Calling for Eastern Black Bear

[AlabamaMountainMan]

I know this is primarily a western thread, but has anyone tried calling black bears in eastern states such as Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, etc? I was watching some Stone Glacier hunts in Alaska and calling seemed to work very well for them using fawn calls. I have seen quite a few other youtube channels where calling has really worked well. It got me thinking that it may be a good strategy to try over here. Especially if I can find hot sign.

If some folks have tried it and think it works, do you have any recommendations on animals/calls to imitate? I have a white-tail fawn call and a wounded rabbit call I have used in AL for coyotes and have had some success so I THINK I can make some good enough calls. I have also had coyotes come in to turkey calls so I could mix those in as well.

 

[Eleven]

I was messing around one fall afternoon in VT doing some moose calls while working on my property. Had a decent blackie come to it. I would bet that a fawn call would work.

 

[AlabamaMountainMan]

I was messing around one fall afternoon in VT doing some moose calls while working on my property. Had a decent blackie come to it. I would bet that a fawn call would work.

That's very encouraging to hear. Did it come in cautiously or fairly aggressive? I have seen a mix of responses on youtube footage, but the majority seem to have come in running.

 

[Undrcoverrednek]

I haven't tried it, but I seem to remember reading that calling is much more effective in the spring. During hunting seasons in the east they have plenty of mast and aren't as interested in the meat. Can't hurt to try though.

 

[Eleven]

That's very encouraging to hear. Did it come in cautiously or fairly aggressive? I have seen a mix of responses on youtube footage, but the majority seem to have come in running.

Well, I was running around doing various tasks, not being stealthy at all and he still came in looking. I didn't see the approach, but all of a sudden he was there about 40 yards away looking around for the source. I’d say aggressive enough. If I had my rifle with me I would have taken him.

 

[medvedyt]

not that southern east but i did try calling in the forest in quebed and it did not work while it worked a lot on berries field so it will depend on time and they way they are feeding with a good food of source or not ...

 

[AlabamaMountainMan]

not that southern east but i did try calling in the forest in quebed and it did not work while it worked a lot on berries field so it will depend on time and they way they are feeding with a good food of source or not ...

I am assuming it will probably work better in years the white oaks don’t produce all that well so food is more scarce.

 

[RADunfee]

It hasn't worked for me in the fall in GA. They'd rather be popping akerns and hickories.

 

[bigbassin]

I’ve seen this pop up in some local forums before, basically everyone that tried during bear season (fall) had no luck. One guy had a pretty good story of doing it in the spring hunting coyotes and had one come in closer than he probably wanted it to.

 

[nomadicbohunk]

I live in VT for now. We'll move back out west in a couple more years. When I'm out here I want to get a New England bear. I've been on a quest. The work I do is on my own time so I have lots of time to hunt.

VT has tons of bears with no baiting and fall only seasons. I did the still hunting thing a few years where they were at with no luck. So I switched to calling. I've tried calling in the early season (September) a bunch of times (over 20 days with multiple hour long sets) with no luck. I'm talking in places with lots and lots of bear sign. Bear nests, fresh scat, tracks, etc. They're generally hung up in corn then and have zero interest. I've tried in areas deep in the forest too with no luck. You can legally use an ecaller on bears here and that's what I use. I have a really good one. I'm not going to dig out the files now, but I'm sure I use fawn and moose in distress. I think the issue is corn is always around, and if it's a bad acorn year it seems to be a good beech year. Everyone I know who's gotten a bear either shot it off their compost heap or got it stand hunting corn.

It does work sometimes. I know one of the moose guides here called in a big boar last fall for a client when they were moose hunting. There's way less mast and corn in the areas where most guys hunt moose. The forested areas I've given it a try have been in the GMNF at higher elevatations than the private. I think I'm still too close to corn and mast.

If anyone is curious, I've gotten pretty serious about this the last couple years. I baited on private in NH two years with no luck. I did get photos of a couple bears checking out my empty barrel within a few days of when I put it out. Those were the only photos I got. To laugh, when I drove down to pull my bait, I also drove to a property we own near NYC in CT in a very wealthy and fancy town. When I was a half mile from the property a no joke 300-400lb boar that would have totaled my truck ran like 20 feet in front of me. It was discouraging. It reminded me of hunting deer there and going directly to the library from the stand (1 mile). There was a 140's whitetail eating plants at the library.

This year I'm going to be baiting two sites in Maine. I just really want to get one DIY. Baiting is kinda fun though. It's something different. I have the most over engineered camoed barrels you've ever seen so I'm having fun with it.