The bear was roughly 50 yards away and you called as hard as you could? That bear was probably running as hard as he could away. I imagine you absolutely scared the crap out of him.

I ALWAYS start off my calling softly and work my way into full blown, all out, as hard and as painful sounding as I can. When I have a bear coming to the call, I tone it down, volume wise the, closer it gets. I'll sneak up 30 yards from you and crank out a distress call and you tell me what your initial reaction is.

I've called in 15 bears so far, killed 3 of those myself and a person I was hunting with killed one. I also missed two bears, one with a bow and one with a 30.06 at 25 yards.

Not every bear I have called in gave me a shot. Not every bear was big enough to kill. It's not automatic, but it has happened with enough frequency I have high expectations every time I set up and call. I keep notes on all my calling setups and I average a bear roughly every 20 hours of calling.