Tips for Hunting Nocturnal Bear
Hunting bears, especially the nocturnal ones, is pretty challenging. Having said that, it is one of the most adrenaline-pumping activity you could ever try. Learn here how you can ace thenocturnal bearhunting game.
Surprisingly, many expert hunters, who have successfully hunted animals like deer, elk, antelope, coyotes, moose, and mountain lion many a time, consider bear hunting as the toughest of all. Baiting bears need humongous amount of effort. But this is just the beginning. Once you set the stands and baits, you have to trick the animals into eating – and that too, during the daytime. Note that bears prefer to eat at night per their own convenient schedule. Therefore, using tricks to cause bears to feed in the daylight is key to harvesting them over bait. After researching and testing plenty of ideas and products, here we have put together some tips forhunting nocturnal bearsthat we have learned over the years.
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Establish a Comfort Zone: First things first, making the bear comfortable at the site of bait is key to their daytime feeding. If a bear does not feel safe, they are less likely to eat during the day, particularly if they are not conditioned to your bait and get a scent of fresh human. As and when possible, choose a dark and dense area of the wood as your bait site. You bait site should be far away from 4-wheeler trails, roads, hikers, and other human activities. Look for the areas, where there is enough green growth, and search for the older timber growth patches wherever possible. Bears like such areas. An area near a pond, lake, or any other water source is the icing on the cake. Bears often drink water from such sources, and move through the water to travel in these dark areas. Do check the bear hunting rules and regulations of your state since many states have restrictive guidelines for baiting close to the water.
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Access their Hangout: Moving to and from the bait site is equally important. Frightening an animal away from the bait site or out of their bedding areas can make them more fearful and conscious. Set up your stand in a way that you can conveniently access your bait site without the need for running across the entire forest. The ideal location is a section of a very dense forest line, which surrounds a clear, open area. This makes it easier for the hunter to go around the forest line in order to access their baits. Additionally, this will prevent the animal from circling you. Bears like to go round the bait site before approaching the bait. Any human smell, unless they are conditioned and comfortable at the bait site, will cause them to wait until it is dark. However, finding such an area, far away from people and activities, can be tough. You can make use of Google Earth. A bird’s-eye view can offer a clearer picture of your potential travel routes, bedding areas, and access routes.
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Satisfy their Cravings: One of best tactics to hunt nocturnal bear in daylight is to satiate their cravings. Use something great at the bait – something that bears just crave all the time, can easily get addicted to, and cannot resist themselves from consuming more than normal. The usual products on the market are not powerful enough to attract the animal and keep the bears coming back for more. So, you may need to use something that the bear just go crazy for – and this will substantially help in getting the bear to eat during the daytime. Just like humans, if bears crave something or have their favorite food nearby, they will do anything to grab it. Just take good care of their cravings, and you will find them camping on the bait site.
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Use Portion Control: Another excellent idea is controlling the quantity at the bait site. This can remarkably change the feeding patterns of bears. If a bear shows up during the midnight hours to find an empty barrel, but can still smell the fresh scent, they would know that they have missed something. If the bear does so several times, they will probably think that they are getting beat to your bait site. This is done by reducing the quantity of bait. Start by putting in just a bucket-full of bait at a time over the weeks you plan to hunt. As a hunter, you must ensure that the bear remains hungry and does not gluttonize. You must also make sure that all the bait is taken away by the smaller bears before it gets dark. However, you should have to ensure that they have plenty of food when you are not hunting. If they find the barrel empty too many times, they will likely wander off.
If you only have one bear to hit that has turned nocturnal, try using an intruder scent. It will trick the bear into believing that there is another bear getting all their bait. This may even cause them to change their feeding habits. Sometimes, a large boar run off all other bears to keep the bait for itself. If they turn nocturnal, it could be hard to bring them back to daylight in the absence of competition. So, you need to make them think that they have competition in order to see them change their feeding habits.
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Read the Rut: The rut isafavorite ofthe majority of hunters. Bears rutduringtheseason,somewhere around the end of May.This isperhaps thebest time to hunt bears, especially those hugenocturnal bearsthat browsethrough the woodsduring the daytimein search of sows. Sows at your bait site canbethe best thing youcan see during your bear hunting expedition. The sows that are ready for breeding can bring in boars from several miles. The sows in heat cause chaos around the bait sites. Just like it happens with deer or elk during the rut, a bear’s brain concentrates on just one thing. When this occurs, they tend to forget all human-related risks and dangers. This is an ideal time to harvest a humongous bear. If there are no sows around your bait, add 1-2 scent wicks covered in a product, featuring true sow urine with pure sow sex glands. You can use it on the weeks you are hunting, and then you can remove it when you not in the woods. Bears are smart animals that can quickly realize that they are being fooled. Bears will hang around the bait site only for a few days, until they realize that the sow-in-heat smell is not from a real sow.
To Conclude
These time-testedtipswill come in handy if you are struggling tohuntnocturnal bear.Try them tochange things up atthebait sitein the nextnocturnalbear hunting season. Choose from a wide range ofhunting accessories on Dead Buck Hunting to up your odds for a successful hunt.
