(P2 of “Why I Still Promote the .458 Winchester Magnum” will be presented after a bear is shot by the Federal 400gr TBBC from my Ruger No.1H in .458, or the spring season is over on June 15, as explained at the end of P1. In the meantime “The Bait Barrel” will provide further entertainment and awareness of what goes on in those out of the way, obscure patches of land rarely, if ever, seen by 99.9999999% of humanity.)
There are lots of stories and learning experiences directly related to them. . . . .
For example, at least 90% of my firsthand experiences and knowledge of black bears has come from the use of “the Bait Barrel”! In looking back over the many years of big and small game hunting, as well as predators, on both private and public land, I never saw or encountered a black bear until a “bait barrel” or baiting specifically for bear was used. And let me tell you, I think it’s possible that I may have experienced it all! That covers a period of 34 years, out of which I hunted 31, and both spring and fall hunts in at least 1/4 of them. All involved bait hunting, and a significant number were both bait and scouting for sign with some calling thrown in. I’ve called in one bear using my cupped hands around my mouth simulating a moose call. It was a large bear that came within 35 yards, but I didn’t shoot it because conditions were not right (which I’ve explained in past blogs).
But all the bears I’ve shot, or at, were at a bait site, or coming to or leaving one. And, at most of those sites there was a bait barrel.
Of course, other containers may be used, and I’ve done that too, as in last year’s hunt I used an orange colored plastic tote box. Empty, it’s much more manageable than a barrel and it also fits better into the back of my medium size SUV which replaced the Ford Freestar van that could easily handle the barrel plus a bear when the middle row seats were removed and the rear bench seat folded. It had the interior room of a Yukon or Suburban with 2x the gas economy. And my current SUV is better still. At $1.60 per litre, hunting bear is still economically feasible, but barely. Each trip, to and from my hunting area on Crown Land is ~ $25 for gas alone. Two trips per week is $50 x 4 for a month = $200. Not cheap, but much better than the Freestar would be and 2X better than a pickup would be. That, of course, is apart from other costs associated with hunting and shooting. Still much cheaper, though, than hiring a guide/outfitter. And the personal physical, intellectual and psychological benefits of doing it all myself would be near impossible to calculate. (This isn’t directly a part of the theme, I realize, but it may serve to answer some questions.)
<My former “hunting vehicle”. That’s my Tikka T3 Lite in 9.3 x 62 resting against the bumper. The buckets are loaded with bear bait.
<Last fall’s setup. My .35 Whelen leaning against tree. Yep, it’s loaded with a 300gr Barnes O.
< A momma bear with her 2 cubs. There were two other sows with cubs. One had 3 cubs and the other with one – never at the same time – they seemed to respect each other’s families.
Among several other advantages of using a “bait barrel” is the one pictured above and below: In a chase with hounds, spot-and-stalk, or scouting in the northeast of N.A., we would never capture on camera or see what bears do in daylight when they feel secure!< At 8:59 a.m., this would have made for an ideal shot on a good bear using either a bow or rifle at 50 yds from the tree stand to the right and back of my trail cam. But nobody was there! Too early for bear? The bait and camera unveils the truth that bears show up when they want to, and when no one else is around, including other bears! Was the hunter still in bed?
I learned from trail cams, in various locations and seasons, that bears will show early at baits as often as late evening after the sun is setting. Also, I was informed of that as a fact by the outfitter, Norm Easto, when I began bear hunting under his tutoring in the late 1980s in the far northeast of our province.
At least once when I was toting two 5gal plastic buckets of bait to my favorite Crown Land site at 8 a.m., when I rounded the corner of the trail I was on, and came into the clearing on the side of a ridge where my blind was located, there stood “the” bear on my blind he’d just torn down! And from about 40 yards he was glaring at me! And he was a big bruiser! He didn’t run off, but was challenging me! He definitely knew who I was and why I was there on his turff! And my rifle was well behind me in the parked van! Slowly, I put the buckets down and backed out to my van to retrieve my .45-70. Of course, he made his point, and when I slowly returned to where the buckets were he was gone. . . but where? That was when I was baiting and hunting on my own after those years of tutelage by Norm.
Though I well recall one of my later seasons on Crown Land with Norm as outfitter: Each day Norm, with his two American guides accompanied by a volunteer hunter each, would leave the lodge early to check baits. Not all got checked daily as there were too many, but often I went along with him to sites I’d never previously visited. On a particular morning after breakfast, he took another client with him and spooked a big, agressive bear on a particular site. The bear was reluctand to leave and walked around growling at them. Eventually it did leave and they rebaited the site.
For that late afternoon and evening hunt of that particular bait site, he asked me and my buddy to hunt that location from different spots, separated by 1 mile – I at the south end and my friend at the north end. He was actually closer to the bait site than I. But this big aggressive bear was travelling somewhere between our locations with a swamp between. I never saw where my partner was because when Norm let us out of his truck about 3 p.m., he said to me: “Bob, I want you to go as far as you can down this logging road (it was a new extension with coarse gravel), about a mile, and you’ll come to a corner that turns right toward the park (Algonquin). Somewhere around the corner you’ll find a place off to the side to use a dead fall or brush as your blind. That bear may show up crossing of walking the road in your direction”.
I did as he said, and found a perfect setup for a blind behind a big conifer blowdown off to the side of the gravelled logging road – and waited, watching in every possible direction. I knew nothing of where my partner (also a “Bob”) was located, except he was a mile away, and closer to the bait where, it was assumed, that big agressive bear might return near darkness, or even after pitch dark had settled in – we didn’t exactly have street lights! But we each had a flashlight.
On my end of things, no bear showed but a huge bull moose did! I saw him emerge from the Park, then disappear for about ten minutes as he silently slipped below and past me, appearing again on the rough logging road directly behind me at about 40 yards. I was looking, facing the Park, but wary that Mr Bull Moose might show up. Then, somehow, without a sound, I was aware that I should look back over my shoulder at the road I’d travelled to this spot . . . and there was this big bull facing me with huge antlers!< Not this one as it’s borrowed from the Net. But similar in size, appearance and background, only closer and facing me!
Confidently (it was NOT moose season), I stood with my Marlin .45-70 in hand, pointed it directly at him and shouted “GET OUT OF HERE!” And he did! He swung like an overgrown Clydesdale and marched off toward a ridge (likely where he was going before I interrupted his plan). Part way up the ridge, he stopped, looking back at me . . . I raised my rifle once again and aimed directly at him about 75 yds away. . . he snorted and took off running over the top of the ridge breaking branches and trees as though they weren’t there, and disappeared as though he’d never been there! There was no doubt in my mind that “the bear” was alerted by my shouting and the bull’s reckless bulldozing of timber – nonetheless, I stayed until I needed to turn on the flashlight. The “coarse gravel” was not exactly gravel, but chunks of granite from blasting ledges!
It got darker than dark. . . and I had to trudge 1-mile back over that very rough logging trail to where I’d been dropped off, alone with flashlight in one hand and the Marlin in the other. “Where is that bear?” No shots fired on either end of the marsh, but midnight stories to tell! Yep, Norm picked us up on time. And I did see the bait setup before walking that mile “in”, and it was spooky!< Not all sites have literal barrels – but are still spooky! That’s one of those 5 gal buckets mentioned earlier. And this is what tells you something of the size of the bear trying to eat the plastic . . . or leaving its signature.<And sharpening its teeth on metal.
Till the next: P2 – ADVANTAGES of the “Bait Barrel”: It’s been well documented, of course, yet there are still those who feel it’s too easy – like catching fish in a barrel. That’s not my experience of about 40 bear hunts, 90% over baits. So next time we’ll discuss that, plus. . . Classes of bears and suitable firearms.
Shalom
BOB MITCHELL