Can't say about the bears down south, but here the spring Black Bears are the way to go. They have been in hybernation and when they come out they go for the grasses that are just coming up. The grass works as a laxative which they need from their long spell of not eating. Most winter kills have been claimed by either Grizzlies or Wolves, and a Black Bear will not bother with them. The fish are still a month away, so that is the time to kill a Black Bear here. Mid May when the Moose and Caribou start calving Black Bears have learned to follow a pregnant cow till she calves then grab the calf. They will eat as much as they can then leave. Other scavengers will clean it up before the Black Bear comes back. Black Bears will not come to a bait station that uses rotten or rancid meat. Grizzlies will. In the fall as long as you are not near a major Salmon stream, the Black Bears have usually been eating grasses, berries, roots, and shoots, so their meat is again good. If they have been eating Salmon the meat will stink so bad you can hardley skin them. So in the fall you have to kill it then check to see if it's worth butchering for meat. That's why Fish and Game say you have to take either the meat or hide. If you want to take both that's OK too. But because you don't know what the bear has been eating, you don't know if the meat is good or not till you are dressing it out.
