When I was a young 20 yr old hunter I cut a nice bear track in the snow. I followed it and went through some of the thickest nasty swamps and thickets. I continued on for hours and the tracks came to a tree and the bear wasn't up there. I couldn't figure it out and then looked close at the tracks and the bear must have known I was following and back tracked for about 100 ft then jumped over a blow down and was off on another direction. I continued to follow and came to a steep hill. I went slowly along the track and finally came to the top. I could see a big area where the bear sat and watched me meandering along its track way below before I even got to the hill. I was getting tired and knew I wouldn't catch it and went back to camp. When I told the story to a couple of old timers who were the owners of the camp they burst out laughing and said ....boy...don't you know you can't track down a bear they are too smart. I am thinking they were right and never tried again.