Gary Lewis on Secrets to Calling Bears
 Editor's Note: Gary Lewis of Bend, Oregon, just has completed a new book titled, "Black Bear Hunting" with Lee Van Tassel, his co-author, that's published by Creative Publishing International in Minnesota. To purchase the book, which sells for $21.95, go to Gary Lewis Outdoors or visit the publisher's website, Creative Publishing. A critical ingredient in finding and taking bears and helping Lewis get the information needed for this book has been Lewis's Alpen binoculars. This week we'll talk with Lewis about bear hunting.
Question: Gary, how do you make the decision to go after a bear or not go after it?
Lewis: You look for certain characteristics that give you a clue as to the size of the bear. This is where your optics really pay off for you. With my Alpen Tetons in either the 8x42s or the 10x42s, I look at the way the bear walks. If the bear's putting one paw in front of the other and walking or loping along, then I'm pretty sure this is a smaller bear. But if the bear rolls from side to side as he walks, this indicates that this is a larger bear. Next, I look at the legs. If the legs appear short, then I'm pretty certain this is a larger bear. If the legs appear to be long and rangy, I know this is a younger bear. Then, I watch the bear's head. If the ears look small and seem to be sitting on the side of the bear's head, I know this bear is big. If the ears appear large, and they're sitting right on top of the head, I realize this is a smaller bear. So, your optics can help you check these parts of a bear and make a better determination as to whether you want to go after the bear or not.
 Question: You primarily hunt black bears. What's the biggest black bear you've ever taken?
Lewis: The biggest skull I've ever taken was 17-3/4-inches. The bear weighed more than 300 pounds. The co-author of my book, Lee Van Tassel, has taken a bear that taped 7 feet, 10 inches.
Question: When do you start your bear stalk?
Lewis: I start stalking the bear after I've spotted him and field judged him to be big enough to go after. The first bear I took, I saw him at 70 yards. The last bear I took was at 250 yards when we first spotted him. I started calling to him and the bear came to within 20 yards. But I couldn't get off a shot. I turned, walked off, stopped and looked back at 146 yards, and that's when I took him.
Question: What are the five secrets to calling bear?
 Lewis: * Choose the call to which the bear in that area are most likely to respond. If the bear in your area are feeding heavily on deer, then use a deer-in-distress call. If they're feeding primarily on rabbits, use a rabbit-in-distress call. Try and match the call you use to the prey species the bear are primarily feeding on in the region you're hunting.
* Call continuously when you're calling to a bear. Bears have short attention spans. If he hears the call and starts to come to you and encounters a brown squirrel on the way to you, he may try to catch and eat the brown squirrel, if you don't have him interested enough with your calling to keep him coming to you. Even if he stops for the brown squirrel, doesn't catch the squirrel before it gets in its hole but still can hear your calling, he'll continue to come to you. On my last hunt, from the time I started calling until I squeezed the trigger, 52 minutes had passed. The next bear we called in to us, required 43 minutes of constant calling before we could get him close enough to take the shot.
* Consider using an electronic call. At first I called in bears with a mouth-blown call, but when I realized how long I had to blow the call to get the bear to come to me, I changed to a FOXPRO electronic call. I use the deer-in-distress, jackrabbit and cottontail calls when I'm calling to bears. You can use a mouth-blown call, however I think you'll find as I have that you'll get tired blowing a mouth-blown call for more than 30 minutes without stopping.
* Remember, the nose knows. When you're hunting bear, you have to be extremely conscious of the wind. The bear's nose is his number-one method of detecting danger. So, once you decide to make a stalk, you want to make sure that you go to the bear from the downwind side. The bear is using his ears to come to the sound, his eyes to try and see motion and his nose to determine whether what his eyes and ears are telling him is the truth. So, you've got to be extremely careful and not let the bear smell you. For this reason, I try to hunt as clean as possible and then use a cover scent to mask my human odor.
* Stay still. Once you've decided that you're going to call to the bear, go to the place where you think the bear can easily come to you and begin to call. Then stay put. The bear lives in the place where you've seen him. You're sitting in his living room when you first start calling to him. Once you begin calling, the bear will start looking for you. Therefore, the more you move around after you start calling, the greater the likelihood will be that the bear will spot you before you see him. Even though a bear can move quickly, when he starts coming to a call, many times he'll move slowly. Therefore, be patient, and give the bear plenty of time to come to you. Often, you may have to wait for 30 minutes to 1 hour or more.
|
