Bear responded to Bill's Custom Call

Okanagan · May 22, 2011, 11:35:20 AM

Hey Bill, I used the closed reed call of yours on a black bear a few days ago after it spooked, and it stopped and circled back. I didn't get any pics of it, and didn't shoot it, and photobucket won't let me log in anyway, but the bear liked your sound!

Bills Custom Calls · May 22, 2011, 12:11:48 PM

Well that is great

Hey even though you don't have any pic of us bear hunting I sure am glad you took me along

Sounds like I did pretty good for an old man

John_NY · May 22, 2011, 10:20:34 PM

Sounds like a go to call to me.

John

FinsnFur · May 22, 2011, 10:24:44 PM

Ya gotta like that. At least he didnt run away, right Bill?

Bills Custom Calls · May 23, 2011, 06:02:59 AM

The bear was probably thinking What The Hell Was That I better go check that out

And to think that is one of my closed reed calls either way sound or the bear being curious
Keep posting them pics i enjoy every one

Okanagan · May 23, 2011, 12:01:47 PM

If truth be known, I suspect that a lot of animal responses to our calls are curiosity rather than that the animal precisely identifies the sound as a particular prey or specific communication from another animal. Whazzat? and Wassup? are OK animal responses as far as I'm concerned!

Sometimes animals seem to be fascinated to see and hear a human making such a noise, and though the food or other attraction may go down, the curiosity factor goes up. A couple of years ago a bow hunter with me stalked and killed a black bear while I sat in our pickup in close, plain view of the bear and blew a predator call every 10-15 seconds. The bear had dived out of sight in thick brush off the side of the road but stuck his head out again when I called. The youngish bear would look at me and then at the bowhunter easing closer on the old road, then back to me. Curiosity killed that bear. All I was trying to do was hold him in place rather than call him closer, to keep him from leaving till the bow hunter could get close enough and shoot. Can't recall at the moment which call it was, a Primos I think, because that was what was around my neck at the moment.

FOsteology · May 23, 2011, 01:03:35 PM

Nothing like a big animal/predator coming in to investigate! I had a large sow respond to my calling back in Saskatchewan a couple years ago. Sure does get the adrenaline flowing.

Okanagan · May 23, 2011, 01:29:34 PM

Quote from: FOsteology on May 23, 2011, 01:03:35 PM
Nothing like a big animal/predator coming in to investigate! I had a large sow respond to my calling back in Saskatchewan a couple years ago. Sure does get the adrenaline flowing.

Big critters incoming cause my bod to do a good job of cleaning out the pipes!

Where were you in Saskatchewan? Even approximately.

A few years ago in Saskatchewan I called in some bears for a resident who had never seen anything called, and we had one of those evenings when enough critters respond that it blows the mind of a novice. A whitetail doe and a bear ran in a few minutes apart on our first stand in timber, each of them crashing brush, but the wind shifted just enough to let the bear get our scent before the young man got a shot. He was pumped. On our next stand, backed into some thick brush in the edge of a small bushy clearing, we both heard something BIG coming through the thick stuff at our backs. My partner got to breathing so loud I thought it would scare off the incoming critter, but how do you silently tell a guy to calm down? I did nudge him and motion for him to raise his rifle to his shoulder because whatever happened was going to be swift and close. A cow elk poked her head out from behind a bush seven feet from him. He looked like his bloodstream was fuel injected pure adrenaline by then. Fun to call big stuff alright, as you said!

FOsteology · May 23, 2011, 02:20:23 PM

2008 I was way up North (crown land leased by our Outfitter). No town close by. We hired a plane in Ft. McMurray Alberta and flew an hour and half North.

There is a large working mine (uranium??) within the general area. A road (comprised of sand and gravel) that the mine workers utilize to reach civilization. The road ends, and from there one has to transverse multiple ponds/lakes for miles (4-5 hours by boat) before reaching the beginning of his leased land.

Funny story.... a couple years prior my friends were hunting the same place. They ran out of beer, and sent the cook to fetch some as I believe there's an outpost/small convenience store near the mine. He was gone three (3) days! He forgot to fill up the spare/additional gas cans for the motor and ran out of gas 1/2 back to camp. He spent the next two days paddling..... Oh, and he drank almost all the beer!

2009 I was hunting along the shores of Lake Ile A La Crosse. Not remote by any stretch of the imagination (right next to an Indian village). We had numerous visitors throughout our stay....