If you're seeing sign, as you claim, then the bear are there. You're just not hunting them right. You're down by Buena Vista aren't you? Spend a lot of time checking out avalanche slide areas. I hunted Mtn Goat over by Mt Huron and we glassed several bear feeding on berries in slides while looking for a big billy. Bear like slide areas because they keep the thick trees wiped out and a lot of berries grow in them. Not many hunters think to look over those areas.