I will comment for fall bears in WA, I have hunted them in spring in WA, ID and MT, and fall in WA and ID. It is pretty much the same state to state out west but I am most familiar with WA.
As the post before said, the later you get into fall the harder it will be to consistently find them. Bears do not like people and do not like to be seen. They are way more intolerant of people/pressure than deer or elk. Once an area is pressured they move into the steep, dark drainages with a creek in the bottom.
In August when the WA season starts the berries will begin ripening. I can consistently hunt areas with ripe berry patches and see multiple bears a day, and when I find them they are generally staying put in that area/spot. Its not uncommon to see multiple bears in an area only a few acres in size. These spots move from week to week in elevation and slope aspect as new berry patches ripen. Our hunting remains good and more importantly, consistent through mid September when most of thick berry patches are done for the season. This is when the bears go on the move covering lots of ground searching for food. We find them in tall dark timber eating mushrooms, roots and tearing logs apart for grubs and small mammals. We also find them moving through clearings searching for any opportunity for food. If we are a long ways off and spot them, its likely they won’t be there by the time we make a move and get into the area. What is consistent here from year to year is if we see bears moving through an area in mid September through the end of October, they will do so from year to year. So we can sit on these openings and wait for one to wander by. We also locate drainages with creeks in the bottom that are steep and cannot be viewed from roads. Bears move into these in the fall as pressure increases. They are out moving and feeding all day long still, but do so in areas with more cover. There are multiple drainages we hunt late Sept through October that we consistently get a bear or two out of each year. The areas are not that big, but there is something there they like and as we shoot one, others move in.
For me early fall is excellent for bear hunting. You need to find ripe berry patches and when you do you will find bears. You also get to choose what elevation you want to hunt. In WA, the different berry types all ripen on different weeks. August through mid Sept I can choose to hunt anywhere from 2000’ up to 7,500’, hunting from the truck or going backcountry. I utilize my time hunting bears in the areas I will be deer/elk hunting that year. This way I can scout for the upcoming season while also bear hunting.
And just when we think we have them really figured out they throw a curve ball at you like the pic below. This was a fall bear in open sage country 30 miles from the nearest trees. He was along a river gorging on berries I wasn’t familiar with. But, he traveled a long ways to get to them. We just got lucky as we were not targeting or expecting to see a bear here.
