A year ago this month as bear baiting season got underway, a state referendum loomed in November that might well have ended several traditional bear hunting methods in Maine.
Using a hanging barrel allows only bear to reach the food source and hanging a Bear Scents bait ball near the barrel attracts bear from long distances-sometimes in pairs.
Thanks to hard work, outstanding monetary contributions and more than a little common sense from wildlife officials and outdoorsmen, Maine still has a bear baiting season this year.
While outfitters and guides account for many of Aroostook’s bear baiting and hunting sites, more and more individual sportsmen, many novices, are establishing their own bear-bait locations. Black bear numbers throughout the Crown of Maine increase each year, nuisance bear complaints continue to rise as well and hunting is the only solution. Despite the abusive and false information disseminated regarding bear baiting, especially in reference to how simple and unsportsmanlike it is to kill a bruin over bait, only 25 percent of bear hunters experience success each fall!
Black bear have good eyesight, excellent hearing and the sense that most aids them in survival is the extraordinary sense of smell. Their extremely fine olfactory sensors also happen to be a bruin’s one attribute that hunters can use in their own favor. The aroma of food, be it a dead beaver, fish, meat or pastries, will waft through the forest on every breeze and reach any bruin living within a mile or two and others just traveling through. Certain man-made attractant scents can be used to increase the range and enticement to coax bear to investigate and locate the real food set out at a bait site.
Twenty five years ago, anise, a licorice flavored oil could be purchased inexpensively at the local pharmacy or sporting goods store. Place a few drops on a cotton ball or piece of cloth and attach it to a tree limb near a bait site and let the wind spread the sweet scent. Other hunters would pour a jar of honey in a pan and heat it over a small fire or can of Sterno until it began to burn and smoke. The aromatic honey wafted through the trees, stuck to leaves and lasted for days to draw bear to investigate. Both products and methods still work well.
Over the last decade however, over a dozen companies began producing sprays, liquids, pastes and powders infused with pleasant, bear attractant food scents. Safe and simple to use, these products not only entice bear, but help partially cover human scent, although scent blocking clothing and special odor reducing sprays and soaps are generally necessary to fool the sharp olfactory sense of a bear.
I’ve experimented with several commercial attractant in various forms over the years, contrasting and comparing how soon, how many, and what size bear responded and I’ve found a combo of products produced by Bear Scents LLC of Lake Mills, Wisc. works best year after year. I hang a bacon scented bait ball from a tree branch near my bait barrel. This solid volleyball-size sphere slowly evaporates in the heat and rain giving off a steady, strong aroma that draws bear like field hands to a dinner bell. The bait ball lasts about six weeks and comes in over a dozen flavors such as strawberry, raspberry, root beer, honey, blueberry, apple, anise and more.
About every third time I bring bait to the barrel and every time I hunt, I also use a bacon-scented spray bottle of Bear Scents bacon emulsion to spritz nearby trees and bushes. It adds attraction to the bait ball and also covers my scent. Other companies have tried to imitate this product’s special mixture, but the bear smell the difference. I have seen as many as five bear in one afternoon visit my bacon-scented sites, For those who prefer other scents, corn, shellfish, loganberry, watermelon, jelly donut, hickory smoke and several more may be selected.
While attractant aromas draw bears to baiting areas, human scent keeps them away. I wash my hunting clothes in scent-free soap or use scentlock clothing, and I keep my camo hunting clothes outside the house and in a scentlock bag until I’m ready to dress for the hunt. Since it’s easier for clothing and even boots to pick up household smells and we all emit body odor, I use liberal amounts of scent neutralizing and cover-up spray just before entering the tree stand or ground blind to bear hunt. Dead Down Wind and Scent Killer are my go-to human odor erasers.
Eating or any type of tobacco products are no-nos when watching for bear as the sound and smell alert bears to human presence. Keep movements to a minimum to eliminate noise and if you have to scratch your nose move extremely slow. Camouflage face masks and gloves help hide motion as you turn your head to scan the woods or move a hand. I prefer tree stands to ground blinds for their height; not only does a hunter get a birds-eye view and better shooting window, but any human scent is not a ground level where approaching bear can pick it out easier.
Bait buckets or barrels should be suspended by cable or tree hook to keep other animals out of the receptacle and prevent them from eating the food. Bait is expensive and often difficult to obtain so don’t let it go to waste on non-game animals. Attempt to leave bait at the same time each day you tend a bait site, this will help establish a pattern of bear visits. Use a trail camera whenever possible as the photos offer real time info on size, number and feeding time of bruins at each location.
All signs point to this being a very good black bear season and it’s time to start baiting. If you’ve always wanted to set up your own bait site, this would be a good year to try. But remember, cover scents and attractant scents are crucial to success.
