Field and Stream is having a 2013 Spring Trail Camera Contest. I set up three black bear baits with a motion trail camera in a d

[Gary Devine]

Field and Stream is having a 2013 Spring Trail Camera Contest. I set up three black bear baits with a motion trail camera in a different location last month. New Jersey doesn't have a spring bear hunt so this was my first time baiting bears in spring time. I did this for the spring photo contest. The heat and the biting bugs were a drag but man it paid off. I got over nineteen hundred wildlife trail cam photos in three weeks. I got my first bobcat photos, my first coyote photos and my favorite photos are four tiny cubs with their huge mother. I already posted some awesome photos in the 2013 Spring Round Two Contest of tiny bear cubs with the sow and a rare mid day bobcat in the sunshine. Now my question why did spring time bear baits do so much better then fall bear baiting?

[Gary Devine]

This is the link for the trail cam contest. The bear cubs are the smallest cubs I ever got on my motion trail cameras.


www.fieldandstream.com/contest_entries/1001489253/list

[Bioguy01]

There's not as much food available in the spring time, so bears will respond readily to baits and scent attractants. During the spring, berries aren't out yet, there's no mast crops, no row crops, etc...in fact, the spring is often when wildlife agencies have a peak in bear complaints because when bears are hungry, they will readily tolerate the presence of people to fill their bellies. Until fawns start hitting the ground and berries become more available, bears should be pretty easy to attract.

During the fall, bears have a plethora of foods to choose from...a real buffet if you will (deer carcasses and gut piles from hunter kills, hard mast, soft mast, row crops, etc.). As you can imagine, putting a bait pile in the middle of a buffet isn't going to do much good, but if you put a bait pile out when there's no food at all, you'll have every bear in the area visiting the bait site.

[Gary Devine]

Bio Guy, thanks for the explanation. You’re correct; more bears will break into homes and are wandering in the neighborhoods during spring time. The morning news had a large bear roaming in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Thanks again

[Bioguy01]

No problem. Good luck in the trail camera contest! I have a couple pics of my own I plan on entering when I get a chance to sift through my trail pics from this winter. I had one of a deer and a bobcat squaring off somewhere...I just gotta find it. :-)

[Gary Devine]

I have a friend who writes an outdoor column for a few newspapers. He said in September, the New Jersey bow hunters are legally baiting for deer and November the gun hunters are legally baiting for bears. There are no other bait piles and less competition for your trail cameras during the spring time.
Another good point is bears come out of the winter hibernation in the spring. They lost a lot of body fat and they are hungry. A food pile on the ground is easy Pickens for them.

[jhjimbo]

Gary,
Did you get the sow with 4 cubs entered in the contest ? I did not see it. Do you know the odds of 4 cubs?