Checked my bear bait this morning!!!!

[03mossy]

So the morning went like this...
Me and my brother left my house at 3:15, arrived at camp right at daybreak at 6:15. Loaded up the wheeler and headed to the bait which is about a mile north of camp. Get to where the bait is supposed to be and there's no barrel in sight. My first thought was crap someone stole it. Then I see the cable I had around it was still around the trees with the brackets I had welded on the barrel were still on the cable. Grabbed my camera out of the tree and there is 644 pics of bears! First 200 or so are of a little guy that hung around for 3 days, even napping against the barrel lol. Then about Tuesday a big bear shows up and basically wrestles and tears the welds off and throws the barrel around. There's even a pic of the bear standing up right holding the barrel in the air. We started walking in the direction the bear rolled the barrel off camera and found it about 50 yards into the woods. About 30 feet in a circle were trampled from him throwing the barrel around trying to get the lid off. He did and licked that barrel so clean it looked like it never had food in it. All together I think there's pics of 5 different bears including a pic of a sow and cub. Barrels now reattached to the tree the best we could and filled back up with bait. Even after the barrel got hauled away bears kept coming back to the site. To say I'm excited is an understatement!

I post pics tonight.

 

[ShawnT]

Sounds like your in for an exciting hunt! When does the season open?

 

[cayuga]

I had a bear do the same thing to one of my barrels. It was chained to a tree and the lid had the metal ring on, in place, and bolted. We couldn't bait out of a barrel but we could use a barrel to store bait. So I would open that every day and take the legal amount of bait out of the barrel and go set my site. Well he knew there was bait in there. He somehow wrestled that barrel out of the chain. Now that you mention he was holding it up in your pic, that must be what he did to my barrel. Anyway I found the barrel, dented, scratched and teeth marks about 50 yards from the bait tree too. Mine being full of bait, I had to roll that back to the house/bait tree. How he managed to move it so easy is beyond me. Bear are determined when they want to be. It sounds like you're going to have a great hunt but you might have to wait it out for Mr. Right to come along. Good luck.

 

[03mossy]

Sounds like your in for an exciting hunt! When does the season open?

Season opens September first which is a Tuesday. I wont be able to start hunting till Thursday the 3rd. Ill go up again this weekend to refill the bait and check the cameras. Hopefully they stay interested in it.

 

[03mossy]

Picture time! It's hard to pic which ones to post out of 644 but heres a few.

This little guy found the jackpot when he was the first to the bait

He gorged himself to the point he needed a few naps


Then this guy came in and claimed the barrel and tried bringing it home






Another one came in to check out the site


A little cub with momma standing in the background

 

[cayuga]

now that is what I call an active bait station. You at least will not be bored watching that stand.

 

[WV Hunter]

Cool pics!

Man that guy ripped that barrel off...wow. He's not small, but boy I was expecting a whopper when you outlined what happened. He mustered up some super strength... wanted that bait for sure

My favorite is the one sleeping, that is awesome! :yeah:

 

[ShawnT]

Sleeping with his head in the trough! :lol:

That is cool. Like Cayuga said: I don't think you will be bored at that stand. :yeah:

 

[Widude]

Nice to see those daytime pictures. A 2:00 A.M. Visit doesn't do much good during season.

 

[Redsky]

Nice pictures.
To keep my barrels chained to trees I weld two heavy washers for a 1" bolt on each side of the barrel and run chain through and around tree.

 

[03mossy]

Good idea Redsky! I need to rethink the barrel next time I get drawn. I went up to check my bait again Saturday and the barrel was gone again. I brought my drill with this time and ran the cable through the barrel. No way they can haul it off this time.

On a positive note from last Sunday to yesterday my trail cam had 1100 new pics!! And that's with the camera set at 5 mins between pics. Even more different bears than the first week. 3 different sows with cubs.2 sows with a single cub and then one with twins.pretty cool pics Watching them interact.

But the best part is that little guy with the white ring on his chest I have a lot of pics of... well his daddy has found the bait. He's not huge but he has the identical white ring on his chest. Gotta be a passed down trait. I'll post pics tomorrow.

 

[03mossy]

Mom with the twins. I think almost every bear that's come in has rubbed up on that tree lol.



Mom with the tiny cub


Little guy with white markings and I'm guessing his dad



Then an unwelcome visitor

 

[Redsky]

Good luck on Thursday.