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

[Newpond0]

Quote:
Ok so say you are out hiking/glassing for archery bears in the spring. You have just spotted a bear feeding on grass on a hillside across the canyon from your position. Do you sit down right where you are on the opposite ridge and attempt to call that bear across the canyon and hopefully have him go down in the canyon and then up your hillside to your position??? Or would you go down in the canyon and attempt to call the bear down into the canyon??? Or try to sneak around and get up on the ridge above him and call him uphill to you??? Any tips or input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance



Bears are alot different animals than any other animal. Bears are not so curios like a bobcat and a coyote,kind of the difference between a whitetail and a angus cow. A bear is in his own little world and not much shakes him up or gathers his intrrest.
I have been running bear all my life and even with hounds a bear does what he wants to do, if a bear doesn't want to go up a tree. He wont. I dont care how many hounds or how much grit they have he wont.They are at the top of the food chain and they are like the big bully at school, they do what they want and there is no rhime or reason.
You will have just as good of chance calling him from where you see him as you will from anywhere else because if he is going to come he will come but if he is not he wont no matter where you are.
I dont think you are getting the responce you would like because not many people call bears, Most bear hunting is done with either hounds or Bait stations. In Alaska they spot and stock but they are mostly doing it over a good food source. You are taking on a very hard task that not many have been successful doing , not imposible but surely not the most successful way of hunting bear.
If Arizona doesn't have spring hound hunting and has no baiting, I would call the game department and ask them what is the success rate in thier spring hunts and ask them what most hunters are doing. I would bet most of it is just dumb luck

 

[Newpond0]

I had always run bears with dogs,until MN outlawed dogs. we had to start guiding hunters over bait,I have been a caller for over 20 years and have only called 2 bears, both were ,more or less, by accident. Devin is right,you are "bitin into a big bone" it can be done, but you are in for a certain amount of discouragement in the process. As for bears runnin down hill, just watch one that has 8 dogs on his hind end, they can "haul the mail" uphill or down.
Your best bet when you spot a bear, is to stay put,and try to call it in, watch what he is doin and react accordinly. There are no "rules" for any calling, and bears will do whatever they want, with no reason to it.

 

[Newpond0]

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

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

 

[Newpond0]

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 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

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.

 

[Newpond0]

I have this DVD called "They Come To Eat" by Wayne Carlton.
It is awesome and it got me interested in calling bears though I haven't tried it yet. Where I live there ain't no bears. Was wondering if there is anybody on here that has done it that has a good story to share? Also do you ever use bears sounds for calling or stick with distress.

I travel to and hunt bears in Canada but just haven't tried the calling thing yet but would like to. Any info on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Newpond0]

Not sure how many of you do this, but I try to cut open the stomach of as many bears as I can, especially when we are not sure what they are feeding on.

Years ago I saw the contents of 3 bears that were killed the same week within a couple miles of each other and they all had completely different things inside.
One had nothing but red huckleberries.
One had a stomach full of Salal leaves (looked like salad)l One was full of wood pulp and grubs.

In the past I have also found fawns, cambium and even surveyors ribbon.

Fall bear full of Evergreen huckleberry.

Spring bear full of grass and Salmon berry flowers.

Spring bear cambium.

Spring bear surveyors ribbon and grass.

I have also found mushrooms in a bears stomach. Usually only a few at a time but never full. That would make an interesting picture.

 

[Newpond0]

Find good fresh bear sign, I personally like to call in an area they will be comfortable coming to the call, meaning not too open. I start off calling softly in case I've slipped in close to one. I increase the volume and intensity until I'm full on screaming and really pouring on the emotion and pain. Remember your imitating something being caught and eaten or struggling to get free. I call almost non-stop for up to an hour. Put a watch out in front of you where you can see it, an hour is a long time to call. I like coarse loud calls, but plenty of different types of calls have called in bears. Watch your backside, as the medium and smaller bears will slink in and be standing there next to you before you hear anything. Good luck.

 

[Newpond0]

A few weeks ago I was calling cottontail distress and saw a cub running around about 75 yards not really comming into the call or away just running back and fourth dont really know what it was doing. I switched on bear cub brawl and a sow came into about 10 yards, I was calling a metro unit where only shotguns are allowed, needless to say, I wont be calling bears in that unit. The #4 buck doesnt seem so big when you get a sow huffing that close.

 

[Newpond0]

Calling bears is like calling anything else, Be in the right place, at the right time, with the right sound.
"SIMPLE".
Bears respond sometimes slow, and sometimes real fast.
I have only called in a few, but always called around a food source, so I could get a shot in the daylight.
I have used rabbit, deer fawn, and (my secret), a coon squall.
I won't waste time "cold callin", I always find a bear first.
Hope this little bit helps. If you want, give me a call.
Duane 1-541-589-1621

You have to keep an open mind, bears lots of times come in more out of "curiosity" than anythin else. The coons sounds have worked for me. Can't say I really know why.

 

[Newpond0]

Really amazing

 

[Newpond0]

Another suggestion, find a wallow that bears are using, or a meadow where they are eating grass, skunk cabbage, wild onions, so forth. and use a climbin treestand, It's real tough to "cold call" a bear. They have the attention span of a ten year old boy. But if you find a spot where bears are feeding, or coming for water on a regular basis, you will have them. Just a fact, bears need water once a day. If its dry, water is a huge bear magnet.

Last year I found a area by a beaver pond where there was lots of scat with skunk cabbage.Up in the heights I seen plenty scat with salal berries.

 

[Newpond0]

Years ago when I was serious about spot and stalk hunting black bears in NW Montana we never found much sign or had much action until May 15. The same time we need to take the cows off the meadows and go to grass in the hills. Like clock work and was not effected by the weather.

Maybe it has changed, but I doubt it.

 

[Newpond0]

Just wondering if these in scent looking things that send scent filled smoke into the air are a gimmick. A buddy gave me some to try this year


Mark 2

I use the berry ones for cover scent. Work good. Friend has the dead fish ones...

wife kicked him outta the house till he took his clothes off... or so I was told.

 

[Newpond0]

Thought I would share a experience from earlier last week.

An old hunting buddy came up to the place earlier this week and wanted me to call in a bear for him so we took off in my jeep up to the start of a old skid road that lead up to a 8 yr old clear-cut on a steep hill. I decided to take my bow since he carried his 300 win mag in case of a elk or nice buck showed up. Once we reached the clear-cut both of us sat down and started to watch for any activity and about two minutes into this I thought I heard a cow elk talking so I pulled out my diaphragm call and gave a couple of cow calls but no response so I thought maybe I just mistook some bird call for a elk. After about thirty more minutes of sitting at the lower edge of the clear-cut and not seeing much it was time to move into a calling spot for bears. After walking further up the skid road I just happened to look up the road and a cougar walks across the road and into the brush about 60 feet ahead of us. I tell my buddy and we go up to where it crossed and start scanning the hillside, my buddy spots it on the hillside about 70 yrds away and points it out to me, the cat was going thru the fairly thick brush but could catch a glimpse of it every now and again. We started talking about what a great surprise that was when all of a sudden about 15 feet behind us a cougar comes out of the brush and scrambles across a old log in the road, I give chase to try to tree it but I guess the cat figured I was a 204 lb weakling and so wasn’t intimated in the least . After cleaning ourselves up a bit after that encounter we figured that the 1st cat I saw had crossed the road and was crouched down in the thick brush just off the road all the time we were standing there. I remembered that the Foxpro had some cougar sounds on it so we set up to try to call in one of the cats. The call ended up exactly 51 yrds from where we decided to sit but at a somewhat steep downward angle but couldn’t find a better spot without exposing ourselves in the clear-cut. I found a sound called a cougar whistle so I played it once (realizing that was what I had mistook earlier for a cow elk) and also got a immediate answer from 2 different locations on the hillside where we glimpsed the one earlier going thru the brush. So now we had three cougars in the area that we knew of. I used the cougar whistle several times over a twenty minute period and got responses back that were closer each time. After about the thirty five minute mark using the whistle wasn’t getting a response and I was wondering if they might be near the call but just crouched down and watching kinda like what a bobcat does so I tried a sound called cougar in heat, immediately a cat came screaming and growling out of the road it’s ears laid back and was eyeing my Foxpro like “what the heck is this”? The cat was so intent on the Foxpro I stood up and pulled back, put the 50 yrd pin right behind its shoulder and watched the arrow as it sailed 1 inch over it’s back. We called some more but nothing else came in. I went and retrieved my arrow and let my bud give me a hard kick in the [beeep]. When we finally settled down I told him that I really didn’t mind that much about missing since bringing home a cougar would have only been a small part of a overall great experience and he was in total agreement. But I think I am now hooked on calling cats and may have found this winter’s sport.

 

[Newpond0]

Keep in mind,

If you shoot a bear with it's leg forward,don't hug the leg/shoulder tight on the shot. It is very easy to shoot in front of the vitals esp when the bear is angleing away. The leg forward is more for bowhunters so you don't clip the leg/shoulder. I prefer a broadside with leg straight down and shot tucked on the edge of it about 1/2 up the body.

Fall bears are easyier to see the body outline due to short hair. Spring bear have long hair which ads alot of body size that is all hair. Seen many guys try heart shoot a bear only to get all hair,or no vitals.
Good luck.

 

[Newpond0]

I've called in bears here in Alberta. I haven't used the Foxpro just hand calls. I don't cold call. I find some fresh sign and set up where I can see a ways. It's good to have a second shooter or at least a spotter. It's impossible to hear them coming in if you are blowing on hand calls.
I use distress sounds, fawn works well. Blow loud and loud. I call nearly continuously. Bears seem to have a short attention span, and I've watched them come in, only to stop and seem to forget what they were doing if I stop calling.
This can work to your advantage as it will give you a chance to look him over and decide if you want to take him. It also gives an opportunity to check for cubs.

Usually they wander in but occasionally one will come on the run. If you stop calling they will slow down or maybe get up their hind legs to check around.

Good luck.

BTW I never bother gutting a bear. I skin and use the gutless method for field dressing. I think bear roasts are well worht the effort.

 

[Newpond0]

I'll get back to you on that.It is in my car right now.The reason that I have high hopes is that before work one morning,we stopped for coffee,and a guy said a sow and two cubs were treed over by our sportsmans club.We drove by and sure enough a big bear went over the bank.We stopped to look at it.It was walking back and forth,about 40 yards down the hill,and would not leave.My co-worker said that he thought he could imitate a bear cub.He started bawling,and this bear ran us right into our truck and was acting like she was going to try to get in.About then a state trooper came and sounded his siren off and it went back over the bank.She was grunting and popping her teeth while she was outside of the truck.And you would have thought she knew her cubs weren't there.But that convinced me that a bear will come to a call.

 

[Newpond0]

Yotes2Call,

I can tell you a story that is about 20 years old. A guy I knew named Leo, who is now deceased had baited bears for years and years in Washington State. He had been baiting a bear for my dad, and the bear would only come at night after my dad had left the stand. Leo told my dad that they needed to mess with the bear's head. Leo had been baiting with donuts back then. They went to the grocery and Leo bought like 4 bags of the big marshmallows. He went back to put the bait out for the night and walked down the trail that the bear had been coming in to the bait on. He went 3-400 yards or so and started dropping marshmallows about every three feet. He did this all the way to the bait and then right next to the bait was a small pine tree. He made a marshmallow tree by sticking the marshmallows all over it like a Christmas tree.

My dad hunted the stand that night, and after a couple of hours he saw the bear coming up the trail. He said the bear would see the next marshmallow and go and eat it and the next one and the next one. He said the bear's eyes got real big when he saw the marshmallow tree and he went for it. My dad shot the bear standing up as he was picking marshmallows off the tree.

Leo said that the marshmallows made him forget about the hunter in the treestand only think about eating more marshmallows.

Don't know if this would work for ya...of course if he finds that first marshmallow...look out.

 

[Newpond0]

Don't know what works out there. I just called my 3rd black bear in 2 years this past Saturday using fawn distress while coyote hunting. The first two were with the FoxPro during spring/early summer and this last one was with one of the more popular diaphragm calls in a double slash model. They weren't my targeted animal, but they sure did come looking hungry and easily got close enough to shoot with a rifle or bow. All 3 were in the thick woods between pastures too.

 

[Newpond0]

I had 5 years of history with this color phase, notched ear boar…
This bear showed up to my bait area the first time in October of 2012 after I’d taken another mature boar in September.
He was already bigger then my 55 gal bait barrel !

For the next few years, I only ever got 2 daytime pics of him right before dark settled in. He was a smart old boar and very keen to the baiting game I think.
I believe he knew things weren’t quite natural and only visited during the cover of darkness from 2012 to early 2016.
I have 10’s of thousands of pictures and countless hours of trail cam video from that time frame.

During the first part of the 2016 Fall season here in Wyoming, he showed again and I got my first morning pictures of him days before season started.
This got me very excited that I might get a chance at him. Over the next couple months, we played cat and mouse with each other. I started thinking that I needed to try to call him with my FOXPRO CS24-C in the evenings.
We are very lucky here in Wyoming and can use our FOXPRO’s to call everything but waterfowl. He had showed a few nights within about 30 minutes of sunset making me realize he had to be hanging close by and maybe the call would get him in before shooting light faded.

I got to my stand early, set out my CS24-C close to the base of a tree about 43 yards away from my stand and let things quit down for about an hour.
I started off with a few cub distress and then did some jaw snaps/huffs. After a few times doing this, I looked at my watch and knew I had about 20 to 25 minutes left before dark.
I caught a movement from the corner of my eye and there he was !! 8 to 10 yards away from the base of my tree. He was standing there looking around for the other bears that were making the sounds. He crossed right in front of me and circled the caller down below. Finally, he moved to the left and I got a good shot at him. He didn’t go 20 yards after the shot. The FOXPRO did it …. After five years of waiting, watching and hoping.

He measured 7'3" long and 476 lbs his skull is 20" plus. Will be back shortly and will be measured dried.