Calling Spring Bears

R

Ryan2009

New member
I got drawn for an archery spring bear hunt in AZ. I know it's going to be a tough hunt. It starts May 1st and the bears are just coming out of their dens I guess. Does anybody know if they will respond to predator calls in the spring??? maybe better than in the fall??? and which call would you use rabbit-distress??? fawn-distress??? bear cub-distress??? Any input would be greatly appreciated
 
Bears are not so much into eating meat in the spring when they come out, they need to eat alot of grass to clean themselfs out after that long nap, I don't think you are going to have the success that you hope to have in the spring.
The best call for the job would be the long drawn out howl of a pack of hounds putting that big black boy in a tree for you.
 
I think you are going to have better luck with Bear distress sounds than anything. But bears coming off a long winter are pretty focused on cleaning themselfs out (eating salad) for awhile. But again the highest success rate for killing a bear is with hounds.
Put some dogs food in front of a dog with a real bad gut ache in some tall grass and see which he will eat first. The grass or the dog food.
If I wasn't able to sit on my throne for 3 to 4 months I sure wouldn't be eating no steak fo breakfast.lol
Good luck to you and if you need some names of hound guys for back up let me know
 
Thanks for the info Devin. One of my best friends has an excellent pack of hounds in Pinetop, AZ. But unfortunately you aren't allowed to run bears with dogs in the spring in Arizona. So I'm limited to spot and stalk or predator calling.
 
Then I would go with the bear distress, the only problem I think you will have with that is you might call in some very angry sows, so be careful to take your Boar and not a wet sow
 
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You have a good point there. So maybe I should stay away from the bear cub in distress and go with fawn in distress or rabbit in distress????
 
Those boars will go to a cub in distress too, they want to just kill the cubs more than they want to eat them, its a territory thing. The thing you will have to be careful of is not getting a wet sow because she will not bring her cubs with her when she cames to a distress sound, she will send them up a tree. And it is very hard to tell a wet sow even in a tree standing underneath her. I still think you are better off using bear distress sounds.And later in the year you would have better luck with other distress sounds.
Calling in a animal is not very gender freindly. And if the laws in Arizona are anything other states I have hunted, you kill a wet sow and you are in trouble.
 
No there is no law in AZ against killing a sow. My hunt has a female harvest objective of 1. So after the first sow killed is reported the hunt will end at sundown the following Wednesday. So technically I could legally take a sow, but I would much rather take a boar. But just the experience of calling in a bear and shooting it with a bow would be awesome as [beeep]
 
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No it is not agianst the law in any state (that I know of) to kill a sow but a wet sow is illegal, I think you better check you local laws to be safe, there should be legal and illegal sows.
 
I know that but if she sends her cubs up a tree and then comes into the call by herself, you have no way of telling that she's a WET sow. Unless you saw her send her cubs up the tree I guess
 
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My point exactly. And as I stated before, calling a animal to a call is not gender freindly.Study on the different ways to tell a boar from a sow. Alot of young boars look just like a sow and alot of old sows look just like boars. Do your home work like everyone should before harvesting any animal.
 


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