How To Put Your Bear Bait in the Right Location
OutdoorHub 06.02.11
A black bear’s home range can span from two to 10 miles and resident populations often hold a variety of boars, sows and cubs, so it’s not uncommon to have multiple bears visiting your site. Bait should be placed along a bear’s natural movement corridor. Bruins hang out in distinct areas where food is available. Heavily timbered forests near agricultural lands often sustain good bear densities. With cereal crops like oats nearby, black bears favor the accessibility and abundance of such forage and often reside in proximity. The same holds true with natural forage such as wild berries and dandelions. Look for streams, rivers and ample low ground to provide damp, dark and cool cover. Dense moss-laden boreal forests bordering swamps and isolated marshy wetlands often play host to good numbers of bears. Beavers are a staple food source in some regions, so areas with spruce and poplar mixed forest near cascading beaver dams can be dynamite locations for establishing a bait site. Also, look for claw marks on deciduous trees. Rarely will you see fresh prints and markings but the scraps are usually a good idicator that a bear is in the region. Bears seem to travel the traditional paths along waterways and natural movement corridors, like valleys and ridges.
