Been baiting bears for a couple of years but im not sure if I have found the perfect combination for bait versus size of hole in the barrel. I know some people use popcorn and only have one 2" hole in the middle of the barrel. And I know I have definitely made the mistake of making too large of a hole and the bears cleaned the bait out way too fast.
Anyone have some recommendations for me?
This year I think I will have one barrel of popcorn and one barrel of bread at each bait site.
I use about 6 holes 1” diameter for popcorn, one in the bottom and the rest on the sides, even then get a cpl bears in there and they can empty the bastard in a couple of days easy, but they definitely don’t lose interest,, I think next one I’ll try one bigger hole and popcorn balls instead?
usually at my baits ill run a popcorn/dog food roller barrel and one meat barrel. My roller barrels i have 2 1" holes in them. Even when my barrel is full the bears can empty them in 3-5 days. I use a 6 foot piece of chain attached to my barrel as well. My meat barrels are strapped to a tree a couple feet off the ground with a 8x8 inch hole cut in the upper middle. Also ill run beaver cages at my best sites. New this year im trying a bear suckers at each of my bait sites. On amazon they sell 5lb bag of jolly ranchers for 25 bucks. i used a small soup pot and drilled 2 holes in it, one on each side near the top. I put an eye bolt on each side of the pot. I filled the pot with jolly ranchers and heated them up on my stove until it turned into a liquid. Removed it from the heat and let it cool and it become one solid jolly rancher. My plan is to strap it to a tree with a ratchet strap to the eye bolts. ill have it about 3 feet off the ground. With the jolly rancher surrounded by the metal pot they wont be able to get their teeth on it and will force them to lick it, like a salt block but a sweet lick for bears. Really interested to see how they will work. I always bring in fryer grease and pour it around my barrel. Also i buy vanilla extract and put it in a squirt bottle and ill spray all around my site with vanilla. And ill buy cheap juice powder or jellow powder and mix it in my barrel with my dog food or popcorn to give it a sweet smell.
Bear bait barrel tips
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