“That’s not real hunting – it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.”
If you hunt bears over bait in Maine, you’ve heard this criticism. It’s time to address the misconceptions head-on.
Bear baiting isn’t a guarantee. Maine’s bear hunting success rates hover around 25 to 30 percent, even with bait allowed. Bears can detect human scent from hundreds of yards away and abandon active bait sites without warning. Many hunters never see a bear despite weeks of preparation.
Bait hunting requires the same core skills as any other method – reading terrain, understanding wind patterns and selecting proper locations. And the work is considerable – hunters spend weeks hauling 40-pound buckets through thick woods, placing stands and monitoring sites.
Bait doesn’t make bears dependent. In fall, they feed heavily on beechnuts, acorns, hazelnuts and late berries to prepare for winter. When natural forage is abundant, bears prefer it – sometimes staying in a productive beech stand for weeks. As a result, it can be difficult to get a bear sighting if your bait isn’t near natural feed, or if they do appear, it could be for mere seconds.
Bears at bait sites are no less challenging than ducks responding to decoys or turkeys coming to calls. Bears can identify the subtle sound of a safety clicking or see the quick movement of an arm raising a rifle to position, vanishing instantly at the first sign of danger. The hunter must demonstrate patience, marksmanship and composure under pressure. The animal has every opportunity to detect danger and flee.
Bear baiting operates on the principle of working with natural behavior to create ethical hunting opportunities, just as waterfowl hunters use decoys or deer hunters use calls.
Ethical hunting isn’t defined by method but by the hunter’s approach: following regulations, making clean shots and respecting the animal. Bear baiting, done properly, meets every standard of fair chase while serving Maine’s conservation needs.
Spend a week at a bait site and you’ll see how incredibly leery bears are. Low-light conditions, narrow shooting lanes and the constant risk of a bear catching human scent or movement all add to the challenge.
