Educational call-in

[Bango skank]

Pretty much like this had that bear running right at me.

[Bango skank]

This here is about as frantic / panicked as ill be going anymore. 

[WapitiTalk1]

You’re rolling strong this year mister, nicely done!

[Okanagan]

Bango, Thanks for posting that.  Loved the call in story.  We learn a lot if we think about what actually happened, as you are doing.  You da man!

I would not disagree with your conclusions, except that not all bears respond to calls the same.  Some run in, some sneak in, most move downwind of the call sound as they get close, some pretend to ignore while moseying closer, some look longingly and don’t come any closer, and I've had a few run away as soon as I blew the call.  I've been fortunate to observe a number of bears from before the first call sound. 

Here is a parallel to your bear that reinforces your conclusions.



The bear in the pic above was coming in to a Rainshadow hand call that sounds rabbitish, and I was whimpering on it.  A hunting partner and I spotted the bear the first minutes of a hunt when he wanted a really big bear.  He decided not to shoot this one, so we experimented with calling. 

My partner had a yellow Psycho Tweety that he blew with loud frantic blasts.  The bear ran away.  My partner stopped calling after two or three blasts and the bear stopped within view, 130-150 yards away.  It acted nervous for awhile and went back to feeding.

We gave it several minutes of silence and then I tried the Rainshadow call and just whimpered softly on it.  The bear lifted its head and started our way immediately, and with some pauses and more soft whimpers, it came within 30 yards.

I vary the cadence, tune etc. with hand calls to imitate fawn vs rabbit, etc.  Recorded fawn distress and recorded black bear cub distress have also called bears for me, and the closest I've called a black bear was with lip squeaks.

[Bango skank]

That looks like a real pig there.  Ive wanted to try cub distress sounds, especially in the spring, so i bought a cub distress call online, but it sounds just terrible, nothing like an actual cub.  I have called in one bear with a basic cottontail distress call.  It snuck up behind me silent as a mouse, took maybe 5 minutes, 10 max.

[Okanagan]

I could be wrong but I don't think the exact call sound matters much if it is within a broad range of sounds critters will approach.  Like I said in my previous post, I called one way closer than I wanted with nothing but lip squeaks, trying to imitate a mouse.   If it sounds small and vulnerable they will come and if it is a weird offshoot of those sounds it will probably come out of curiosity to see what the heck is making the noise.

 Like you, some sounds just don't sound good to me however, and I don't use them. It is possible that an animal would like them.  You gotta like the sound you are making and have confidence in it and be able to stand its wail or whatever.  

Jack rabbit distress is my go to sound for almost any predator and if I only had one call sound for all of N. America that would be it.  Jack rabbit distress sounds like hare distress and so close to some sounds that are marketed as fawn distress and bear cub distress that I can't tell the difference and I don't think predators can either. 

The fawn bleat in your video of the fawn sounds like a killer good sound for bears.

Bears have a reputation of being inconsistent about approaching a call.  IMO that just means we haven't figured them out as well as we have coyotes and elk.  Also, some places tell us to call continuously or a bear will not keep approaching.  I had called several bears with intermittent calling before I heard that so don't hold that as an absolute either. 

You are waaay more successful than most bear hunters and callers and with posts like yours, we all learn.

 

[Machias]

Like you, some sounds just don't sound good to me however, and I don't use them. It is possible that an animal would like them.  You gotta like the sound you are making and have confidence in it and be able to stand its wail or whatever.  

Bears have a reputation of being inconsistent about approaching a call.  IMO that just means we haven't figured them out as well as we have coyotes and elk. 

I agree wholeheartedly.  I also think bears are much smarter than a lot of other predators and with the increase in calling over the last several years I think they wise up much quicker than a coyote and yotes can become call shy very quickly.

[Okanagan]

Makes me wonder how many times that happens that you never see them coming in...

A bunch of times!   

+ 2 !

If you make a circle in snow after a calling stand, it is often surprising what has come in, listened or watched from an unseen place, and then sneaked away.  I've had a cougar, a bobcat and coyotes come to rattling antlers, grizz to a wolf call, deer of all three western species plus cow elk come to predator calls,  lynx and barred owls to my voice made moose calls...  (No comments allowed on my moose calling ).

 Wish I had a silent eye in the sky to look all around while calling.  Lotsa stuff going on just out of sight.

[WildlifeAssassin]

Great info, thanks for sharing, nice work on your bears.

[Bango skank]

Like you, some sounds just don't sound good to me however, and I don't use them. It is possible that an animal would like them.  You gotta like the sound you are making and have confidence in it and be able to stand its wail or whatever.  

Bears have a reputation of being inconsistent about approaching a call.  IMO that just means we haven't figured them out as well as we have coyotes and elk. 

I agree wholeheartedly.  I also think bears are much smarter than a lot of other predators and with the increase in calling over the last several years I think they wise up much quicker than a coyote and yotes can become call shy very quickly.

I think being call shy from busting hunters may only be part of it.  Got to wonder, when they hear the "critter getting killed" calling, what an experienced bear may equate that with.  Danger?  Easy meal to steal?  Maybe a particular bear has stolen kills from coyotes that way, and would hear a dying critter and come in with confidence.  Maybe another bear has tried that maneuver before and run into a pack of wolves, a much bigger bear, or a real big tom lion, and now equates a dying animal sound with danger.  So does he go the opposite direction to avoid trouble?  Or maybe sneak downwind caitiously to scope out the scene?  Who knows?  So many possible variables.  I guess thats what keeps their reaction to calling unpredictable, and thats what keeps it exciting.

[Machias]

  Absolutely!!

[Okanagan]

I think being call shy from busting hunters may only be part of it.  Got to wonder, when they hear the "critter getting killed" calling, what an experienced bear may equate that with.  Danger?  Easy meal to steal?  Maybe a particular bear has stolen kills from coyotes that way, and would hear a dying critter and come in with confidence.  Maybe another bear has tried that maneuver before and run into a pack of wolves, a much bigger bear, or a real big tom lion, and now equates a dying animal sound with danger.  So does he go the opposite direction to avoid trouble?  Or maybe sneak downwind caitiously to scope out the scene?  Who knows?  So many possible variables.  I guess thats what keeps their reaction to calling unpredictable, and thats what keeps it exciting.

You are on to something there.  I hadn't thought about it but the individual bear's experience, especially recent experience, probably influences his response to a sound.

Hmmm... 

I think that “recent experience” applies to the bear that I called close with lip squeeks.  A friend and I were backpacking and came on a log torn open and a mouse nest pulled out onto the trail.  It was raining lightly and the mouse nest was dry so we knew that a bear was very close.  We spotted him feeding on huckleberries 40-50-yards upwind of us.  He quickly fed out of sight.

My eastern friend had never seen a bear before so I tried to call it back to give him another look.  Thinking about the mouse nest, I lip squeeked in my best mouse imitation.  Instantly the bear was running straight toward us.

I think that bear had mouse squeaks fresh in his memory.

[RugerRay]

Congratulations on bear #2 this year. Cool story, and good info you passed along as far as calling techniques.