The smell of donuts!

The week in reveiw

The first week of baiting went well. Between Dave and myself we carried about 1200 pounds of bait. After a year of easy living we were thrown back into the back breaking work of lugging buckets and buckets of sweets for our black furry friends.Smelling like a caramel covered pastry mixed with a lot of sweat doesn't appeal to some ,but to me it means everything. I live each year for this moment when I can match my brain against the bears. Since 1985 in one place or another I have been hunting bears with bait. At first, I struggled, not sure what to look for and how to make things work to my advantage. Now it just seems so easy. I can look at a site and tell which way the animals will come from. Some locations just aren't prime spots and I almost will bet on which ones they are. The wind plays a big role in my choices. Trying to set up so the prevaling wind [which is out of the NW here in the fall] works in the hunters favor, and being careful not to have the thermal updrafts in the afternoon air going wrong isn't always easy. During bait season I hang flagging ribbon at the bait so I can note the winds direction each time I go to a site. The ribbon is also handy for the hunter as he can relay back to me which way it was blowing when a animal came in. We use lots of cover scent all season long at each site so the bears have that smell to focus on. A bears brain,[contrary to popular belief] is in his stomach so If you can fool a bears nose his stomach will take over and bring him in.