Post by: steeliedrew on August 03, 2014, 10:01:39 PM
I've often thought that on hot days the bear(s) in this area must be spending some time down in that creek bottom. I've been discouraged with this spot this season because I haven't found any bear sign in the few times I scouted whereas last year I found sign galore in there! I decided to give it a go today though and I'm glad I did. I was 25' up in the tree around 2:00pm and I sat quietly observing until 6:00pm. Then I pulled out a Primos distress call and began a calling sequence. I'd call for 30 seconds to a minute and then rest for about a minute before calling again.
20 minutes into the calling session and I hear a really loud SNAP behind me on the down hill side of the road. I blow the call for a few more seconds and then I hear some more branches breaking and brush moving from just across the road!!! Then I hear a couple really loud and very pronounced HUFFS!!! At this point I was unsure of what to do cause I had the bear right there but could not see it so I went silent. a couple minutes went by and I see the bear pop out into the clear cut on the downhill side of the road. The bear was about 100 yards out and I was hunting with the bow. Once I saw him I began calling a bit but he just slowly walked away and I lost him.
So I'm wondering where I went wrong? Should I having started calling like crazy as soon as I heard that first branch break and even more so when I heard the bear huffing? I'm kinda thinking it may have winded me because it did come from down wind of me which I'm guessing is pretty classic for a calling session?
I'll be back in there ASAP and this time maybe with the 12guage with some rifled slugs. In the mean time though let's hear suggestions on what I should do next time.
Thank you,
Drew
Post by: jrebel on August 03, 2014, 10:11:48 PM
Post by: h2ofowlr on August 03, 2014, 10:14:09 PM
Post by: jasnt on August 03, 2014, 10:21:28 PM
Post by: steeliedrew on August 03, 2014, 10:33:09 PM
I'll take the wind into consideration with stand placement and I like the idea of finding a stand location that would force the bear to come out into the open to get to me. I've been into this area probably 15 times in the last couple years and I've figured out the prevailing wind in there finally so I'll have to do some poking around in there.
Thank you,
Drew
Post by: BenC567 on August 03, 2014, 11:20:22 PM
I ran into you a few years ago near a cement bridge on a logging road. You were on a bike and I was on foot. If you are in that same general area pm me and I'll direct you where I saw the most bear sign last time I was there.
Ben
Post by: RadSav on August 03, 2014, 11:36:16 PM
I call very few bear in using coyote techniques. For bear I'm almost non stop. At a level most coyotes would have left the county. Only time I very from that is if I am starting off with cow/calf calls, then lost calf calls and then calf/fawn in distress. But once I get to the distress call it's pretty much nonstop.
I'm sure there is more than one way to skin a cat (or bear ;)) Maybe Billythekidrock or Bearmanrick will chime in and give you a different idea. I think they have cold called more bear than I have. I use the call a lot more for setting up the shot for a client, wife or friend than actually cold calling. Maybe only ten or twelve of my bear have been taken cold calling. And none of those were archery kills.
Post by: steeliedrew on August 04, 2014, 03:12:40 AM
Drew,
I ran into you a few years ago near a cement bridge on a logging road. You were on a bike and I was on foot. If you are in that same general area pm me and I'll direct you where I saw the most bear sign last time I was there.
Ben
Ben,
I remember meeting you that day. The spot I was at last night was on one of the other gates up there. I really appreciate the offer though.
Thank you,
Drew
Post by: billythekidrock on August 04, 2014, 06:20:05 AM
I usually experience the huffing along with a hang up with sows and smaller boars. It could be that they don't want to rush in without identifying what is causing the fawn to be in distress.
The problem is the bear has heard the call, investigated and is now disinterested. how do you get it's interest again?
What has worked for me in these situations is to call harder, louder with more emotion and even another call with a different tone.
Think of it like this, your baby is in the other room and starts crying. You go in to check and see nothing out of the norm so you let the baby cry itself to sleep. A few minutes later the baby is screaming with that gut wrenching tone that makes you leap out of your seat to see if it is ok. That gut wrenching tone is what you need to get the bear interested again.
I agree with the comments about trying again from another tree. Also if possible, a small electric call at the base of your tree would help.
On the calling frequency, I would probably not wait nearly a minute between calls, but if it worked for you keep doing what you are comfortable.
Post by: steeliedrew on August 04, 2014, 08:05:57 AM
Post by: Ripper on August 04, 2014, 09:19:07 AM
Post by: RadSav on August 04, 2014, 12:22:28 PM
I had a bear hold up in a spot I could not shoot. After about five minutes the bear decided it was going to head off in a different direction. With nothing to lose I figured I would make the bear feel as though the distressed animal was easy to steal from a smaller animal. So I did a few young coyote yip yips. I then added some pulses of volume in the distress call like a small coyote just couldn't kill the little bugger. It definitely changed the bears interest level. And while he did not RUSH in he did continue toward my direction. He'd come ten yards, stand up and look, come another ten yards stand up and look... At 150 yards I figured that was good enough and put a Core-Lokt in his chest the next time he stood up. Not sure how close I could have gotten him to come. But it did peak interest when I thought the gig was up.
Post by: steeliedrew on August 04, 2014, 12:33:07 PM
Post by: billythekidrock on August 04, 2014, 05:41:15 PM
I had a bear hunting partner that was not confident in his calling ability so we always hunted together. I always wanted us to hunt separate areas as it would double our opportunity and we could keep tabs on more areas.
I finally convinced him to go to a spot on the east side of a road and I went to the west. I got hung up in real thick brush after a short hike and headed back to my truck where I saw my partner sitting on his tailgate. I asked why he was back already and he made a comment about not being able to kill a bear.
He had gone in part way, climbed on a stump and started blowing some cow calls on a name brand bite call. After a few minutes he stopped, grabbed a few huckleberries and had a bear growl at him from the grade only feet away.
This bear came in silent from the downwind side. He could not see the bear through the Alders and Salal and he never heard the bear come in or leave. Had he not stopped to grab a few berries he would have jumped to the road and right on top of that bear.
So he heads in a little farther and climbs another stump with the wind in his face. This time he starts blowing cow/calf distress with the same bite call. After a few minutes he felt the need to look behind him and saw a bear about ten yards from him. The bear had turned and was walking straight away. Again, this bear came in from the downwind side.
I figured that the bear was more curious than hungry and probably wasn’t that spooked so we made a plan to hunt that spot the next morning.
The next morning I went to the second spot and he went about 40 yards farther hoping to see a little more of the area. We could hear a bear feeding a hundred or so yards away but there was not way we were going to see it at that distance.
I started calling with some soft cow calls and then tried to sound like a lost/lonely calf. After a few minutes we could still hear the bear feeding in the same location so I started in with some calf/fawn distress. Immediately we could hear the bear breaking logs/limbs but it would not come in. I continued with the distress calls and the bear continued letting us know it was not happy and it would not budge.
I was excited but also a bit perplexed as we had a bear that would not come in, but it did not leave. I knew the cow calls would not pull him in and I knew that the distress calls got a reaction so I figured I would put them together.
I waited about 5 minutes while the bear went back to feeding. We could hear it feeding away slowly. I started with a few quick/loud cow calls and went right into calf/fawn distress and as I was getting to a fevered pitch I immediately switched to a closed reed call. I hit it as hard as the reed would let me and put as much emotion in it as I could. After about 30 seconds of this I tried to listen for the bear but my ears were ringing. By th time I could hear the bear had covered half the distance. I could hear it coming and I knew where it would likely pop out at about 70 yards. I stood and shouldered my rifle at the same time but it was too late. The bear was in the opening looking in my direction. I raised, pulled the trigger and shot high.
Anyways, after all that the gist is that it took three different styles of calling with two different calls, but I found a sequence/tone/pitch/cadence that made that bear respond.
Other takeaways from this story include:
Bears may come in downwind.
Bears can be called in multiple times.
They may ignore you.
They may come in fast
They may come in out of curiosity.
Be willing to try something new or different.
You need to find what triggers that bear to respond.
Post by: bear hunter on August 04, 2014, 06:57:41 PM
Post by: Buck_Nasty11 on August 04, 2014, 09:42:23 PM
Post by: steeliedrew on August 04, 2014, 11:10:22 PM
Should of used a rifle on the first bear of the year and picked up a bow for the 2nd one. :chuckle:
I wish I had the .458 socom upper for my 5.56 AR this year! :) Other than that I've got my 12 guage that I might get some 3" rifled slugs for before the next hunt. However, even with a rifle last night there was an alder blocking any clear shots into the clear cut the bear walked into.
Here's the funny part. After replaying everything in my head a million times today I realized that the bear popped out literally right under the tree that I had originally thought of climbing! I think I'll be climbing that one next. :)
Post by: RadSav on August 05, 2014, 01:43:48 AM
But you change that stand location you might end up shooting a bear with your gun at 15 yards! Seems nearly every time I ditch the bow for a rifle I kill something at less than 30 yards. I built a long range 7mm as a class project in highschool metal/gun shop class (obviously that was a long time ago!) I shot two bear and a deer with it before I sold it. I think the combined total distance was less than 80 yards :chuckle:
Dang it if you do. Dang it if you don't!