Yes, this is private property, but it's 80 acres surrounded by thousands of public. In fact, a guy could throw a corn kernel onto public from this bait site. Not much competition from bait sitters where were at, at least not enough to worry about someone else cutting off the traffic. Lots of dog hunters around though.

I wanna try putting one up for auction. I also want to try my 458WM besides shooting at paper.....lol

Doesn't your bait get soggy with those openings pointed skyward?

Awesome looking mount JP , I would not pass that bear that’s hitting your bait already but I’ve yet to kill one. We leave for Montana the middle of next month . You guys are getting me all jacked up .

You’d be surprised at how little rain goes into a barrel like that.

But no, I’m not worried about corn getting wet.

Thanks man! I’d like to get a good look at him while in the tree stand. More than likely will have a bigger one show up before season is over. His coat is prime!

Good luck in Montana!!

Me neither, something like that comes by it’s gettin it. Sucks to end it so early, but there’s always buddies with tags so we can sit. Seems we always tagged out before the real action starts….gets crazy when the leaves & bugs are out.

I’d like to get my bear before the heat and the mosquitoes and the poison ivy comes out. Lol

25 35 years ago, I used to hunt spring bear in Canadastan.
Ontario,Manitoba, Saskatchewan.
Wanna get a great hide, hunt early/ mid May.
Wanna chance at a bruiser, late may into June.
Back then, it was a few 5 gallon buckets dumped n covered with logs. Lol.

I did a lot of spot & stalk spring bear hunting in Alaska but Maine hasn't had a spring season for about forty years. A friend hunted spring bear over bait in New Brunswick. He said the males made a croaking sound as they moved through the woods checking out baits for females. Have you guys ever heard that?

I don’t think I’ve heard a croaking sound. But I hear them chomping the teeth when they come in. Also they make a sound to each other kinda nasally.

I set my barrels up similar to how you do yours. Ten feet of chain through the bungs connected to a small tree with an eight inch hole centered on the opposite end. The bear can toss the barrel around but can't drag it off. The bait stays dry.

He said they sound like a bullfrog. I've never heard it.

Yup pretty much!

15 gallons of bait is childs play. Not the way I’d do it, buuuut, I know there’s more than one way how to do it.

One thing I've learned about bears is..., nuttin. Lol.

Another thing I've learned is..., for younger bear, it really don't matter what you do. Just keep feed out.


You after a good pelt/ eater size of gonna try for an old bruiser?

Best of luck JP and others doing a hunt this spring.
I enjoy seeing dead bears.

I’m always after a big bear. Fur quality is also important. That bear in my trail cam pics has a beautiful uniform fur coat! Just not sure if he’s big enough. I’d like to see him in person to judge for sure.

My camera is about 7’ up in the tree pointing down, so he should be bigger in person.

Are you bear hunting this year bucks?

Not spring bear JP.

My quest for a jumbo will resume in October.

Where we hunt on private land you don’t need much. The closest hunter would be 10+ miles away. Don’t need the fancy $$$ totes of cookie dough trail mix bait for these buggers. Years ago when we had baits on crown land, we had another hunter a few miles away that had awesome bait from a doughnut shop, when we sat with him the odd time, you could tell the bear preferred his site…lol.

I always said if ya think maybe the bear is big enough-he ain't! Shot alot of bookie bears and when they walk in ya know if they are shooters or not. Cameras are a great tool though and the bears love them too LOL.

Fantastic taxidermy work JP-seriously beautiful !!!

Lets get this thread hopping.
by the way JP good bear mount and congrats to your son
Now what ever happened to the rumour of a two bear license that Manitoba was to have come into play.

I'm sure that Phil Paterson is rolling in his grave if he saw that nice spring beauty of the picture you posted . That was an auction bear worthy