RE: Montana DIY BEAR
You are going to have a much better chance of success doing a spring bear hunt than a fall bear hunt in my personal experience.
No baiting or dogs are allowed for bear hunting in Montana so everything is going to be spot and stalk.
My family has always had the best luck hunting in the spring on old closed off logging roads when the clover is growing well. You'll put a lot of miles on, but you can generally find a bear. The trick is figuring out how big it is when you have limited reference points to compare the size of the bear with. Sometimes a bear you think is a monster ends up not being that big and a bear you think isn't that big ends up being a monster.