Thrasher,
Don't be dismayed, many before you have searched and searched for bears only to find none for years worth of hunting. Let's see if we can cut some years off of your learning curve.
1. The best time of year to spot bears out in a clearcut...August-September. Occasionally you might get some activity first 2 weeks in October depending on the weather, if berries are late (like this year).
2. Clearcuts.....The reason bears like clearcuts is because of the food source that grows there after the trees have been take down to open the land up to sunlight. First the berries (Huckleberry, Mountain Blueberries, Blackberries ect.). These berry plants take time to mature into fruit developing plants. Most take about 2 years to yield enough fruit to make it a true find for a bear. So 2-3 year old cuts are the preferrable ones. Second is the stumps left behind by the loggers. These begin to rot. It takes 3 years or so of weather for the outer layers to be soft enough to contain a good grub population. Also, now that the sunlight can warm up the stumps, its a good incubator for larva. because of our location on the globe, the south facing sides of the stumps get the warmest and the most sun. You will notice that most (not all) stumps ripped up by bears are ripped up on the south side. Ripped up stumps and logs are very easy to spot. They use their claws to tear away at the rotting wood to get to the insects.
3. Sign....when I drive into an area, I look first for the above mentioned. If it has these two (berries and ripped up stumps) it has bears...period. Just because you don't see them right off, doesnt mean they aren't there. Bears wander, they have a home range and usually cover that range daily. So the key is to be patient, if you see sign of a bear, they will be back. Bears are smart, they know that newly rippened berries will appear on previously browsed plants in a day or two.
Also in the spring, tree peels are another sign of bear. They peal the bark sometimes as high as they can reach eating the tender carbohydrate fill layer between the bark and the wood. This usually happens on younger trees.
4. Glassing cuts, (probably the most important thing to learn). First....get a good set of optics for this. Doesn't have to be real expensive, but good for your eyes. Binoculars come in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges. Don't be sucked into super expensive optics at this point. First you must learn to glass properly, and your eyes need to learn what to look for. This is not something you can explain, it must just be done. Spotting a bear for th first time in your optics is the hardest. After that your eyes know what to look for and it gets much easier. A good pair of 10X42's that are fog proof and water proof should do the trick. Don't buy the small sporting event ones, and don't go out and get really big ones either. To hard and heavy to carry. I used Bushnell myself and they do just fine. Nikons are good, leupolds are good then you get into the really spendy ones like Zeiss and Swarovski. Not really necessary in my book.
Secondly is glassing technique. What you can't see very clearly in a cut while glassing from straight on is that 3rd dimension. The lay of the land can hide ALOT! Small dips, noles, brush piles that are overgrown can hide game very easily and they know it and use this to their advantage. When I come to a cut that has sign and food, I glass from 5 different angles.....patiently, methodically and reduntantly. A spot you just looked at and saw nothing one second could have a bear right there the next second. Do not be to willing to move on to the next zone or angle. I will glass a cut in grids, and for about 20-30 minutes from each angle. Start by aligning yourself with one edge of the cut. Glass from that angle, then move ahead another 50-75 feet and do the same thing. Working your way along the base of the cut until you reach the other side. Then do it again. I can't tell you how many times I have spotted bears in the same cut others have glassed and left saying there were no bear there. It happens alot!
5. Weather....I have not seen any particular pattern with this. I have watched some bears head for the canopy in the rain and others stay out in it eating not bothered a bit by it. I would guess it just depends on how hungry they are and how close to hybernation it is getting.
6. Closed gates.....bears like their privacy. They do not have good sight, just ok vision, and a REALLY GOOD sense of smell. (try to always approach a bear downwind of him, they will smell you a long ways off usually) Closed gates are good, the less traffic there is the more they like the area. However, this is not always the rule. I have seen many hanging out by roads or on them. Percentages just go up behind the gates.
7. Bluffs....bears also like to feel safe. many times they pick and area because it is blocked of in 2 directions or more by cliffs or bluffs. If you find a cut that is bordered by these characteristics on one or more sides, this would be disirable for a bear.
Finally, everybody has their own method for success. Some spot and stalk by glassing and the making a play on a bear once spotted. Some call in bears with animal in distress calls. I have found that calling is really no good later in the fall. Too many food sources for them at this time. Calling success rates are drastically higher in the spring when the bears come out of their den hungry and ready to eat, but the berries are not ripe, salmon aren't running and moth larva are not mature yet. But pick the method that works best for you and stick with it. It will eventually pay off.
Patience is the key when hunting bear. Pick a good spot and sit on it for a long time, if not all day. Getting anxious and moving around too much because you want to see a bear can be your biggest enemy.
It took me years to learn this stuff. I did not have a mentor or someone to teach me. I hope this information helps cut some time off of your learning curve. Also if you have some disabilities as far as hiking goes, don't put too much stock into what people say about having to hike out miles and miles in rough terrain to find a bear. Yes it works, but plenty of bear have been harvested within a few hundred yards of a highly traveled forest service road on a good clearcut.
Best of luck to you. Post a pic when you get one
