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Old 03-20-2011, 12:59 AM
big-river big-river is offline
 
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Default Bear Suckers

I saw a youtube video of a 10 lb. hard candy sucker, with a chain thru it, on a bear bait. The bears were sitting around licking the sucker, it looked like a good idea.
Anybody ever use one of these?
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Old 03-20-2011, 08:33 AM
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Here is one I tried last spring,they were the first things to disapear.

Home made bear pop 3lb.ers

Take 4 bottles of white Karo syrup
5 lbs of white sugar
1 bag of brown sugar
2 or three boxes of strawberry jello
1 bottle of cheap vanilla


get two (plastic) coffee cans ready and spray them down with pam or some non stick stuff. Make two handles out ot wire or coat hangers and make them to where they stand up in the coffee can.

Mix everything together in a Big tall pot. You need the room to stirr and a long handled big spoon.

Boil this mix, take care cause it bubbles lots and will burn the crap out of you. The bubbles on your hand wont go away like water, it just stays there and burns.
Boil this mix down for a good while. Keep a big bowl of cold water next to the stove. From time to time get a little on the end of the spoon and put it in the water.
Keep boiling it down till when it hits the water it turnes really tacky. When it gets to where you want it then at the last stirr in a teaspoon of baking soda. This makes it kind of froth up.
Then fill your containers, put in your handles and then put them in the freezer to cool off.
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Old 03-20-2011, 08:36 AM
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here is another one,never tried it yet

Bear lollypop recipe
5 pounds sugar, 5 pounds flour, 1/2 Gallon water, 1 bottle corn syrup, 1 bottle/ jar honey any size, 1/2 bottle of cooking oil wesson is fine med size not the one gallon jug.
Take a five gallon bucket line with Crisco put all required items in mix, mix, mix until it is all combined. Let sit till it starts to set up about 2-4 hours then place a u-bolt or whatever you would like to use to hang it in the middle and let stand for a couple of days.
Take to the woods after you remove from the bucket and hang from a sturdy tree limb.
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Old 03-20-2011, 01:29 PM
big-river big-river is offline
 
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Default bear suckers

I was told that adding cinnamon really made it irresisitable. It was a must have ingredient. Maybe brings in the Cinnamon bears better!!

I talked with a guy who ran his baits once a week, and the bear suckers held bears there when his other bait would run out. Seems like a good way to make a bait attractive all week long as the sucker lasts a very long time, bears can't run off with it, nor can they eat it, they can only really just slurp away on it making it great bait for longevity. One sucker lasts over a month on an active bait.

Seems like an idea worth trying.
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Old 03-21-2011, 01:02 PM
Rantastic Rantastic is offline
 
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I really really like this idea!! This will save alot on gas money for restocking and should allow for some really neat pictures!
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Old 03-22-2011, 05:53 PM
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It's bear sucker construction night tonight at the Lodge, which means beers in the garage! I am going to try and get four made up, hopefully that will last through the season.
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Old 03-23-2011, 07:16 AM
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Don't the bears simply bite off parts of the bear sucker?
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Old 03-23-2011, 10:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prdtrgttr View Post
Don't the bears simply bite off parts of the bear sucker?
Im wondering this also?
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Old 03-23-2011, 10:34 AM
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Depends on how big you make your confectionary!

I only got one made up last night, it took longer than I thought to get 20lbs of sugar to melt.

Mine is about 22lbs, and is 12in round by 18in high or a commercial ice cream bucket full. My thoughts are that the bears will find this size too big to really get a grip on it, so they will just lick... Who knows tho, only when I get them in front of a bear will I find out!
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Old 03-23-2011, 11:22 AM
big-river big-river is offline
 
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Default suckers

If you take the sucker and hang it on a steel cable about six feet up, the bears will have a hard time to get any purchase on it with their teeth, they end up just slurping on it and batting it around, they apparently do work really well as a lure and as a bait.
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Old 03-23-2011, 03:22 PM
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The Fisherman Guy, any chance you could share a picture of it with us?
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Old 03-23-2011, 03:58 PM
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I will post up some pictures tonight Rocky, I finished late last night and set it outside surrounded by a snowbank to solidify. I have 3 more to make, but I think I will try one without honey or corn syrup so that the finished product is harder than the one I made last night. From the small bits that spilled, the product is somewhat soft. But it will make a huge gummy bear - for bear!
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Old 03-23-2011, 11:37 PM
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Looking at it now, I need a better tie off. The next ones must be stronger.

It turned out almost hard as rock candy, but not quite. I am not going to put the corn syrup in for the next batch so hopefully it gets stronger.
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Old 03-24-2011, 12:59 AM
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The Fisherman Guy, thanks for the pics.
Please keep us up to date on the newest ones. I think I will have to make a few of these in the coming weeks.
I wonder if you used page-wire in them to act like rebar. Maybe it would keep the bears from destorying them.....?
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Old 03-24-2011, 09:53 AM
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I was reading the ingredients list on Carnation Hot Chocolate Mix and it looks like it will be a great substitute for corn syrup (as it has corn syrup solids in it!)

The next tie off point will be the aforementioned chain. Seems easier to me.
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Old 03-24-2011, 05:22 PM
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That's pretty neat TFG, thanks for sharing. Toss some 'ruffies' in there and you'll be good to go.
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Old 03-24-2011, 07:36 PM
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Default suckers

I made 14 10 pounders. They turned out pretty good and I played around with different flavours so I have a variety. They sure made the shop smelled good.

It was real important to get the sugar/water/corn syrup mix to boil long enough to boil the water off and get it to the hard ball stage. Then add the flavouring and then into the molds.

Best mix seemed to be the strawberry/cinnamon/anise/vanilla flavour.

If it wasn't boiled long enough it is soft or semi-hard. If it is boiled long enough it is as hard as a hockey puck. I think these will be a good addition to the bear baits.
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Old 03-24-2011, 09:09 PM
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Hey Big river can you give a list of the ingreadients that you used and the amount that you found worked the best? Thanks I too am jumping on this band wagon, oh and anyone know how to make the snow melt faster?
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Old 03-24-2011, 09:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by medicmoose View Post
Hey Big river can you give a list of the ingreadients that you used and the amount that you found worked the best? Thanks I too am jumping on this band wagon, oh and anyone know how to make the snow melt faster?
On your next set of days off we should have a big baking session. I got the anise and cinnamon on route.


Quote:
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oh and anyone know how to make the snow melt faster?
Call Al Gore @ 1-800-itsgettinghot
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Old 03-24-2011, 09:53 PM
big-river big-river is offline
 
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Thumbs up suckers

well, heres what I did. I got the recipe off a guy in Alaska and he said it works freat up there.

I used a turkey deep fryer, I place 6 cups of water, 24 cups of sugar and 2 and 1/4 liters of corn syrup.
Started stirring and turned the heat on. Keep stirring until it gets to a good rolling boil, then quit stirring and watch your temp. guage. The water will boil off and the temp will be around 250 degrees, until the water boils off, then the temp will start climbing till it gets over 300 degrees. You have to cook it around 310-325 degrees for several minutes but don't go over 330F. Have a cup of ice cold water handy and dribble some of the liquid into the water. It will harden into strings. Break off a string and bite it. If it is completely brittle and NOT gooey at all, then it is ready. Make sure it is brittle all the way thru. Very important.

Now, have 3-4 boxes of jello dissolved into one and half cups of hot water, making sure it is dissolved thoroughly, start stirring again as you pour this jello water into the pot. There will be a lot of steam as you pour as the heat will be boiling off the water from the jello. Wear gloves! Now dump in some cinnamon powder, maybe a quarter cup. Throw in maybe one half ounce of Anise and one quarter cup of vanilla and keep stirring until it is all mixed and the misture has settled down with no air bubbles. Pour this into your molds and let it cool. Remember to put a short length of chain or eyebolt or whatever it is you expect to use to fasten a cable to, to hang it up. I used 1 litre ice cream buckets as a mould, but a coffee can would be better to protect it a little bit.

I experimented with different flavours, some I used some marishino cherry juice, one I used chocolate pudding powder, one I dumped some marshmallows in. They all turned out well, they basically formed one big hard rock candy that has an excellent scent that will be sure to lure bears in. My dog likes to go in the shop and she licks away at the blocks, she doesn`t try to bite a chunk off, she prefers to slurp on them.

Anyways, thats what I used.
Good luck.
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Old 03-24-2011, 10:06 PM
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going to try these diferent mixtures tomorrow,the ones I made last year were really brittle but was a different recipe.

thanks for the info BR and TFG this is turning into a great thread.

timba
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Old 03-24-2011, 10:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockymtnx View Post
On your next set of days off we should have a big baking session. I got the anise and cinnamon on route.



Call Al Gore @ 1-800-itsgettinghot
Only if this can be accomplished while hung over on sunday after SCI! Thanks big river its going to be interesting to see how much the bears like it and how they will try to get it off the tree! Did you have any problems with stuff burning to the bottom of your fryer pot?
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Old 03-24-2011, 11:16 PM
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Just curious...

Would this be a good place to try adding in some beaver castors?
Maybe instead of non-complimentary flavour/scent ingredients.
Sort of a 'savory' meaty/animal scent and flavour.
Yes, it would be sweet from the sugar, but not desserty.

Loaf pan shape(5lb?) with chain running thru it, wrapped and locked around a tree.
Are they gonna bite chunks off?
Is this a concern?

How high up?

Drill a bunch of 1" holes into logs, pour it in there and let it cool.
Worth the work?

Neat idea in general, makes me want to try it.
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Old 03-26-2011, 05:14 PM
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I made a couple suckers today one 12lbs and one 6lbs.I tried to differnet way and they both turned out great.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg bear suckers.jpg (23.9 KB, 137 views)
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Old 03-26-2011, 07:11 PM
big-river big-river is offline
 
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Thumbs up yup

Yup, those look like first class suckers to me.
You just know they are going to be the cats a@@ on a bear bait.
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Old 03-26-2011, 07:32 PM
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You guys want to put them in metal pails with a chain to the bottom of the pail so they can't chew on it. The only option they have is to lick it. Takes them weeks to finish one off.
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Old 03-26-2011, 08:54 PM
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Sooooo anybody wanna sell a couple ? ? ?
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Old 03-26-2011, 10:27 PM
big-river big-river is offline
 
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Sure.
They aren't cheap to build. I kept track of the cost and they cost over $10.00 each to make, and that is just the ice cream pail (4 litre size)
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Old 03-27-2011, 12:38 AM
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heres some pictures of mine

three diff sizes


7 lber on the left


5lber


12lber

I use Carmel, Anise and Vanilla and Strawberry to make my suckers they love them gives them a variety
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