Effectiveness of Calling Spring Bears in ID

Hey Guys,

I went to Idaho last year for spring bear and ended up running into a few, most of which were a long ways off and moved into timber before we could get close enough to them. Going back to the same area this year and thinking about calling, depending on the scenario, but curious if any of you have any advice, good or bad on calling. I would think it has some merit in May? Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom.

Years ago when I guided over on the N. Fork of the Clearwater, ID we called them and it worked good. I had Chad Shearer who has some show now, over and he had been hooked up with Wayne Carlton. Carlton had just introduced his "Bear Call", and Chad was there to check it out. We had the best luck with bears that we had seen, and at least were within a few hundred yards. We had one boar and sow that worked their way down into the creek before we could get a clear shot and so we set up on a trail and Chad started calling. Pretty quick here comes the sow running toward us with the boar in tow on the same trail we were sitting on! The sow saw us and stopped, but the boar kept right on coming. He stuck his head through some brush 7 yards from us and the dude says, "should I shoot?" All I could could say was if you don't I will! When he pulled the trigger all we heard was click! After it was all said and done the boar was down and had a few more holes in him than I would have liked, but we got him. We all owed some cash to the swear jar that day! Another time we had a small blond bear that we messed with for a while. We would call him in to about 50 yds, and he would circle around us and get our wind and then spook and as soon as we hit that call, he would turn and come back even though he had just smelled us! I thought that was quite a test. I would be very careful if there are any griz any where near! When they come in they are looking to eat. We found that they would keep coming as long as you kept blowing, but as soon as we quit they would lose interest. I like Carlton's call, It sounds a lot like a regular varmint call, but a little lower pitch. I believe it was made to mimic a calf elk screaming. As many bears as we had in my area they knew what that sound was, they played hell with the elk calves. I don't know if there are any elk left anymore though.

I have called two in that I have killed in the years past. I use a typical mouth varmint call that I use here in Indiana for coyotes.

wow this is funny I found this thread I was just about to start one talking about the same thing. We have hunted over bait for the past two years with minimal success (1 bear) and this year I wanted to try and call but have no idea where to start which call to use but guess trial and error will show!