Lots of assuming going on here with baiting bear. No surprise either. Until you've walked In both shoes (spot and stalk and baiting). How can you honestly comment on the baiting aspect and knock It down? I can understand the OP on why he asked as he's never done neither before but someone from the mountains commenting on people who bait bear? Come on already! To be honest I'll take your method of hunting out west any day over hunting a bait here In Minnesota. Why? Cause It's less work. I've done both, been bear hunting for 20+ years. I've stocked up on my share of bears In Montana and Idaho In the mountains. None of which got an arrow, too small for my liking. What a thrill It was though but not near as tough as I originally thought It would be. I'm not taking a damn thing away from that style of hunting though. It's fun and very exciting being eye level at 10 yards with a bear. More exciting I think. The hardest part most people have with spot and stalk bear hunting Is their too chicken **** to get that close to a bear.
As far as baiting bears. NEVER assume every place Is like Canada. A person can get spoiled there hunting bear over bait. Like someone else mentioned In this thread, huge difference here In Mn. I've bear hunted 21 years. I've shot 10 bear. My success rate Is a little under 50%. If baiting bear was supposed to be easy that percentage should be much higher. I know for a fact I put more time and work Into bear hunting then most do and If I didn't I'd be at the average of probably 20 to 25 percent. The work that goes Into bear baiting Is nuts. Most here wouldn't do It or couldn't do It. It takes a ton of time to do. Getting a bear to hit a bait Isn't the hard part. Getting them to hit a bait In day light hours Is the challenge. I'd challenge anyone on this board to come on up to northern Minnesota and try and walk around the big woods here (10,000+ acres) and shoot a bear with your bow. Chances are you'll never see one. Problem Is, you can't see 10 yards past your nose up there. It's thick everywhere. You think the old timers years ago walked around looking for bear to shoot? I guarantee they didn't. Bear don't follow trails, they roam. They've always been baited up here. It's about the only way possible besides maybe trying calls which would be tough too cause we don't have the bear numbers that's needed for that.
I've talked with locals up where I bear hunt. Some of these people are 80 years old and they've never saw a bear their whole life. It's nothing like hunting bear out west Muley. Not even close. When you can't see what your hunting you've gotta do the next best thing. Draw them In with their nose. It's the only way It can be done here to manage our bear population. I can promise you that.