I would say bears will NOT scare deer from coming into your bait. Deer will check the bait from a distance, if they see a bear they will wait and come in later, I've seen this while hunting numerous times, and also from my camera I would have a bear on it, then 1/2 hr to 45 mins later deer would be on it. I've also witness from my stand deer and bear at the same time, granted they where 100 plus yards from each other