Secret Sauce Of Spring Baiting

It’s not rocket science but it’s not as simple as you think. Hear from three veterans on what has worked for them.

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Baiting bears is more complex than the non-bear hunting community might think. It isn’t as simple as leaving a pile of glazed donuts and a jar of open honey on the ground. Like most endeavors in life, people access different levels of insight through decades of experience while gaining knowledge through trial and error. Some scratch the surface while others dig deeper. Baiting spring bears is simple in some regards. However, there is always more to learn. We’ve interviewed a few bear hunters that have a lot of experience and have had a lot of success baiting spring bears.

BEAR OUTFITTER | RICK LISKE

Rick Liske of Agassiz Outfitters in the Interlake region of Manitoba knows that it’s important to understand the biology of bears when they come out of the dens in the spring. Rick said, “Our bears den up for three to five months – usually five. They den from mid-November through mid-April. In the den they use up a lot of the stored energy they’ve gathered in the growing season, so we give them what they need – protein and carbohydrates.” He went on to say, “Bears are omnivorous and in the early spring eat roots and grass when available. If they can find a winter wolf kill in the early spring they’ll eat that, but they typically lack protein.” This is part one of the key components of Rick’s early baiting – protein.