Author Topic: Calling bears  (Read 8555 times)

Offline fly-in

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Calling bears
« on: Aug 17, 2008, 10:56:16 AM »
Has anyone ever tried calling in a bear with a distress call? I have seen it on DVDs but I would like to know how well it really works.
I have 80acres of land that I live on and I really don't want to bait them at home (it is legal where I live) I don't want problems with bears on my yard. But if I can call them in then I don't think I will create a problem with them getting use to people.

I did have a bear on the edge of my yard this week. My dogs were barking so I went to see what they were barking at, the one dog I had tied by the house and the other was barking into a row of cottonwood trees that are between my yard and a field. I thought maybe a muskrat or a groundhog? but when I got closer I saw she had a bear up a tree, the bear looked like a good size, my guess is it was about a 350lb sow? the ears were alittle big that's why I think it was a sow, but the head was big too.

I was thinking about forgoing deer archery and hunting bear with a slug gun, but if I shot one I would have a bill to pay to have it made into a rug so I will have to hold off for this year.

Offline pooley

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #1 on: Aug 17, 2008, 01:59:52 PM »
if you don't mind doing the work, there are kits you can buy to do it yourself.

Offline HuntinFool

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #2 on: Aug 17, 2008, 08:08:47 PM »
dont even buy the kit man...just do it yerself with salt....only takes about 1 week. if you got a good hand for skinning bears that is. ill never take any of my rugs to be to the Tax... its really pretty easy....ive got a full explanation on this site in the general hunting forum.
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Offline Giovanni

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #3 on: Dec 15, 2011, 11:54:52 PM »
Calling for black bears works (see pics below). If you are familiar with predator calling then this will be a piece of cake for you......if the bears cooperate! Use your basic hunting techniques, know your area, watch the wind and try to make it easy for the bear to come in or show itself.

You need not worry too much about camo or concealment if you are hunting with a rifle. If you hunt with archery equipment you will want to be scent free, camoed up and concealed a bit.

I usually hunt by myself, in jeans and t-shirts, sky lined on a stump with a rifle. Sometimes I have a partner sitting 50-200 yards away depending on terrain and area. I also like to "camp" on a spot. I figure if I am here today and the bears aren't, then I am one day closer to the day that they will be there......if I am I could connect. Some guys do well by hitting different spots everyday, but I often wonder, "What is going on at that spot".

My main hunting area is so thick that you are lucky if you see 1/10 of the critters you hear. Normally I cow call (to cover noise) my way into an area and then sit and listen for a couple hours. If I hear a bear feeding then depending how close or fast a bear is moving I will start cow calling or fawn in distress. If the bear is leaving or far away I will call soft moving to hard very fast.

I used a Burnham Bros C-3 Long Range call for many years and more than half the bears I have called have come to that call. But I found that I could buy 3 of the same calls and each would sound different. If the sound is not right then I am not confident. Now I am making my own calls with the sound that I want. Don't get me wrong, I think that bears will come in to any distress sound, but I have a sound and style that has worked for me and I am afraid of change.

Offline sra61

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #4 on: Mar 13, 2012, 05:31:55 PM »
We called bears in Idaho when I outfitted there. I had a guy I knew that was on Wayne Carlson's "Pro-Staff", that came out and spent quite a bit of time one spring playing with Carlson's Bear Call. It seemed to work best when the bear was fairly close. We never did really "cold call" a bear in, but we did have bears come running in. One time right on the trail we were sitting on! When they came they tended to be aggressive. They thought there was food there, and they intended to eat it. We even had bears that were downwind that would spook and still come back in when we started calling again. I would never use it up here in NW Montana, though. We have big bad Grizzlers up here that I wouldn't want that excited. It definitely works. Like all things not every time, but I would keep a call handy, to use just in case. Just one more tool. Tools are good. :D
This one came in to 7 yards.

Offline JetsOrBust

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #5 on: Mar 14, 2012, 09:02:23 AM »
Does anyone know an internet site where you can buy a Carlson's Call?  I did a quick google but nothing seemed to come up.

Also, for people that have used it do you need a lot of practice or is it fairly easy to make an attractive sounding call?

Offline CAPTJJ

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #6 on: Mar 14, 2012, 09:32:14 AM »
Try searching for Carlton's Bear Call. ;)
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Offline sra61

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #7 on: Mar 14, 2012, 04:45:31 PM »
It's basically just a predator call, but I think it sounds more like a elk calf or deer fawn screaming. Just blow it the same way you blow the predator call. One thing we noticed was that when we could see the bear approaching from a distance, if we stopped calling the bear tended to lose interest. If we kept calling they kept coming.

Offline flintlokusa

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #8 on: Mar 23, 2012, 09:22:55 PM »
http://www.bear-hunting.com/index.cfm      this is a bear hunting magazine, they have a couple calls listed in the store , hope it helps. By the way great magazine worth getting a subscription
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Offline EricWil21

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Re: Calling bears
« Reply #9 on: Nov 20, 2018, 10:13:11 PM »
I've heard of Carlton's Bear but never really tried it before.  Good to know there are other options and a magazine with other choices.

 


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