What you need
- Used fryer grease. Restaurants and gas-station kitchens give it away or sell it cheap. Five-gallon buckets or jugs with lids.
- One bottle of Gold Rush. An 8 oz. bottle treats 20 to 40 gallons of grease.
- Your bait: pastries, trail mix, granola, whatever is legal where you hunt. Check the rules first.
- A spray scent for the trees and a Super Sweet powder for the pile, if you want the full setup.
The mix
- Pour 5 gallons of grease into a bucket with a tight lid.
- Add 1 oz. of Gold Rush to clean grease, or 2 oz. to grease that has been used hard and smells like the fryer.
- Shake or stir until the color is even. The whole bucket will smell like butterscotch.
- Keep the lid on until you are at the site. Mixed grease is exactly what a bear is looking for.
"I mixed up several 5 gallon jugs of grease with your Gold Rush to start bear baits. I put 2 jugs in my bait shed for the next day. That night the bears tore the door apart. The bears had never hit that shed before."
Art Hyde, NBC Guide Service, Cornucopia, WisconsinAt the site
- Pour a gallon or two around the bait: on the ground in front of the barrel or log crib, on a stump, and in a line down the trail bears will use. The grease soaks in and keeps giving off scent for days.
- Spray the trees and brush around the site with a matching scent. Butterscotch or Gold Mist keeps the whole area smelling like the barrel.
- Top the bait with a shake of powder.
- Take the rest of the grease home with you. Do not leave it in the truck bed at the site.
"I had a nice bear coming on a straight line to my bait. This bear was locked in to the Gold Rush. Then I hear a bear hunter's worst nightmare: another bear was way up at my truck and had climbed in. When I arrived I found my truck ransacked of all my Gold Rush mixed grease."
Norm Springett, northwest OntarioWhat to expect
Guides who start every bait this way report bears on camera within hours to a day. New baits that used to take a week to get hit are often hit the first night. Freshen the grease every time you visit, and switch the spray scent as the season moves. Which scent, when covers that.
"I started 4 baits with Gold Rush, and 2 without. The next day all 4 that I started with Gold Rush were hit. The 2 without took a few days."
Art Hyde, NBC Guide ServiceHow much to buy
| Baits you run | Gold Rush | Spray |
|---|---|---|
| One or two | One 8 oz. bottle | One 32 oz. sprayer |
| Three to six | Two bottles | 32 oz. sprayer plus a half gallon refill |
| Outfitter, ten or more | Call for bulk pricing | Gallon refills |