Bearhyde

Its about half and half for me. last year for the first 3 days i hunted one bait where the shot was 75 yards. We only had some small bears come in so i left them alone. I moved to the clear cut after that were the shots were alot longer.

I asked about your bear area because I noticed your post on black bear hunting.
My type of bear hunting is never long range.
I'm talking maybe 40 yards at the most.
We ran 20 - 30 baits along the Mississippi river back when my Dad was in better shape.
We've shot a lot of nice bears over the years.
Now we just hunt them for ourselves every fall.
-Only go after the big boys.
No sows.No little guys either.
There are some habits that the smart old males all seem to share.
- They always live near water.
- They always run at night.
- They are finicky about what they eat.
- They always know you're there.- Always.
The only way you can get one of the older smart ones is if he screws up.
It doesn't happen very often.
The trick is to accept that they know what you're up to out there in their world.
They are very very smart creatures.
If you go after them again this year remember not to alter your baiting pattern.
Any little change in your routine will be noticed.

I hunt in Canada. Northern Ontario Area 21-22 i believe. Very hilly, mainly forest and clear cuts. We also bait them at 75-100 yards. Last year i sat in a clear cut for a day where shots were as long as 1500 as estimated. I wouldn't obviously not take that shot, that was the farthest possible shot i guess. Distance behind and to the left were between 180-330 yards as my range finder said. To the other side was 100 yards. Shots would range as you can tell between 50-1500 yards, but lethal shots and comfortable shooting ranged from 50-500yards maybe more. And i hunt in the fall.