My experience is limited to only one, but what worked in New Mexico for my bear was calling. We set up in a good area where my uncle knew that there had been a bear staying in the area and waited about 1/2 hour then started calling with the predator call. After about 10 minutes he barked at us, but wouldn't come in so we still hunted up on the bench where he was, and he had stayed there. He now resides on the floor of my den.

Calling is a very underrated tactic if you ask me. I have been calling bears for about 15 years and it can work quite well. More then half of my 16 bears have been from calling. Cow calls, fawn & rabbit all work very good. I cold call and call after spotting. I have also spooked them with calling so it can go either way depending on the bear.

Here is an article on calling black bears http://hunting-washington.com/calling-bears.htm