Mike Foss - bear patterns

[dan]

Mike, (AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS INPUT)
I noticed when hunting with you, and in statements you have made to me over the years that you seem to get some pretty predictable patterns with some of your big bears. I have seen this too, but it is a lot harder to see repeat hits from the same bear when your hunting DIY cause you only bait every so often instead of annually. But yet I still see some patterns with big bears. What can you tell us about the bears you have hunted for years? Are you seeing timing patterns like hitting at different stages of the season? disappearing on a similar date annually? Hitting same time of day? etc...

I have noticed I can have baits pretty close to each other and have totally different bears at each bait. I know that's not what others are saying, and Im wondering if you see that as well? My baits never divide bears in the same swamp, but I have 3 within a mile in Minnesota that are divided by a clear cut, and some ridges and they don't get the same bears, but I do see the same bears on the same bait a few years later when I bait again (based on color phase and markings) This tells me its important to have the bait in the right spot, not just the right area.

Thoughts? comments?

[BassBoysLLP]

Cool thread. I hope Jim Wallner chimes in as well.

My baiting season in Zone C has three distinct flavor

Breeding (May /June) - Boar range is huge and I've picked up the same bear miles apart. Sows have a much smaller range, especially those with cubs.

Dog Training (July / August) - If the dogs are pushing, I may lose a regular for a few days. Or I may lose him completely or have him back in less than a day. Sometimes I pick up a good bear during this period. Regardless, I try not to overanalyze the dog shuffle. Home ranges appear smaller overall but this activity does create some scatter. Just keep baiting and enjoy the time running cameras.

Hunting Season (Sept / Oct) - Number of baits in the woods goes up a lot the week prior to the season. In addition to the food, a lot of new people smell in the woods that wasn't there all season. Acorns are starting to drop. Cooler days and nights. The regulars are still on the bait but they are hitting later. Last hour of daylight is king or first light after a good storm. Home ranges are the smallest of the baiting season.

[Mike Foss]

Mike, (AND ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS INPUT)
I noticed when hunting with you, and in statements you have made to me over the years that you seem to get some pretty predictable patterns with some of your big bears. I have seen this too, but it is a lot harder to see repeat hits from the same bear when your hunting DIY cause you only bait every so often instead of annually. But yet I still see some patterns with big bears. What can you tell us about the bears you have hunted for years? Are you seeing timing patterns like hitting at different stages of the season? disappearing on a similar date annually? Hitting same time of day? etc...

I have noticed I can have baits pretty close to each other and have totally different bears at each bait. I know that's not what others are saying, and Im wondering if you see that as well? My baits never divide bears in the same swamp, but I have 3 within a mile in Minnesota that are divided by a clear cut, and some ridges and they don't get the same bears, but I do see the same bears on the same bait a few years later when I bait again (based on color phase and markings) This tells me its important to have the bait in the right spot, not just the right area.

Thoughts? comments?

Great questions Dan. One of the huge advantages I have is assisting bear hunters every year, so I am out there continuously in the same areas (some new areas too) and you start to get to know these bears on a one on one basis and developed relationships with them (sounds funny ha). Not all bears are the same, they might visually look the same to the novice hunter, but they have unique characteristic's and personalities. Bears can be very unpredictable and predictable at the same time. Just when you think you have that big mature monster all figured out they pull the old disappearing act, when your hunting he's a no-show, when your not hunting he shows up for a few hours during daylight hours.

Lets talk about the Snaggle Tooth bait,(you hunted that bait). I found that big bears core area many years ago. While bear scouting & deer shed hunting in the spring (no foliage out yet) I came across this well worn trail with deep imprint's of a very heavy bear, I put a trail camera on that trail and within a few days I captured photos, my jaw dropped when I looked at the pictures. I followed that trail and it literally lead me to his hide out and bedroom in a small thick patch of pines surrounded by a small aspen thicket, you know the ones (small pines) that the branch's drag on the ground, with my heart pounding I lifted up those branch's and thank goodness he wasn't there but the awesome imprint of his body was in the ground, he liked sleeping on his right side looking and facing the trail he walks in on. With pad & paper the next day I spent all day following and tracing every trail, I noticed all trails eventually crisscrossed at one intersection, it was there I set up the bait station, there was a creek about 80 yards away, wild apple trees, black berries and oak trees that produce a nice crop of acorns. Ironically 20 yards from the bait station I found matching sheds. When I found those sheds it really reinforced my mind that this truly was a great spot, an escape route spot.

The first year baiting that bait station, in the beginning we had some nice bears coming in and then on July 24th, finally, the reason why I was there in the first place Snaggle Tooth showed up. From then on, he eluded hunters, but hunters were shooting bears in the 400lb range off that stand, once that happened Snaggle Tooth was gone and either didn't show up until after midnight or he was gone completely for the season. As each year went by he always showed up on July 24th or the 25th. That bait station while my cameras were there has never captured Sow with cubs and each bear that was shot off of there were all boars. Not once did I ever capture Snaggle Tooth on camera on any other bait station and I have had one for years only 3/4 miles away. Dan, you were the last one to sit that bait for reasons only you and I know about. The next year I moved that bait station only 80 yards away and it only got better. I only had it for two years, one year a 12 year old shot a 527Lb and the last year a hunter shot a 472lb, that was the year Snaggle tooth was shot and killed by a hound hunter.

The Ghost bear.... this will be the 5th year hunting him, after a couple trial and error bait stations I have him zeroed in. Last year he was coming in anywhere between 10am and last light. He does everything a big mature bear is not suppose to do and still survives (don't get me wrong he is a very smart bear). But once he knows your hunting him he disappears. He shoes up around the 11th of August. Where he comes from, I don't know. It is all private land for miles, there are no hound hunters in that area.

The answer to your question about baits being in close proximity from one another and having totally different bear is spot on. You can have another bait station 1/4 mile away and have totally different bears. There is a pecking order, they probably like to avoid confrontations (battles). Bait stations with good escape routes play a huge role also. Remember, its the hunters that dictate what bears come into what bait stations, you just have to locate the right spot. Its like putting a quarter in one of those big round bubble gum machines, you want the red one, but you don't know which colored one is going to come out, you just know that one is, so you keep on trying till it does.

[dan]

Great answer Mike... Your intense scouting and detective way of thinking is what really sets you apart from other Wisconsin guides. Most just put out bait piles and stands...

In Minnesota I had a bait that did real well the 1st year I baited it. It was between two swamps on a small elevated point leading into a thick low cool area. I had found the spot on a spring scouting mission. It really got pounded that 1st year. The next time I hunted up there I could not find the exact spot I put that bait when it was real thick and green. I generally don't mark trails to my baits cause I don't want them messed with or cameras stolen, and I never used GPS. I was limited on time getting all the baits set so I just set it up after giving up on the search. It hardly got hit, and the only visitors were all small or sows... The next time up there I tried again to find it, and again gave up and tried another spot where I figured I was close... Again, all small. Last year I made it my mission to find that exact spot, and did. It was less than 100 yards from the other 2 spots I had tried... Now, back in the original spot, it got hit immediately and pounded... Getting that spot where the bears feel comfortable is key.

[Bearman13]

I have a bait where I have the same huge boar coming in as soon as the bait goes down all baiting season until someone climbs in the tree and he's gone. It's been this way for 10 years or more. We shoot nice bears of this bait every year. I can only recall one time a hunter seeing him and getting a shot. Hunters have heard him behind and in front of the bait thrashing and growling popping jaws etc. He's just a bear you're not gonna kill. Doesn't matter wind direction or anything. He knows baits and hunters. I've tried everything, including trying to kill him myself.

I see plenty of bears at sites that are there every year. I have a lot of established baits. Some are 30 years old. Those bears check those baits out all spring and summer. I usually check my baits over a couple times before baiting. I'll put logs over the holes or if I have a stump and cover set it up. I put rocks on top. I've hung cams before to. And always multiple bears coming through.

I personally think bears have a small home range here. Pretty much everything is the same. There's not really huge food sources for them to travel to. A bear could live his entire life on 40 acres or less here. Water/food. Berries, grass, grubs, insects, popple leaves its everywhere. Same with water.

I try to spread out sites atleast a mile. I do have a coupe baits that are maybe 1/3 of mile apart separated by a cut and beaver pond. Multiple bears and different bears. By using terrain to your advantage you can do that.

Ah yes, the monsters who show up once or twice and move on. Those boys I haven't figured out.

Get out there and follow those trails after season etc. You will learn a lot and that's for any animal. I've said this before. Of all the bears I've tracked almost everyone has led back to some clear cut that was 10 foot tall pencil popple and nearly impossible to get to. Also one curious thing I've noticed is that tracking the bear from the bait, we go through the water then climb up drier ground then enter the bedding area. You'd be surprised how far they actually bed from the bait sometimes.

[dan]

Great input Jim...

[BassBoysLLP]

Incredible thread. I've listened to the Snaggletooth stories for years but this is the first time I'm hearing that you never had a sow on that bait. Was the bedding so good that lesser bears (including sows), were never allowed to enter the area? I.e. a territorial response for the entire bait season Apr - Oct? That is incredible. It has me thinking about my spots over the years. I always have at least sow/cubs during April and often into the breeding season. I only lose the sows when the baits become territorial in June.

[Bearman13]

The super swampy baits that I have almost never have Sows and Cubs, EVER. Another observation is some of our biggest bears killed have come from around homesteads or areas near people. Even tho the bears were around people they weren't stupid.

Thanks to cameras another thing I've noticed is bears seem to come into the baits 3-4 times over the course of 24 hours. 5am-7am, noon to 2pm, sometimes around 4pm and then around last minutes of dark. Only after they have been spooked do they come in right after the hunter gets out of the tree. Very rarely do I see 9pm-11 pm activity.

[Bearman13]

Bears have better noses then bloodhounds. Bears are 80-90% vegetarians, they need water almost immediately after eating, bears don't sweat so they need cool areas to wallow in like a pig.

Ever notice on camera or when you kill a bear they're hide is usually soaked in water. ?

[Mike Foss]

Incredible thread. I've listened to the Snaggletooth stories for years but this is the first time I'm hearing that you never had a sow on that bait. Was the bedding so good that lesser bears (including sows), were never allowed to enter the area? I.e. a territorial response for the entire bait season Apr - Oct? That is incredible. It has me thinking about my spots over the years. I always have at least sow/cubs during April and often into the breeding season. I only lose the sows when the baits become territorial in June.

Just to many big boars at that bait station, those sows with cubs wont take the chance of getting injured or killed. Kind of like Possum Lodge on the Red/Green show No women allowed!

[dan]

One thing that really surprises me is when I set up cameras on new baits, or new bears hit my baits, 90% seem to hit the very 1st time in daylight. Kind of the opposite of what I would of expected.

[strutnrut716]

Great post !! Thanks for the info !

[stash59]

[Bearman13]

One thing that really surprises me is when I set up cameras on new baits, or new bears hit my baits, 90% seem to hit the very 1st time in daylight. Kind of the opposite of what I would of expected.

I agree.

[swampyak]

One thing that really surprises me is when I set up cameras on new baits, or new bears hit my baits, 90% seem to hit the very 1st time in daylight. Kind of the opposite of what I would of expected.

I've been surprised over the years how many bears have been killed the first time they've come into the bait

Following bear trails after baiting has helped me find spots to ambush bears before they get to the baits