cottontail or fawn distress

[winston2789]

hey guys, im gonna test my luck calling in some bears this weekend. just wondering what opinions you guys have on different calls. anyone have experience using cottontail or fawn distress calls? thanks

[bearmanric]

are you talking hand call or ecaller. hand call nice and raspy. ecaller . deer ,fawn, goat. bear cub jack rabbit or snow shoe hare. and elk for sure. Rick

[saylean]

Some of the bear experts on here will more than likely have better info as I have only been calling since last year....

But I have had success on elk calf in distress, fawn and rabbit. The key is, to set up correct (watch the wind, find a good point to be able to see whats coming, dont move) and not lose patience. I like to use fawn or calf in distess for bear mostly, as I think it is a bigger meal and therefore may attract bigger predators more often....a rabbit is a small meal for a bear and therefore may not interest it as much...but a fawn/calf...might be worth really checking into...that is solely an opinion.

Bears will sometimes take quite a while to come to a call...up to an hour or more. If you are in an area where you believe there are bears, keep at it.

Give the call heart, meaning, try to really sound like you are getting torn up. Use emotion in it. Sound exhausted while you are winding down your calls...try to set up a situation for the animal in distress in your head and go off that (broken leg, caught in a fence, yotes are ripping into it, lost and lonely, etc)

Also, be ready, cause you never know what may be coming, and how hungry they are. Good luck to you and have fun.

I should say, I was referring to hand calls. I use Primo and Sceery calls, but I am sure there are other great ones out there...and made by hand available on this site as well!

[winston2789]

rick, i have a lot of hand calls, but i also have a fx-5

[bearmanric]

sold my Fx5 yesterday awsome caller. i have the open country coming today. made for bear and cougar calling. it has a 100 sound's. i will be using fawn sound's alot. adult deer, elk calf and cow talk. bear cub indistress and got maybe. use a raspier course call. put emotion in it. good luck. Rick

[tlbradford]

If you got a hand call, something that doesn't use a lot of air is a must.

[TeacherMan]

I've never called one in with a rabbit call, but I have on accident with a fawn call, I was in the Mt. Spokane unit a few years back trying to fill my B tag, I was sitting back up against a big stump in a clearing about 30yds from the edge of some thick timber blowing a fawn distress call when out of the timber came a bear straight at me, not running but walking right at me, I stopped calling picked up my bow and didn't move. I was hoping the bear would go broadside, I waited and waited at 10yds I drew, he kept coming at 5 yds I drilled an arrow into his chest sinking it up to the fletching. The bear let out a god offal growl and spun in a circle. I spun in behind the stump quickly. He ran off about 200yds into the clearcut and died. Once I changed my pants I went out and looked at him. The only bear I've ever shot with a bow. Not in a hurry to do it again. 

[billythekidrock]

hey guys, im gonna test my luck calling in some bears this weekend. just wondering what opinions you guys have on different calls. anyone have experience using cottontail or fawn distress calls? thanks

Lots of good info and I think Saylean gave alot of great advice.

I have had success with both rabbit (cottontail/jackrabbit) and fawn distress, but don't count out cow/calf talk/distress.

[winston2789]

thanks guys for the good tips and advice. i will let you know how i do this weekend.