I went out to tour some public land forested areas today with a hunting partner to find some black bears. In my part of BC in Canada, the weather is warm but there was still snow on the ground in the higher elevations.
We hiked, and put 345 km on the tachometer and we did not find one bear sighting. We only found one old bear scat. It still must be too early as May usually has these areas crawling with black bears. We tried areas that had grass, feed, streams, swamps, and powerline clear cuts. All areas did not produce a single sighting or promising sign. I hope the bears become more active soon.
To check out a bear hunting video and book that discuss black bear hunting and scouting check out:
The Black Bear Hunting Encyclopedia