Jeff- I was skimming through the posts and was chuckling because i realized your true question had never been answered.

To quote a GW - "A fed bear is a dead bear". In other words I think bears get on a food source and dont leave it until its gone, therefore baiting them is the best way to get them. The population is far far less densethan that of deer and they travel a great deal, therefore its almost impossible to pattern them unless you know the food source they are frequenting. So w/o baiting a lot of hunters would never even see a bear, let alone kill one.

But as far as drawing a distinction, I dont, to me its no different. In fact if anything its worse to bait bears because they get more "addicted" to the food source. Deer will leave bait (or visit less frequently) when another food source is in season.

Personally i see baiting as just an easy way to pattern animals for us. It does nothing to overcome the animals accute senses. I have killed deer over bait and its just as difficult to beat their senses. To me baiting is just concentrating a food source, no different than a cut corn field or food plot (they are just less concentrated)