I think I can help you with this.
I have worked in a professional capacity with the bears of Wa. State and much of the PNW for much of my adult life. I was the wildlife manager for Weyerhaeuser tree farms in all of Wa. for 12 years, and for the Washington Forest Protection Association as well. I mention this not as an arrogant or boastful statement, but rather so you can understand that I have more then a sportsman's basic understanding of this topic.
The Bears of Wa. and much of the west side of the cascades through BC and Oregon as well are migratory. Its why you see them in one place in one month and then they are gone. When I was running my guide business with bait stations, and I had 60 stations using 90,000 lbs of feed on 360 thousand acres every season with three employees working for me. There was little that I could do to keep bears on y baits by Sept 15th. Drums of meat, Purina Bear chow, doughnuts, crates of apples, candy, etc. Nothing would keep them locked onto the feed at 500 feet elevation. They would migrate up to the elevations that held natural foods like blue and huckleberry bushes.
We had collared bears that we could track and follow to see where they were. At times they were on my bait stations for 3 weeks every single day, then out of the blue in Mid Sept they were gone. Out comes the tracking device and we see they are now at 5000 feet in knee high blue berries. I eventually came to the conclusion that by Sept 20th if you can find Mtn goats you will find the bears. The natural drive inside them is to move up in elevation ( in areas where they can,) or maybe as they learned from the mother bear as cubs.
Over the years we eventually figured out the migration plan they had. Bears need to sleep at an elevation if possible higher then any mid winter thaw and rain can soak them and freeze them. They need high elevations to get a solid blanket of snow that will stay until March or early april. By coincidence this is also the same place that the berries are ripe last. When you find ankle or knee high berries above treeline, you will see bears there. They are most active middle of the day in the warm sunshine. They will curl up and hide when its cold or near frosty. Calling has been limited because they don't have much get up and go this time of year. They will lay up in a very berry rich areas.
When you find this place, do not wander around and stink it up with Human scent. Use your glasses and find the one you want to shoot first. Stalk from that point. When it's in the 80's at this elevation in Sept/ oct during the mid day sun. they may only be out in the sun 30 minutes at a time before over heating. Just because you glass and see nothing does not mean they are not there. They are just sleeping in the shade under a bush. Be patient and glass every inch over and over. Great glasses are at their best advantage in this type of hunting. Seeing into the shadows is critical.
Stalk from above and with the wind in your face whenever possible. You get far less winded hurting down hill then up. A racing pulse does not make for a steady shot. With this in mind stay high, or as I have written many times, when in doubt go up. it's usually easier to stalk quietly down hill too.
Hope this helps, any questions I'll check back and see if I can help further. This does not apply on the coast where there is not easy access to higher elevations. ......Oh, just for your interest. In spring, they bail out of these higher places and head to low elevations looking for salmon berries, dandelion flowers, horse tail shoots, and skunk cabbage roots. These are plentiful in late April and May, then they chase springtime heading back up in elevation as the berries ripen higher and higher.
