All encompassing calling black bears thread (like the old calling tactics and sounds but for bears)

[Newpond0]

It has been my experience that bears come to a predator call very differently than most other critters. Of the several bears that I have called, only one came right out in the open where I could see it. That was a small cub, and it came right down a dirt road and I really believe would have walked right up to me if the Airedale laying next to me hadn't barked!

Of the others that came to the call, I never would have known they were there if not for my dogs who winded them and told me they were there in the brush.

 

[Newpond0]

Bullwidgeon,

If you have been seeing bears in the drainage you are hunting and the food supply is still there for them they are most likely still around.

Keep watching those food sources. The bears are bound to be somewhere close by. I have lots of times seen the same bears for days in a row in almost exactly the same spot, if there is a good food source to keep them in the area.

I don't know what it is like hunting bears in AZ but here in Idaho a good foraging area will bring in bears year after year if the food supply is there.

Try to be in rifle range of the spot you think a bear might be feeding that way you won't have to spend precious time trying to get within range. If this is possible in the area you are hunting.

Be patient and look hard you will eventually connect. Think to yourself, "If I were a hungry bear where would I be" You just have to be in the right spot at the right time.

Good luck, hope ya get one

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[Newpond0]

Totally agreey with Lonny. This time of year the bear will be where the food source is. They will continue toi feed until the food soure is gone. Make sure you ae still seeing frest scat. If so sit tight and stay is the area the bears will not be far away. While there site nay not be taht good their smell is outstanding. Be causious of where you set up and keep the wind in your face.

 

[Newpond0]

Krazyhorse, I have only called a couple bears and have only harvested one so my experience is limited.

Bears like steady calling so a electronic caller may be handy. Bear vocalizations or fawn distress probably will work best.

Increase the length of your stands to 45 mins or more.

Manage your scent well. A bears nose is it's best weapon.

Call areas heavy with bear sign and thick vegetation. Bears are reluctant to cross open areas this time of year during the day.

Can't think of a lot more. Others will add to it I'm sure.

 

[Newpond0]

I have called in 2 black bear here in Pa in 2 years. Both while coyote hunting. The last was yesterday evening about 1/2 hr. before dark. I just walked back a couple miles on an old logging road near the center of a large tract, where i had found a lot of coyote sign the previous year. I hunt with a shotgun so i hunt thick areas which aren't hard to find here, esp. this time of year. I called 3 short series in a period of maybe 10 minutes. I heard a twig snap behind me and turned around looking right into the face of a good size bear! At approx 15 yrds! My heart started pounding and my stomach actually hurt instantly. (nerves i guess)I instinctively turned my shotgun his direction, only got it moved a couple inches before he was gone in a hurry. Darkness was coming quickly and i had planned on hunting after, i took a small red lensed light, but decided not to call in the area at night until the frost opens things up and also puts some leaves on the ground so i can hear. I called one in last year at night, not pleasant. Thought i'd have to go home for dry fruit of the looms. Just saw rear end entering a laurel thicket when I hit him with the light at about 25 yards. yesterdays was called with a circe cottontail, the other a johnny Stewart cottontail tape. Too many hunters during bear season here to try though.

 

[Newpond0]

Pomoxis,
I use e-callers for calling bear and i let the machine run continuisly from the time i start a stand and until i get up to leave. I make all of my stands at least a 1/2 hour in lenghth even a hour if i'm near fresh bear sighn. When calling bears as soon as the sound stops they stop so keep it going. Yea i know kinda hard with a mouth call hey

also like i said keep the volume loud,i have never had a bear shy away from volume even when they were right in front of the speaker,although lately i have been toneing down the volume when i see or hear a bear comeing in.

I'm going to attempt to post a pic of a called bear i hope it works

 

[Newpond0]

Aaron, by all means take your calls along on the bear hunt. I've called black bears in Washingotn State, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, all with the same old Weems Wild Call. It has a jack rabbit voice in it that sounds an awful lot like a mule deer fawn, and will make a good fawn bleat if you quaver it. I usually set up in really thick timber, with grassy lanes or small meadows, but always so that I can see downwind, because the black bears tend to circle downwind when they get within 40 yards or so. One in really thick timber in Sask. circled downwind and then climbed about 8 feet up a tree to look over brush at me from 25 yards out.

I blow the call for 10-20 seconds every minute or so, tapering to at least once every three minutes, and for bear I'd stay 45 minutes. The same sound and sequence has been deadly on calling lynx also. I think most any prey sound will do for bears, and that your ambush set up is far more important than the precise sound you make.

Bears have arrived within five to 15 minutes usually, but sometimes longer. They seem to be fairly easy to call. Last spring in Sask. I only called at two stands on one afternoon, and called in three bears, one within 15 yards in underbrush so think I could only see part of him. One time a huge boar 1/4 mile away across a valley would turn his head to look at the call sound, but wouldn't leave his berry patch. So we stalked him. It is sometimes hard to evaluate size of called bears since they don't like to pose in the open and will use cover in their approach.

 

[Newpond0]

I've called in 12 bears so far. None last year cause I didn't get out for bears. I call one in about every 40 times I try. I have called then in with a javelina call--once, a cow elk call from Primos-- once, and 10 times with a Circe 3 in 1 call. I like the Circe mid and long range and really crank it up and put ALOT of agony into the call. I call NON-STOP for one hour, although most of my bears have showed up anywhere from 6 minutes to 40 minutes. I normally hear the really big boars coming in. The others are not there one second and the next they are staring at you from 15 yards, can be alittle unnerving...

) in heavy ferns. I always put a watch out in front of me so I can keep an eye on the time without taking my eyes of the surrounding area. Always seems like I've called alot longer than 1 hour. I have the Wayne call and I think it produces good raspy sound. My problem with the call is it wears me out. The Circe is much easier to call for long periods of time. Fred

 

[Newpond0]

I have the one month old and four month old bear cub distress on my WT caller. I have had some good results with these sounds.
I do not care to kill another bear and only use these when I have someone here that wants to get a bear. Some of my more exciting bear stands have been with these sounds. I think these would work very well in the spring, but I have never drawn a spring bear tag. Our best bear areas here are in the timber and thick cover, the same areas we hunt bobcats. I have called more bears with the bear cub distress than any other sound, but it is hard to get the caller
more than 30 to 40 yards away from me. I can get the bears in close, but they almost always wind me before I get them out where I can see them. I have only had one bear slip in close on me before I knew it was there, and that happened at night while calling bobcats with a fawn distress.
That bear came in behind us. He was 15 to 20 yards away when he winded us. He scared the crap out of us when he EXPLODED through the timber making his exit. I have had fun with the bear cub distress when I have a new guy here calling bobcats at night with me. We can't shoot bears at night, but it is fun to show guys how well they respond to that sound.
On one occasion, I had three bears coming in from three different directions. They were making lots of noise, and my friend kept whispering, "Turn the light on, turn the light on."
Bob

 

[Newpond0]

Jay, I rarely use mouth calls any more. And that is really not too much success since I have not been able to get most of the bears out where I can see them. Rich Cronk and I were on stand together in September, 2000. I was using the bear cub distress. Played a few bawls and then paused to listen, then played it again. We heard rocks slide downhill from us. A few minutes later, we heard slow deliberate footsteps coming downhill right behind us. Leaves and pine needles crunching and twigs snapping. Then there was silence. the bear never came on in, and we never heard it leave.
Bob

 

[Newpond0]

Originally posted by pomoxis:
I was wondering if calling during the middle of the day would be worth my time during the spring hunt? QUOTE]

I'd call bears any time of day that I could. I'm not expert but I've called several black bears and one grizzly, in two Canadian provinces and one state. Black bears don't seem to stir around as much early in the morning, and all that I've called have been in mid day or late afternoon. It seems useful to figure a black bear is like a teenage boy, sleep late and eat every chance he gets. I like to call in timber or small clearings, some less than half a basketball court, but you have to be able to see downwind.

Heck yea go as often as you can. I'd be going mornings and mid-day & evening right till dark

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[This message has been edited by timberking (edited 03-26-2002).]

 

[Newpond0]

Steve,
I use deer in distress or fawn in distress sounds and different bear voc's such as cub distress/adult bear killing cub or fawn. Bear calling has worked fantastic for me i'm totaly addicted!!

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Bearmanric,
I have had great success with the fawn distress,adult deer distress and cub distress. All of the above sounds have called bears in for me and friends that i have taken out bear calling. I just finished my "home made" caller and have over twenty good bear calling sounds on it,some of them are adult doe distress,bear killing an adult whitetail doe,bear killing a whitetail fawn and bear killing cub. I can't wait till fall as i have one relative with a tag and two hunting buddys that drew tags also,the mosquitos and black flies are terrible here right now so i'm waiting for some cooler weather until i get out calling...

 

[Newpond0]

Brennan, I wouldn't start scouting until a few weeks before you can hunt. Bears change food sources as the spring and summer goes by. They will follow the greenup line in the spring taking them higher in elevation to the newest freshest grass and other plants they eat. As the berries ripen at lower elevations they will drop back down to start eating them. Then following the ripening berries back up in elevation. They will travel a good distance to find what they need to eat.

If you can locate some good berry patches or abandoned orchards in the early fall these are bear magnets and they will come from miles around to get the fruit. Find the food and you will find the bears.

Lonny's right on, they are not likely to be in the same spot at the end of April as they will in Aug. Even during the season from Aug to Nov they change areas sometimes very quickly. I fyou want to scout, if the snow is gone go look at the old berry patches, find likely avenues of approach or old activity and look for stands in those areas. Good luck. Fred

 

[Newpond0]

I worked a long ridge line at 9000 ft calling down into draws or likely slopes. I was using a loud, deep toned, wood, closed reed mouth call. I started out calling for about 2 minutes then called for 45-60 sec every 5-6 minutes for an hour. Did a flat toned waaaaaa for 4 seconds doing a full sweep from one side to the other. No doubt sounded real good going down those draws.
Fifth call of the day brought this big male in. He just appeared out in the open 125 yards out and 100 or so feet below me, just out from some cover. I hit him just behind the shoulder but got no exit wound. Had to track him for awhile. Even after waiting 30 minutes he took me down 850 feet before I caught up with him.
It was quite a walk out, I'll leave it at that.

Thanks guys.
I think the only way to go is calling them in. On three of the calls the brush was tight enough that I had the .44 Redhawk in my hand, not the rifle. That was rather exciting in itself. I plan to use Barnes 150 gr solids next time in the .270 and switch to something much more heavy and solid in the .44.

 

[Newpond0]

Patncor,
What i do is play the tape LOUD and let er run for the full 1/2 hour or whatever your tape is. I stay for a minimum of a 1/2 hour per stand and longer in good bear country,when you stop calling the bear will stop running. Out of all the bears i've called in and seen only one has snuck in on me the others sounded as tho they were horses running through the woods,i do turn the volume down once the bear is spotted. You might want to consider a decoy also,the fearless fawn by feather flex is a awesome decoy. i'm going to be picking up their bedded doe decoy to use this fall as well and i think that will also work great. As far as the mouth calls go use the same routine as with the e-caller just keep and eye open when calling /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif i would use a fawn bawl type sound like a looooooong drawn out Waaaaaaaaaaa Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa instead of the sound that Wayne Carlton uses on his video. good luck,

 

[Newpond0]

I start with a low volume, whether I'm using a mouth call or tape. Decoys are a great addition. I call NON-STOP for a minimum of 1 hour, normally if it's a smoking hot bear area I call for 1 and 1/2 hours. If you only call for 30 minutes you will miss several bears. I slowly increase the volume till I'm going full bore. I would say 8 of the 12 I have called in snuck in. My experience is smaller bears sneak in and the larger the bear the more noise, as I think they sometimes are trying to intimidate whatever is eating the animal in distress. This is not a hard and fast rule as the biggest bear I have taken was standing there looking at me from 15 yards before I ever knew he was there. Good luck and keep us posted. All of my favorite bear areas in Northeast WA don't open until 3 Sep. Talk to you later. Fred

 

[Newpond0]

The second season opened up here in NM on the 25th. That morning I was ready having rucked in 2.5 miles the previous evening and prepared for a three day stay at 9000ft. Called all the first day but with hounds running things all over the valley below me nothing came in.
Day two I woke up to backward winds (rain coming in) and after rethinking the plan I made my first call about a mile away. I had seen a nice 6 x 6 the night before there on the walk back to the sleeping bag. Side slope of the hill, mixture of pines and scrub oaks, with the wind coming cross slope.
I set up in the thick with an opening and a trail 75 yards downwind. The first series was about 6 minutes long on the open reed. Blew a second series of ten, 5 minutes later. Just after that I spotted him right in front of me down in the thick. Got the gun on him but couldn't tell what part I was aiming at in between all the trees so I held off. He slowly worked his way downwind circling me (love it when a plan comes together)and getting closer to the open area. He presented a nice, 75 yard broadside shot a minute later.
I walked the 5 miles back to the truck, got the sled, drove closer, walked back in (up I should say), and hauled him out 2 miles. All this took 10 hours.
Smaller in weight (75 lbs less)than the last one but surprisingly only an inch shorter(6"1") and 3 inches wider (6'10") across the front paws. I think the lack of body weight (225) was due to bad teeth.

Critt-R Call Magnum worked the best. Loud and low.
I'm doing the tanning myself. Don't know if I'll put a skull in them or not.

 

[Newpond0]

I am no expert but I get to hunt with one. Bearmanric(on this site) called in my sons first bear.
He calls alot like coyotes, maybe a little more careful about approach etc. He called my sons with a mouth call, he is using both now, the mouth to agument the electronic.
use lots of scent, don't move. We are lucky to be able to hunt areas we know with a good population of bear. So we just pick a likely looking spot. In one area we see bears every time, sometimes in the logging roads.
Use enough gun, make the first shot count cause they are VERY fast and tough.
Rick and I are going coyote calling this weekend I hope to learn alot.
Good luck
Carl

I like to take Bearmanric and say "is this a good place to call? then when he says it is, ask him where he will sit, where I should, sit, and wait fer a bear. LOL
fawns, bleats, goats, lots a predator distress sounds, bear cubs.
Be careful of cover scents in washington, anything, anything, that can in any way be construed as a lure, bait, attractant, is not legal.
good luck
Carl

 

[Newpond0]

the way i do it in washington is by first locating habitat. bears need water, food and shelter. just like we do.
look for old growth timber and good year-round water sources. locate food sourses such as berries apples and ant hills. once i found a blackbear turd that was big as my forarm. it was in apile with other large turds and all that was in it was black ants and pine needles. obviously he licked and lapped at an an mound. it was dry that year.
when you find lots of fresh bear sign,....then drive logging roads and watch open areas early mornings and late evenings.
by the way. both bears i killed this year were killed a couple hours from noon,....one about 10:00 am and one about 4:00 pm. so dont let anyone tell you that bearhunting is only good in the morning and at night.
before i hunted bears i didnt ever see one in the wild.
after having hunted them,....i've seen a dozen or so. you just have to be out there looking.
a good place to start is in large basins with lotsa water. i focus aound the top third towords the ridges in the mornings and evenings. then in the thick stuff in mid day. once a man told me he has found bears in midsummer lying in the creek staying cool.

 

[Newpond0]

Two springs in a row I called several black bears up in the Nipawin area. It was all in the woods, either thick timber with heavy undergrowth or wide open fields, and the bears preferred to stay in the timber. We drove and walked back roads till we found a concentration of bear scat and other signs, then set up and called. Last trip up there I only called at two stands on one afternoon. Got one bear within 15 yards the first stand, and two within 30 yards the second. A hunter could have shot all three with a rifle, though only one of them really came into the open, on an old road. It was small but a pretty light chocolate colour. The other two were shootable but we couldn't really tell how big they were, though the first one was a pretty good bear I'd judge by how high his back was above some grass.

Had a photographer with me that time. The year before I had a local hunter with me and we tried three stands all together, on two evenings, and called in one bear. The wind shifted away from our shooting lane on the stand when the bear came in, as the bear closed to within about 25 yards. That wind shift let him circle downwind out of sight behind brush and smell us. Keep an open area down wind of you, so the only way the bear can smell you is to come into the open. Some cover in the open area downwind, like scattered small bushes in the clearing, makes it less exposed for the animal and more likely for him to circle through it to get your scent. Sometimes bears come in noisy, sometimes they sneak. These are all close range stands in forest I'm describing, no long shooting, and smack in the middle of HEAVY fresh bear sign: scat, tracks in mud, trails trampled in fresh grass, etc.

I think when a bear is working a bait, if he is not there during shooting hours, he won't be far away. You can probably call him in by calling near the bait stand, maybe even from it though I never tried that. After we called one of those bears, we found a guide's bait stand about 400 yards away. The guide told us later that he wasn't using it any more that year since they had killed a couple of bears at it. Bears were still working the area.

I've never hunted over bait so can't add much there. It looked to me like the guide let the bears smell a lot but not eat much, stuff in steel drums with holes only big enough for a bear's nose and tongue. I've called a fair number of blacks and a few grizzlies but never shot bears by any method except spot and stalk (and nuisance bears by whatever method opportunity offorded). Good luck.