[andrew]

Hello, I'm glad I found this site. What excellent advice. I'm hoping to get some more advice.

We have had our bait setup and running for about 4 weeks now. Bears are hitting it every night, starting at about 9:15pm-4:00am every day. We have pictures of at least three different bears. Usually all three visit every night, and we are having to restock our barrel daily.

We have at in our stand about 4 times now, starting about about 6:00pm, and staying till it's completely dark. We have yet to see this bear that shows up between 9:15pm and 10:30pm. Perhaps he is smelling us, or spotting us, hearing us, who knows. The nights we sit, he will come in about an hour after we have left. The nights we don't sit, he comes in the 9:15-10:30 range.

And to make things more complicated now, yesterday I had refilled the barrel at 3:00pm, and by 7:00pm they had hit it and eaten most of it. They have never hit the bait before in the daylight. (I didn't get pictures either because I forgot more film, that's why I went back at 7:00)

So I'm hoping to hear some comments/advice on what a good next step would be. Should I continue to sit until dark every night hoping he comes in early? Is there a way to get them to come in earlier, or maybe get them to start coming in the morning? Do you suppose they are close and know when we are there, and listen for us to leave, and won't come in until they do?

Thanks all!
Thanks,
andrew