Gazing down onto the green vastness of the tundra from high above in the floatplane I couldn’t help but wonder who may have possibly traversed this remote, wild terrain?
Have hunters and gatherers from centuries past made their way across this expansive swampland or is there still land that’s never felt the weight of a hunter’s footprint. I love romanticizing about a landscape that few feet have ventured.

DIY Backcountry Baited Bears in Wyoming

This DIY public land hunt had its challenges, but we loved every minute of it!

The plan was simple. Arrive a week before the season, get some baits going, then hunt for a week. We mostly would use our ATVs for transportation into the backcountry, then set up baits 200-400 yards back into the mountain valleys. The most difficult part of this was navigating the confusing and convoluted bear hunting regulations of the Cowboy state. See my description in a separate text on that.
-Bernie Barringer-

Using Bait Additives

Published July/August 2015

There are three main categories of things used at a bear bait sight: bait, scents and bait additives (or toppers). The number one factor to a bear bait is the actual bait. Quality bait is critical and there isn’t a substitute for it, however, lesser quality bait can be improved with bait additives. Secondly, scent is a powerful piece of the puzzle. The bait itself produces some scent and certain bait produces more than others. Commercial scents and sprays expand the scent range of the bait, increasing the effective range of how far it can be smelled. Thirdly, bait additives have become a significant part of the bear-baiting world. Bait additives can be liquid or powder and are used to improve the overall quality of lesser quality bait and expand the scent range. Bear bait additives would be different than scents in that they add to it by actually improving the taste, nutrient and caloric content of the bait - it is actual food, as opposed to just a scent product.
We often get asked the best way to make a bear bait barrel. There is always more than one way to skin a cat, but we've found this method to work well. It's simple!

Trail Cams & Bear Baits

Trail cameras have changed bear hunting in ways we never could have dreamed. Here’s now to make the most of them.

My, how things have changed. It wasn’t that long ago that bear hunters climbed into a stand at a bear bait with little to no idea what bears were visiting the bait or at what times. Hunters used some interesting tricks to get information about the visitors. I know guys who carried five-gallon pails of fine sand to the bait and spread it nicely around in hopes of getting a decent track to analyze. Some would hang a bit of bait seven feet from the ground to see if a bear big enough to grab it was visiting. Others spread flour around, which would get on the bear’s feet and hopefully leave a white track on dark, hard soil. Still others examined surrounding trees hoping to find a hair that would give them a clue about the bear’s color.
-Bernie Barringer
Scent conditioning is simple. It means that you use commercial scents every time you bait. The scent is the strongest smelling part of the baiting routine. It broadcasts to the bears that the bait is fresh. Like Pavolov’s dogs that salivated whenever he entered the room after he conditioned them to feeding times, a well-conditioned bear is no different when he smells the exaggerated scent.