Anyone call/bring in blacktail or black bear?

[FairWeatherFisher]

2022 archery season, me and my hunting partner hiked about 1.5 Miles down a deserted logging road occasionally stopping to glass for a buck. We reached the end and were getting ready to head back to camp but I always carry a fawn in distress call and I usually will blow on it if I'm not seeing anything just to see if there are any deer in the area that we didn't see glassing as they will usually pop there heads up or sometime the does will come running at you. So I do a couple call sequences and my buddy says hey get down there's a big bear heading right towards us. I look and see a big sow about 150 yards out making her way into the clearing right below us. She stops a couple times and each time id get back on the call and she would keep coming. Came right into 45 yards and I told my buddy to shoot as he hadn't killed a bear yet. He sends an arrow right through the vitals and she dies withing sight at around 70 yards. There's a video of this whole encounter if you want to watch it go down.

Would you mind sending me that video as well? I’d love to see it, but can’t PM as I’ve just joined.

 

[Calcoyote]

I have rattled in and killed a Whitetail in Idaho in November. I have never really tried rattling for Blacktail or Mulies here in Oregon. Would bucks respond to a fawn bleat or rattling in October?

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I have rattled in and killed a Whitetail in Idaho in November. I have never really tried rattling for Blacktail or Mulies here in Oregon. Would bucks respond to a fawn bleat or rattling in October?

I haven’t had luck with either. But I’ve only been at it for 2 seasons, and it was all blind calling.

 

[PNW Hunter]

I've had good luck with homeade bt deer call. As mentioned previously "cedar call". After I've glassed an area good I'll blow the call a bit and if anything is out there you'll get its attention.

 

[Hun10-freak]

I hunt Southern Oregon during the rut and always take rattling horns with me. I bet I've tried hundreds of rattling setups and only rattled in 8 bucks and 1 cougar. Blacktail are a mystery to me still.

 

[COLD SMOKE]

Rattled this buck in on Kodiak
View attachment 537032

Mouth grunted these two in seconds apart and shot them both frontal at 5 yards. View attachment 537033

Used a fawn distress call to get him interested and then a can call to bring him into 20 yards. View attachment 537034

That back to back at 5 yards sounds like a good campfire tale. Nice bucks.
This thread has some quality info.

 

[Thegman]

Every year we kill mature blacktail that come to the call. We use the E.L.K Inc DeerTalk. I’ll throw the link at the bottom. My best success has been just before the rut and during the rut. For me on Kodiak that usually looks like two weeks on either side of Halloween.

I use the call to do fawn bleats at various levels. I usually do three or four “sets” for an hour in one spot with 15 minutes between each set. After that I hike a mile or so and repeat. That being said I have killed a buck almost an hour after finishing my last set. A set consists of four/five fawn disress calls in growing volume each set. Just imagine there could be a deer within yards of your first set and you don’t want to scare them off. By the fourth set it’s quite aggressive and high pitched. Put a lot of emotion into the call and imagine what it’d sound like if a fawn was being chewed on.

Speaking of being chewed on I do live on Kodiak so I don’t call in dense areas or where there’s a lot of cover. I like to be in a decent glassing point with a few hundreds yards of visibility in each direction. I’ve yet to call in a bear however I know people have.

Bottom line I never leave the house without one of those calls in my bino harness. In the past seven years my hunting partners and o have killed some very respectable blacktails, and 80% of them have been killed from October 19th to Nov 7th and they’ve all come to a fawn-in-distress call.

The picture I attatched was from a Halloween buck. He came to the call almost an hour after our last set. We were just drinking coffee and about to head back when I saw him sprinting through a clearing with his ears down and tongue hanging out of his mouth. He ran all the way to 40 yards before catching onto us.

DEER TALK The DEER STOPPER CALL

Manufacturer of quality Game Calls, Books, DVD's, and other Hunting Accessories. Family owned and operated since 1985.

www.elkinc.com

I've used quite a few calls, but I've settled on this one as the best as well for Sitka blacktail on Kodiak. Always in my bino harness pocket as well. While I hunt I keep it in the heater pocket on the back of my gloves so it's easy to access. Have also found that time frame to be the most successful. Just as the rut is starting and bucks aren't on does yet, too much, but starting to look.

I'm often calling in areas with less visibility so I use the doe bleat and don't try to imitate a distress call, and don't call too loudly in those areas, louder in more open areas. Generally use it while I'm still hunting and so far have never brought in a bear, but quite a few bucks have appeared "out of nowhere".

Sometimes it's more successful than others. Two years ago all three of my bucks were called in. This year all spotted and taken at a distance. For still hunting I probably need to give more time while stopped like you do, but always a little concerned about bringing in a bear in these lower visibility areas.