I prefer to only use calls as locators. If you see the bear and you are using the call to lure them in, that is a low probability, regardless of what kind of call it is, because that bear is more than likely sniffing really hard, trying to identify the location of the struggling animal because they rely on their sense of smell way more than their ears.
A lot of people confuse calling an animal as a success because it stopped or that you got its attention but in many cases that bear is just trying to figure out why the hell a human smelling scent is squealing like a dying rabbit.
With that being said an aged bear is going to try to flank you half the time and use the wind to their advantage but in other cases they will just come charging in because they are the dominate predator. It comes down to what the bears in that area like. If they are feeding on bait piles, you do not get a lot of those flanking behaviors because they smell food. If you are spot and stalk hunting in the middle of fall in a berry heavy area calls are damned near useless because they could care less of a dying rabbit when they have a spot of blackberry.
For me personally, I like fawn distress calls in Spring to about late Summer, and from Summer to late season Winter, I only use rabbit distress calls. Bears have limited competition in spring/summer time and a scared fawn is a meal. Bears have slightly more competition in the winter, so a rabbit that is being pursued is enticing because that bear is going to scare off the coyotes or foxes going after the rabbit.
When you use calls... you should also mimic other circumstances. People for whatever reason do not get into bear calling like they do other animals. Shuffle leaves, break branches, tamp your feet down, call with the impression that the animal is moving using cupped hands and movement,
