Robin's Outdoors

Baiting bears is a highly controversial subject in Maine, with PETA, anti-hunters and people who dislike and/or don’t understand bear baiting. I’m ok with that. We don’t have to agree. Don’t eat meat? I understand why. I do eat meat but I’m particular about what it is and how it was raised and harvested.

A lot of the searches that bring people to this blog are about bait barrels. Baiting starts at the end of July and the bear hunting season starts at the end of August. It’s a good time to share a little information.

This year, baiting can legally start on July 28, 30 days before the opening day of legal hunting over bait on August 27. Bears love sweets this time of year. We use day old sweets from a bakery. They’re also eating wild berries at the opening of the season. We don’t use enough bait in the barrel at the beginning of baiting to throw them off their wild food. They’re still hungry when they leave. They come in, eat for a short time and leave. We do give them more when when hunting season opens because we want them to spend more time at the bait. More time? So that we can assess each animal and make an informed decision on whether the bear should be left to grow or raise cubs or be harvested. Yes, I know, some are bristling at “harvested.”  I think we’re all very clear on that word. It means we shoot them, hopefully with a kill shot the first time.

I do eat bear meat. If I were to shoot a bear (I haven’t yet) bigger than the amount of meat we would eat in a year I would share it with family and friends. Nothing goes to waste on any animals we kill. That doesn’t mean we’re taking 100% of the animal home. We leave inedible parts for scavengers. The hide will be tanned. No part of any animal or bird we kill goes to a landfill

We use 50 gallon plastic barrels with a large hole cut in the side. Some hunters hang five gallon buckets in trees. It’s a good method. In order to get the bait the bear must stand on its hind legs and reach up. This exposes the heart and lungs, creating a good chance at a one-shot kill. I haven’t used a bucket but think I might this year.  There are strict laws we have to follow. The specific laws below are courtesy of Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife.

Hunting with the use of bait is defined as hunting from an observation stand, blind or other location which overlooks any bait or food except standing crops and foods that have been left as a result of normal agricultural operations or natural occurrence. “Bear Bait” means any animal or plant, or derivative of an animal or plant, used to attract bear. “Bear bait” does not include any packaging or container materials that fall within the definition of litter under Title 17, §2263.

Bait may not be used to hunt or trap black bear unless:

• The bait is placed at least 50 yards from any travel way that is accessible by a conventional 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive vehicle; (I walk one-quarter mile to one bait, 200 yards to another, and a little more than 50 yards to a third.)
• The stand, blind, or bait area is plainly labeled with a 2 inch by 4 inch tag with the name and address of the baiter; (Our label is at the head of the trail leading to the tree or ground stand, and at the bait.)
• The bait is placed more than 500 yards from any solid waste disposal site or campground;
• The bait is placed more than 500 yards from an occupied dwelling, unless written permission is granted by the owner or leasee;
• The bait is placed not more than 30 days before the opening day of the season and not after October 31st;
• The bait areas will be cleaned up by November 10th as defined by the State litter laws; and (The bears clean up the bait and we remove the barrels.)
• The person hunting from any stand or blind of another person has permission of the owner of that stand or blind. (We have permission from the land owner at all times.)

I mentioned three blinds. Two baits have tree stands. I hunt from both of those. The third bait has a ground blind. I don’t know if I’ll ever be comfortable hunting on the ground. A loaded rifle doesn’t guarantee safety. Bears are very quiet in the woods. They walk on the pads of their feet. I didn’t hear a 400 pound bear coming into the bait because he was so quiet.

I saw four bears while sitting over bait last year. I did remove the safety but I didn’t aim or fire at a bear. The first bear was the 400 pounder. I was listening to another bear coming through dense brush when the big bruin appeared. I didn’t have a responsible shot at him. The bear I’d been listening too bolted. If I’d had a shot I’d have taken the bear I saw. The other three were in a different situation. If I’d been sitting in the woods without bait I probably would have shot a sow. I didn’t know she had cubs at first. If she hadn’t stopped at the bait and stayed long enough for me to see the cubs I could have created a potential disaster for the cubs. I wouldn’t shoot cubs with or without bait present.

The ragged hole isn’t a problem for bears. Their heavy fur coats protect them from rough circles, berry canes, bees and more.

This is the barrel I hunt over most often. You can see a little bit of bait left in the bottom from the day before. The log is big and heavy. It seems counter productive to block the hole but there’s a reason. The bear has to spend time moving the log. Even if it takes only 20 seconds, it’s 20 seconds I can spend assessing the bear. Bear hunters are out there with flying arrows and bullets shooting any bear that comes along. We’re making conscious, informed choices.

Note the small hole to the right of the large hole. The barrels are chained to trees so the bears can’t take off with them. It’s also a safety measure. When we get to the top of the path leading to the bait we need to know exactly where the barrels are so that we can see a bear if there’s on there.

The same barrel, showing some of the surroundings. The five gallon bucket is full of bacon grease from a restaurant. The red squirrels, mice and Canada jays (gorbies) were more interested in the grease until the end of the season when the nights were getting chilly.

The shape of the hole doesn’t matter as long as a bear can reach in with its paw.

This is the barrel at the ground blind. Notice that there are still two small logs in the hole. This usually means something small “hit” this bait. A young sow with cubs? Yes, at first. For some reason they stopped coming to this bait. Raccoons took over the bait so we stopped filling it. There’s no reason to feed raccoons.

Refilled and ready to go.

I’m not writing this to change anyone’s mind about bear baiting. I can share my knowledge so that someone might better understand what we do and why we do it. If you’re going to leave a comment please be polite. I have complete respect for differing opinions when they’re presented intelligently and respectfully, and you might teach me something.

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