doing "Turning a NIGHT Bear into a DAY BEAR " Try playing a radio on a talk station on very low volume at night and turn it off first thing in the morning . Couple night of not getting his dinner he will start to show up for breakfast so to speak . " cant say this enough , At a low volume " just high enough that he will shy away not enough he will go some place different ! good luck ...

Thanx Bernie. That Helps!!!

No chance I would ever do that at one of my baits but to each his own.

Last run over the bait line before the season opens was really up and down today. Video to come in a few hours. It'll will be the last VLOG because we hunt tomorrow!

Just wanted to say thanks for all of those who participated.

Put cell phone cams on two baits. It'll be interesting to see how that affects the decision making.