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eajonesyk2 · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 6

Would anyone care to share their opinions on using a bear cub distress call for spring black bear in Oregon? I will be hunting in the Northwest coast range. No baiting is allowed and gas is going up daily it seems, so I am looking for the most effective call or legal method to bring one in. The average success among hunters in the unit I will be hunting in is very low (about 5%). The terrain is heavily wooded with some clear cuts here and there.

billythekidrock · Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 422 Location: OlyWa

Cub distress can work, but it can also scare off bears. I would suggest a cow/calf elk or fawn distress as well as rabbit distress. I would find out if there is much timber damage in the area and concentrate on the heavily hit areas.
Feel free to send me a message with any questions.

ADKBEAR · Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 656 Location: Central NY

From what I have read more sows are killed using a cub distress than boars. So personaly I would not use this type of call, if you shoot all your sows you have no bears!

Old Professor · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:29 am Post subject:

I agree with the last two posts. A cub distress call wil certainly attract a sow, which is not what you want to shoot. A fawn distress call would be more likely to attract a boar.

kbz123 · Joined: 12 Feb 2008 Posts: 15 Location: Western Washington

Although cub distress calls can be good for getting sows, they can also be successful for getting boars. Boars like to eat young cubs, because if a sow loses her cub, they immediately go into heat again. That is why a bear mating call can be successful no matter what time of the year it is, because a sow can go into heat at any time if she loses her cub. So although a cub distress can call in a sow, as long as you check carefully that the bear has no cubs, you should be OK. Although I have not had success with this technique yet myself, I have seen videos and read books that say that boars will come in to a cub in distress.

I might suggest using a bear mating call and a predator call as your main "go-to" calls. A mating call should call in a boar most the time, and if it calls in a sow, it is because the sow has no cubs.

eajonesyk2 · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 6

Thanks for all the advice. I have read that the cub distress call might bring in a sow that has left her cubs behind to investigate and I definitely want to avoid shooting a sow in that scenario. But I wouldn't hesitate to take a sow otherwise. The black bear population here in Oregon is healthy and the pressure on these bears is low. I will look in to the mating calls.

Thanks again.

eajonesyk2 · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 6

kbz123,

Awsome pictures of the country up there. The green open valley areas are fantastic. The unit I will be hunting in has a lot more trees. The open valleys are harder to find in this area. Nice bears too.

billythekidrock · Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 422 Location: OlyWa

Any predator/distress call can call in a sow that has left its cubs behind. In W. WA you do not have the ability to properly identify a sow vs boar most of the time and definately do not have time to determine if it has cubs or not.
I have called in boars and sows with cub distress, but I have scared away bears with cub distress as well. I have never scared away a bear with elk/calf distress and only scared away one that I know of with fawn distress.

You will have a higher percentage of bears coming in (especially when cold calling) with a fawn/calf distress.