Nocturnal Bear, California

[Warmsy]

I think we've got this bear nailed down to the super steep and brushy ravine that feeds into the creek. My buddies and I spent the last couple days clearing tails trough the slash field, and we set up a trail cam on one of the main trails. Sounds like there's one large bear, and we saw fairly small tracks in an adjacent area.

We tried a fawn distress call two times in two days, with no success.

We're going to leave the area alone for the rest of A zone season and try to get our deer. We caused a lot of ruckus and disturbance.

Our last ditch effort will be trying to flush him or her out of the ravine and up onto the ridge where I'l have shooting lanes. Has anyone tried a drive like this?

Thanks for the tips. I feel that we're much closer to getting this bear.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Guys in the east do drives like that. I don't know how efficient they are.

Ultimately it sounds like a waiting game to me. It probably rarely kills anything because there's so much feed everywhere. Risk vs reward is low for it to come into a call when it could just sit in a patch and chow down.

I'd find water that has the most sign then sit it, or find a path that has a lot of recent sign then sit that.

If your winds good and he's walking through eventually he will go by. You just need to be there when he does. Unfortunately time is usually on their side unless you've got a depredation problem bear.

 

[David Gough]

I think we've got this bear nailed down to the super steep and brushy ravine that feeds into the creek. My buddies and I spent the last couple days clearing tails trough the slash field, and we set up a trail cam on one of the main trails. Sounds like there's one large bear, and we saw fairly small tracks in an adjacent area.

We tried a fawn distress call two times in two days, with no success.

We're going to leave the area alone for the rest of A zone season and try to get our deer. We caused a lot of ruckus and disturbance.

Our last ditch effort will be trying to flush him or her out of the ravine and up onto the ridge where I'l have shooting lanes. Has anyone tried a drive like this?

Thanks for the tips. I feel that we're much closer to getting this bear.

Sounds like bear country to me. What stubborn_bowhunter said - be there when he is. You will almost always hear them coming through the brush. If you do a drive he may not stop to present a shot. Once a bear smells you and/or sees you up close, they're gone.

 

[MeatBuck]

Sounds like bear country to me. What stubborn_bowhunter said - be there when he is. You will almost always hear them coming through the brush. If you do a drive he may not stop to present a shot. Once a bear smells you and/or sees you up close, they're gone.

Like three ridges away on a dead run kind of gone.

 

[Warmsy]

Checked the trail cam. POS didn't capture anything at night, but we found fresh tracks on the next property over- front paw about 4.5" across. I have a few days of work and then we're going to spend all of next week trying to find him or her.

We will not try the drive. Thanks for dissuading me.

 

[TheGDog]

Well... another method I was told about... you *could* elect to bring a large quantity of freshly cooked Bacon to snack on in a ZipLoc, open it up and slowly eat it on your slow walk out into the woods. Being mindful of which way the wind is blowing. Then when on your sit turn around and pay attention to where the wind is blowing towards and be ready.

 

[FLAK]

Well... another method I was told about... you *could* elect to bring a large quantity of freshly cooked Bacon to snack on in a ZipLoc, open it up and slowly eat it on your slow walk out into the woods. Being mindful of which way the wind is blowing. Then when on your sit turn around and pay attention to where the wind is blowing towards and be ready.

Sardines, I would,,,ummm "eat" LOTS of Sardines.