My son and I have done well on our spot and stalk black bear hunts here in Washington, once we figured bears out, in 2010.
Last year I managed to call a bear in with a mouth-blown predator call, to about 15 or 20 yards, and it was AMAZING! I was so pumped, even though I didn't shoot it. John wants me to call a bear in to that close range for him this year. I'm going to try! He's taken two black bear but they were both longish shots at about 150 and about 320 yards, with his .30-06 rifle.
This time he has selected the .30-30 Glenfield topped by the little 2.5x Leupold and 170 grain ammo. I suspect we may just use Federal factory ammo, as it shoots so well from the little lever action.
If I take a rifle, I'll be back to the ol' black bear slaying .375 H&H Ruger Number One which is now topped by a 3x Leupold. Am looking hard at a pile of 270 grain Hornady Round Nose bullets, and also some ancient 270 grain Nosler Partitions. Probably load either to a modest 2600 fps or so.
Hunting area is maybe a 30 min drive from home. Season opens August 1st. We'll be hitting the range fairly regularly before then.
Guy, I called a few bears years ago with a Wayne Carlton bear call.It, and the accompanying video worked EXACTLY as claimed. And it didn't sound anything like a predator call! Whatever they think it is, they are coming in toil it, make no mistake. On the good news side though most of them just plain stop when you stop calling.
Note I said " most"....
"...the left considers you vermin, and they'll kill you given the chance..." Bristoe
Guy, I called a few bears years ago with a Wayne Carlton bear call. It, and the accompanying video worked EXACTLY as claimed. And it didn't sound anything like a predator call! Whatever they think it is, they are coming in toil it, make no mistake. On the good news side though most of them just plain stop when you stop calling.
Note I said " most"....
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
That's about how I was calling last summer when I brought one in. Worked amazingly well, I'm going to try it again! My son and I have taken several bears by spot and stalk, and this will add a new method for us.
I have called in a bunch of bears. I sure wouldn't be using a single shot rifle. Good luck.
I understand. It's an addiction I've got... This .375 Number One just feels so right in hand... It shoots great, and I've shot three black bear with it now. One was a bear wounded by another hunter, I followed it into the brush and finished it at about 10 or 15 feet. That got the blood pumping! Just had the Ruger to the range yesterday, been a while since I'd shot it. Making sure the old 3x Leupold is on. A bolt action or lever action would probably make more sense, but I'm just sorta hung up on this single-shot Ruger.
A good friend shoots a Ruger # 1 in 30-06 and he can fire/reload/fire/reload/fire/reload/fire faster, and hit, than most I know can do with a bolt action. Holds the cartridges between the fingers on his right hand. Seen him do it and win bets twice at the range.
The degree of my privacy is no business of yours.
What we've learned from history is that we haven't learned from it.
A good friend shoots a Ruger # 1 in 30-06 and he can fire/reload/fire/reload/fire/reload/fire faster, and hit, than most I know can do with a bolt action. Holds the cartridges between the fingers on his right hand. Seen him do it and win bets twice at the range.
Ya, I've done a bit of hunting and spent a lot of range time with this rifle. I'm decent at the reload.
Both that no.1 and old 30-30 are some nice old bear rifles.
I've got an old no.1 in 416 Rem I bought new in the early 2000's that I've yet to shoot. It would be an hoot to use but I've become an levergun guy and really want to use my model 71 348 rifles. I'm also addicted to 30-30 leverguns and even got bit by the 300 Savage.
I just have a couple of varmint calls I've had for coyote hunting for a long time. The one I used to call a bear in last year was supposed to sound like a doe or fawn in distress. Sounds like something doing some crazy squealing to me!
I just have a couple of varmint calls I've had for coyote hunting for a long time. The one I used to call a bear in last year was supposed to sound like a doe or fawn in distress. Sounds like something doing some crazy squealing to me!
Guy
Guy, you have a discriminating ear! IMO a bear probably has the same response as you, only he wonders if it might be something squealing that he can eat and it may be in trouble enough to make it easy to catch. I doubt that the bear thinks, "I can tell that it is a whitetail fawn making the sound rather than a mule deer fawn or a snowshoe hare."
FWIW, not particularly to you Guy, I wouldn't sweat too much about getting some precise call sound. Get a prey distress call that is easy for you to use and use it. The closest black bear I've called was with lip squeaks, no other call of any kind. I have called more bears with a fairly low and slightly coarse jackrabbit distress than any other sound, but that's because it is my always-with-me go-to call and I use it more than any other. At least that's what the call label says the sound is. I have other calls from other makers that produce so close to the same sound that it is hard to differentiate, and they are variously labeled hare distress, fawn distress, and bear cub distress.
When you hear real live wild animals making those sounds it is obvious that each different animal has more of a voice difference from others of his species than the difference between the man made calls.
1. The single most critical factor in calling a bear (or anything else) is to have a bear within sound of your call. Find a bear. Find an area with a bear in it and set up within sound range.
2. The next most critical factor is how you set up your ambush in the terrain, vegetation, wind and light conditions at the time. Ambush set up is way the most critical factor to actually see a bear that comes to the call and get a shot at him. MANY animals come to calls that the caller never sees and usually does not even know that they approached.
3. Next in sequence is to produce some kind of sound that interests the bear. The sound part is the easiest factor, very forgiving. For bears a fairly wide range of sounds will work, even wider for cats and canines. Just make a noise in the ballpark of sound range. Call makers and less experienced callers focus on sound.
This whole post is obviously IMO, but I have called quite a few bears and more than 30 species of wildlife, not counting any waterfowl. I do have preferences about calls, but my preferences are about how easy it is to blow, how much or little volume of air it takes to get it to make a sound, whether it will moan softly or only produce sound at higher volume, how loud it will go yet fade out to a whimper without cracking. I work over the reed on most new calls to get them to behave as I want. If it is a jackrabbit-hare-fawn-bear cub-human baby sound then I have confidence it will work to draw an animal, and if I do my part I may set up well enough to see the critter.
The Carlton bear call is a good one, and he obviously knows what he is doing.
Last edited by Okanagan; 07/07/17. Reason: improved flow & accuracy
My son and I have done well on our spot and stalk black bear hunts here in Washington, once we figured bears out, in 2010.
Last year I managed to call a bear in with a mouth-blown predator call, to about 15 or 20 yards, and it was AMAZING! I was so pumped, even though I didn't shoot it. John wants me to call a bear in to that close range for him this year. I'm going to try! He's taken two black bear but they were both longish shots at about 150 and about 320 yards, with his .30-06 rifle.
This time he has selected the .30-30 Glenfield topped by the little 2.5x Leupold and 170 grain ammo. I suspect we may just use Federal factory ammo, as it shoots so well from the little lever action.
If I take a rifle, I'll be back to the ol' black bear slaying .375 H&H Ruger Number One which is now topped by a 3x Leupold. Am looking hard at a pile of 270 grain Hornady Round Nose bullets, and also some ancient 270 grain Nosler Partitions. Probably load either to a modest 2600 fps or so.
Hunting area is maybe a 30 min drive from home. Season opens August 1st. We'll be hitting the range fairly regularly before then.
Guy
I envy you!
I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world itself is vexing enough. -- Col. Stonehill