Bear Baiting
By Clay Newcomb
The silent emergence of black fur into view is an indescribable feeling that keeps all bait hunters coming back season after season. For me, the first five seconds of seeing a bear stirs an initial adrenaline rush and an abrupt increase in heart rate. This epitomizes the excitement of hunting bear over bait. How can such a big animal move so quietly? The question at hand, however, involves the point of view from which you’ll perceive the majestic entry of Ursus Americanis. Will it be from an elevated tree stand or eye-level from the ground? Several factors play into this discussion, and both have pros and cons.By Clay Newcomb
October 1st is a day I won’t soon forget. Five years of effort and hustle culminated into my best day of bear hunting. I was bear hunting on private land in Oklahoma for my fifth year. In 2015 I took a 360-pound 20 8/16” bear and was thrilled, however there was a larger bear on the property that I named Batman. He wasn’t just “bigger” he was a lot bigger. He was extremely wary and rarely showed up during the daytime. It's hard to beat an older-age boar's nose. They understand the game. They live long because they come in downwind when they approach the bait – it’s that simple. Or they are 100% nocturnal. They rarely make mistakes. I knew to harvest this bear I was going to have to get extremely lucky, or find a way to be totally scent free - and luck can't be trusted. Your typical “wash your clothes” in scent free soap and spray down is a joke in the bear woods when you’re after a world-class bear.By Clay Newcomb
Variety is the spice of life, and it’s also a key to a good bear bait. Bears are like humans; they've got individual preferences. I once heard of a bear that despised lemon-flavored pies so much that he raked his tongue with his paws. Bears are also driven by biological urges that push them towards feeding on optimal food sources that achieve their strategic goal. A bear’s goal is to “get fat quick.” Having multiple options for quality types of bait in different categories creates nothing but positive outcomes.
Baiting bears is simple, but when it comes to the execution of a bear-baiting plan many realize the difficulty and complexity of the task. How much bait do I need? Where do I get it? What do I use? How soon before hunting should I put it out? These questions need answered, and everybody has an opinion.