Bear calling story from today, Caleb called a bear

[Okanagan]

My young hunting partner who started calling with me in late January and called his first coyote and shot it soon after, called a dandy brown colored black bear this afternoon but didn't get a shot.  He's on his second tag after killing a black one in early May.

He told me the story by phone a few minutes ago.  He and another young friend were hunting bear and saw a big brown colored bear in the old logging road when they came around a bend at midday today.  The bear dashed off the road into thick brush, running hard.  Caleb decided that they would try to call it.  He didn't want to spook it more so kept driving and gave it an hour to settle down before they came back.  They parked well away and set up on the opposite side of the road from the direction the bear went.  Caleb set up his friend to take the shot when the bear crossed the road and went 70 yards farther.  He sat in brush and timber with his back against a tree and started calling with a closed reed fawn/rabbit prey sound.

Two woodpeckers came in, and then something started breaking brush as it circled behind him.  His heart started pumping and he got scared, and then a mule deer buck charged out of the brush stomping and blowing at him.

After the buck left his heart rate settled down for awhile, and then almost 25 minutes into it something started crashing brush closer and closer, stopping and starting, but staying in a belt of super thick brush that ran up within ten feet.  He was sure this was the bear and aimed the rifle at the sound while continuing to blow the call, holding it in his mouth.  

It got silent and he was past time when he'd told his partner they would quit, so he got up and walked to his friend.  The other guy was PUMPED.  He had been looking around instead of paying attention to the road and at almost 25 minutes he glanced back at the road in time to see the same BIG brown bear walk across before he could get his rifle to bear.  It was headed straight toward Caleb and already very close.  They tracked it to within 20 feet of Caleb later, but he never got more than a look at moving bushes and maybe a bit of fur.

Caleb was shaking, and started shaking again as he told me.

They saw three bears total and four moose today.  He is either incredibly lucky or incredibly good or both, and he is definitely STOKED on calling stuff!

[pitw]

  Sounded like Caleb wasn't the only stoked one at the story .  Good for him on getting the bear to cross the road.

[HaMeR]

Had me waiting for the BANG too!! That would be cool to call a bear & get the shot off.  I would be shakin like a leaf too. 

[FinsnFur]

Well now's he's got that under his belt
Next time were gonna see him standing over a pile of bear fur

[iahntr]

Very cool !!     

[coyotehunter_1]

congrats: That's a call in they will both remember for years to come. 

[Okanagan]

Caleb phoned me not long after 7:00 AM this morning to say that he called and killed a coyote this morning at dawn after calling the bear yesterday afternoon.  He'd been waiting since 5:15 to call, trying not to phone too early!  

This young man has so much fun and gets so excited that it is fun to kind of relive my early hunts through him.  He learns fast because he is unusually teachable.  He listens and tries out suggestions rather than needing to flaunt his growing knowledge.  Also, he goes after it, and really tries.

Re this morning's coyote:  Some friends of his family have an 80 acre farm where coyotes have been a problem this spring, cutting up their dog recently etc.  They invited Caleb to hunt coyotes on their place.  Shotgun only area.  Caleb and I talked about how to call and hunt the mostly hay fields and I suggested lying in a ditch and lip squeak only the first time, to kill one or two before he used his main calling sounds.  Here is his emailed account, below:

At 5:03 I was walking down the lane at the edge of their field beside the ditch and as I was looking around for a spot to make a stand I noticed two coyotes at the end of the field about 300 yards away. I didn't know whether my cover was blown or if I could still pull it off. So I quickly sat down in a ditch going across the field and began squeaking with my lips. They both stopped and first looked in my direction then began running toward me. One was on the same lane that I had been walking on and the other was cutting across the field. Every once in a while they would pause and listen and I would give them a little squeak.  The one came right in to 23 yards and the other stayed out at about 70. I wanted them both but I didn't want to be greedy and lose them both (and I panicked a bit)  so I shot the first yote with my 00 buck shot and he fell right over. Then I lobbed a shot at the second but he was too far.  He ran away across the field.  I will get him next time.

As it stands I have now called in humming birds, woodpeckers, ravens, a buck, a bear, and four coyotes.

BEST WEEKEND EVER!!!

[HaMeR]

That's cool!! Congratulations to both of you. I feel it's a joint effort. 

[Dave]

They sound like some exciting hunts.  20 feet away!  He never has to worry about heart problems after that stress test. 

[Frogman]

Sounds like a great kid!!  And a good hunter!

Jim

[vvarmitr]

That is just awesome on calling the bear!     That sends thrills up & down my spines.

Then he goes out & nails a coyote. 

Musta had a good teacher! 

[Okanagan]

Musta had a good teacher!  

You bet!  

Of course you know what they say:  "Them that can, do.  Them that can't, teach!"