Bear study baits

Just wondering if those of you involved have had your baits hit yet, I plan on checking mine tommorrow.

had 3 of 4 hit. 2 verifiable bear. The other I think was a bear, no claw marks in the tree though..A big old popple. A broomstick sized branch below the bait box was broken off though, and the box was torn apart in the same fashion as the other two.

Every one of mine were hit. Every single one I was able to confirm as bear. Which is a good thing. It should help the population numbers solidify a bit. That is, if others results are the same. In any case, there was not a single bait in Vilas county in the last study. At least a few bears have been tagged now.

Had two of four hit. The two not hit i didn't expect anything, not much for bear country. Crop fields and no woods, fence rows real narrow.

There is a list of contacts for each area under their notice on the DNR website.

I tryed to get invalved in this study,but the price county dnr biologist e-maild back about five week later and told me the plan,then I told him that I am vary interested in this and would like to help out,Then he never got back to me. I hope he puts more effort in this study, then what he did in signing me up for this bear study.

I guess I don't watch the "press" enough. Contacted my local wildlife biologist yesterday via e-mail...unfortunately after office hours. We'll see if I hear anything back from them or if it's already too late in the going.

There was all kinds of press releases looking for volunteers for the study. Was even on the local new here. Just had to call the dnr and volunteer to do it.

Certainly did give a better understanding i'm sure to some about the population numbers, and why the huge spread. In the last study done. Vilas county did not have one bait out in it. The bear here became part of that +/- 5000 in the population total. Many other gaps in the study as well. With more baits covering the entire normal range. A far better population model should come out now. In theory anyway.

well no hits yet. Give em another week i guess.

I saw in WON that they were looking for volunteers. The local chapter of the Isaac Walton League became involved so it worked out great. I did some bear studies while in college so this kind of gets me back in the saddle. Going to hang mine this weekend. Had to give the ticks a head start so they are ready for me. 'Special sauce'? From Arby's? I've got some stuff left over from last fall yet too. Hate to use too much of it or they might eat the boxes before they get to the marshmallows!

I just got an email about it, i think from being subscribed to a bunch of DNR notifications, that's how I got in to it. I'm not a WBHA member. I think I'm going to check mine today, and like the wildman said give em a little more lure if needed.

I whipped up a little anise/ special sauce / smoke concoction I'm gonna try.

Then we (me and my twin 3 yr olds) are going to pursue the royal redhorse.

Those of you participating the study, how did you become involved in it? Is it just a deal set up through the Wisconsin Bearhunting Association, and members of the club can volunteer or what. I'm somewhat familiar with the study.....just not sure how people can be involved in it.

I'm a bit more familiar with the research being done with the collaring of bears throughout central Wisconsin these last few years. Have been in contact several times with Karl Malcolm, the UW-Madison grad assistant who was running this show. Was able to see some of the data he collected of a bear that was frequenting my area over 2009. To learn about the travel of this bear was really neat.

I know 2 of us have not bothered to check yet. Was going to give them at least a week before checking them. Plan to smoke them up a bit more if not hit. May take awhile for them to find them like normal. Especially if you only used the smoke they gave you. Weather most likely washed it all away by now.