Some of the basics of black bear baiting

The black bear baiting season opened on April 15. Beginning on that date, you could start placing bait at your Fish and Game registered sites to attract bears. My two registered sites, when I was actively baiting, were located on the west side of the Susitna River. My partner and I would wait until the river opened up and we could access our bait station locations by riverboat. That usually occurred about mid-May.

Everybody has their own way of setting up a bait site. Most folks employ a treestand where the hunter waits for the bears to come in and work the bait, located within a few yards of the stand. My first station used a “permanent” treestand we found constructed out of two-by-fours and plywood and was originally built as a moose-hunting platform. This stand sat about 12 feet up off the ground. Forty yards across an open bog, we hung a 55-gallon barrel with a one foot-square opening cut in the middle. The barrel hung horizontally about four-feet off the ground on the edge of a patch of trees.

I learned this elevated bait barrel trick from a bowhunting friend years ago. By having the barrel off the ground, only bigger bears can reach the bait. Also, the bears offer a more humane killing shot to the hunter while working the barrel.

For bait, we used a base of dry dog food and added fragrant oils like anise or cinnamon. We also placed a scent bait saturated with the fragrant oils about 10- to 12-feet off the ground and directly over the barrel. This scent bait provided a lot more odor for the breezes to dissipate and attract black bears. We sometimes added some commercial bear baiting scents to further enhance the smells at the site.\

We had learned over the years to avoid meat and meat odors at the bait stations. While they will attract black bears, the meat will also lure every brown or grizzly bear within smell-range. Once a grizzly gets on your bait station, you can kiss the site off for hunting black bears that season. And remember, it is illegal in GMU 14A to shoot a grizzly from a bait station, however, you can take a grizzly over bait in GMU 14B.

It usually took from one to two weeks for the bears to begin working the station after we first baited it. If we hadn’t seen any activity within two weeks, we’d do a “honey burn” – cooking honey over a flame to create a tremendous amount of honey-sweet odor. If there were bears anywhere in the area, this encouraged them to check out the site.

My second station was located near the first site. We set up a ladder-style treestand about 12 feet off the ground. Instead of using food bait, we would call and use a scent bait when one of us used this stand. Bears will respond to predator calls. I figured we then had all the bases covered in trying to attract a black bear into the area: scent, food and attracting sound.

Some folks prefer to hunt from ground blinds and, in certain situations, this setup may actually be the better way to go. Rather than a barrel, some people use five-gallon buckets to hold bait and place the buckets inside a log “crib.” This method makes it harder for the bear to walk off with the bait and also directs the bear’s position at the bait, making for a better shot. Other folks just dump the bait on the ground inside the log crib.

Do whatever works best for you, but remember, you are required by law to remove all baiting materials at the end of the season and that includes any contaminated soil!

We humans aren't the only ones hunting bear baits! Several years ago, a hunter near Talkeetna reported watching a grizzly come out of the brush near his bait barrel and attack and kill the black bear he was watching. While the grizzly was dragging off the dead bear, the hunter abandoned his stand and called the local wildlife trooper to report the incident. Upon investigation, the trooper found three black bears that had been killed and cached by this grizzly around this bait station. The bait at the site was undisturbed by the grizzly.

I confirmed the validity of this story with the game management biologist who spoke directly to both the hunter and trooper involved.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This column is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications. You can leave Delo a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.