Next up on our “To Do” list was to set up for hunting. Fred uses both treestands and ground blinds. The first area we went to the bait was torn up and Fred and Frank Vrandack from northern Wisconsin set up a treestand for Frank to hunt.
The bait logs were thrown all around and Fred took a bucket of bait and tossed it on the ground.
At each bait site Fred and Robbie Cramer from Fort Worth, Texas heaved to and placed the heavy bait logs back on the bait.
When each bait was completely covered by the logs and then they stacked even more logs on top. A bear would have to work a little to get to the bait goodies.
Fred concocts a real tasty spread for the bears, a balance between sweets, meat and Fred’s Secret Sauce. The bait buckets were prepared at the truck and taken to the bait sites.
Fred also uses pop up ground blinds at the hunting sites.
Years ago Fred and I experimented with Double Bull ground blinds to see if they would work on bears … and if it would be safe for Fred’s bearhunters to hunt from them, particularly first time bear hunters.
We didn’t know if the blinds needed to be brushed in or not. The do for deer and don’t for wild turkey, we didn’t know about bears. One year we even put two blinds up together, one for me and one for Fred to video from. Our conclusion was that we didn’t have to brush in the blinds.
Below is the Primos Dark Horse blind that Fred set up this morning at a site we call “Caution.” This area produces bears every year.
We spent two days running baits and setting up to hunt on 35 sites. Tomorrow, August 15, the Ontario Fall Bear Season officially begins.
We are ready. Hang with me and I’ll tell (and show) you all about what happens.
