Pugsley, I live in Ontario Canada And what I do when faced with that type of hunt is I check around ceader swamps, And while looking i check for any scatt
And tracks and if and when i find them, I also look at the trees for claw marks about half way up the tree cause most bears are territoryal and will mark their area.
I also look for berrie patches and over turned logs, as the season gets harder for them to find food they will turn over logs looking for grubs and such.
And I also check up in trees they also have been known to hide up in trees and speeking of trees, If there are any apple trees around check their first bears love apples and if their are any around you will find lots of scatt, well thats about all i can say about what I do when bear hunting.
Good luck on your Bear Hunt and I'm quite sure that the rest of our group here
will also add what they know about Bear hunting.
P.S. If all else fails just talk to some one around were you plan on hunting and they will probely be glad to tell ya just what to do and were to find them.
Again all the best of luck in your hunt biggamehunter43

I'm not sure I can help you out with this year's hunting, it usually takes some planning and some scouting to line up a good bear stand. Some states that don't allow "baiting" allow hunters to use scent attractants such as honey burns, bacon grease burns or smoke sticks. Do you know if your state would allow any of these methods? If so, a honey burn works extremely well and is not considered a food bait such as meat scraps or bakery goods like doughnuts, etc. There is a lot of info on this forum site that covers how to do a honey burn. The burn sticks are similar to an incense stick but smell like dead fish, anise, or vanilla....you can find them at most hunting stores or Cabela's on line (make sure you get ones for "bear" and not deer hunting. Another attractant you might try is to take some vanilla and put it in a spray bottle along with some cooking oil (mazola or whatever) and you can spray that on the trees/leaves near your stand. It smells great and the bears will smell it, I guarantee. The oil helps to keep the vanilla from evaporating from the trees/leaves too fast.

If you want to read a great book about black bear hunting techniques there is a book on Amazon.com called "Do-It-Yourself Black Bear Baiting & Hunting Techniques" by Dr. Ken Nordberg ($12.95). Most hunting books seem to be written by some wildlife biologist that has never actually tried hunting. This book is written by a guy who has hunted bears for 30+ years and has some great tips for new hunters as well as seasoned bear hunters. I would recommend getting the book and studying it over the winter so that next season you're set to go.

In the meantime, try to locate where the bears are spending their days sleeping. They like the thick swamps/bogs where its cool and isolated. If you have anything like that near where you hunt, I'd try setting up near the bog and using a honey burn if allowed. If you're seeing bears in the area, they're there somewhere. You just have to figure out a way to bring them to you. Good Luck!!