Well as some of you may already know, the Minnesota bear season kicked off on September 1st. Due to college obligations I won't get to start my hunt until the afternoon of the 4th and will only get to hunt a total of 4 days this season.
Since I am terrible at keeping up with my blog, here is a quick overview of what’s been going on with the baiting and season so far.
For a few weeks now my dad John and I have been back and forth to the woods checking and rebaiting the bait sites. Normally by now we always have at least a few quality bear hitting the baits at a fairly regular basis. This year however has been very different for us!
In years past it has been the norm to come across the scent of bear bait well before making it to your bait site. This year however we are having a hard time keeping the smell of things up. We use all of our normal items, to include apples, molasses, honey, breads, pastries, jellies, and much more. This year though when we walk up to our baits we smell absolutely nothing at all. Not the bacon scent sprays, or even the hickory smoke scents. Nothing! To top things off; one of my bait stations (this is why you NEED more then one!!!!!) was trashed by another "hunter"
This person (or small group) actually took the time to walk to my stand make a rather large path to it. I am certain I will never see a bear at that spot this entire season as I have no doubt something was added to it that a bear don't or won't like.
But anyways, our new plan of attack to make our baits get a smell to them it with cantaloupes and muskmelons. The plans is to have a few cut up and placed in a 5 gallon pale over the week and have it placed in the sun to help it get some stink to it. I can honestly say that after only 2 days it very much DOES STINK! And I can't wait to see what things will smell like by Friday.
In camp this year we have a fairly large group. In deer hunting a large group can be fun, but when bear hunting large groups are not a good thing as each bait needs a lot of distance from another to prevent each hunters baits from fighting the other bait. Normally a mile in between in about right in the areas I hunt. But this year we have way to many hunters in camp so some of the baits are a little closer then I'd like.
The total bear count as of right now 7:45PM on the 2nd stands at 1 bear which was shot on the opener afternoon by the only female hunter in camp. (Things are not looking good for us guys in the group) :)
Check back after the 4th as I will be adding stories of the hunt hopefully with bear pictures.
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