I imagine that the more time you spend (any time you can) the better. If I had to pick it would either be early in the morn (first 2 hours of daylight) or the last two hours in the day and I would give preference to afternoons. I would prefer to be out all day any day! Can't shoot a bear by sitting in front of a TV.

Once agian I have to agree with Hunter777 if you cant sit there all day the evenings are better as most bears tend to be more active at night you more then likely going to bump the bears or mess with their pattern in the morning. I hunt wit ha group of about 8 guys and yes we use hounds some time but we also bait and last year no bears were taken in the morning.

Late afternoon to early evening is when I tend to see more bear. During afternoon hours you will get mostly sows with cubs being as the boars are more active in later hours. I have found that the hogs are usually active at dusk and at night. They don't get big by being stupid and hanging around during the day.

I have taken all my bears right before dark. This is when the bigger or dominant male comes into the bait site. I have tried the mornings but would rather be there right before dark.

Why not hunt both morning and evening, and more?  Everyone’s circumstances are different –  but my goal would be to be there at sunrise and to stay until my bear was down or until legal hunting light ended.  I’d hunt both the morning and the evening AND everything in between.   Most of my hunting seasons – or at least the portion of them that I actually get to HUNT are so short that I try to squeeze every last second of daylight into them. 

Why not hunt both morning and evening, and more?  Everyone’s circumstances are different –  but my goal would be to be there at sunrise and to stay until my bear was down or until legal hunting light ended.  I’d hunt both the morning and the evening AND everything in between.I   Most of my hunting seasons – or at least the portion of them that I actually get to HUNT are so short that I try to squeeze every last second of daylight into them. 

 

I agree with Groovy.

Boy, saying that brings on a flashback. 

Any time out hunting is better than time doing something else so I try to squeeze the most out of a day that I can. I've seen bears taken at various times of the day, so there is no one set time that is best for hunting bears in my opinion. One just has to get out there and do it.

Biker

I have only taken one bear in the morning!  Nine others in late afternoon or just before dark.  This season my son-in-law had a bear tag and set out a trail camera watching the bait. The bear that he shot (232#) tended that bait at all hours of the day and night. He shot it at dusk but it had been coming as early as 3:30 in the afternoon. I have shot several that came in mid-afternoon just after I got into my stand/blind.  As the others have stated, hunt all day if you can.

It would all depend on how much activity is going on in the woods. Is there another hunting season going on at the same time i.e. Archery, small game, dog hunters..etc? I have found that pre-season bears will come in all hours of the day. I've had mutiple big bears 250-350# bears coming at 11:00 to Noon every 3 days(all at different baits). But as soon as the season started (in conjuctionn with Archery Deer season) the bigger bears will shut down and then start coming right at dark or right after legal hunting hrs. The big bears are big for a reason, as soon as activity starts up in the woods they know something is up. Now with that being said, that doesn't mean you can't shoot a bear in the morning, it's just that your chances are better in the late afternoon to evening.