Even professionals have difficulties, sometimes, having bears come to newly established baits. Knowing local bears and their habits and territories is absolutely necessary... just piling up bait any old place is a waste of time. I'm surprised at your good fortune. Now that your bait is being worked, are you sure it's a bear? Or BearS? Do you cover it with 15-20 pound logs to keep dogs, wolves, martins, crows and other varments from getting to it? You'd be surprised just how much and for how long bears can eat. Later on, towards denning up, it's a 24 hour effort for them. They seem to think of nothing else. I wouldn't change the menue if it's working. About putting up timers and cameras: if you leave any smell on them, they might be ate! And, bears can smell real good. And, they can climb, so putting your gear 12' up in a tree is little protection. It's best not to change your routine when you bait. You could perhaps change once, but try to go at the same time each day. You didn't say if you were a hunter of photog. You also didn't say anything about an elevated or ground stand. These would be factors in how far away in what direction you'd want to place your sit. As far as waiting for the bear to show up: I have sat on stand ,4 or 5 hours per day, for up to 2 weeks. Got to know each and every mosquitoe and black fly in 200 yards by first name. I've studied the veins in a leaf for hours while waiting for some action. One thing you have to know: the bear KNOWS you are there, it just doesn't know how much of a danger you are. It's nose can seperate and identify every smell in a quarter mile, possibly more. Just try to be as clean and oder free as possible to reduce any impression of hostility. There's been recent studies that suggest that bears don't move as much at night (ie, 10pm-4am) as once thought, but I do know that they can come to the bait anytime during first light to a little after dark. If there's a lot of bears around, the smaller ones tend to unpredictable when they'll show up, but the old ones have their routine. Look for prints around the bait to figure out how many/ how often it's being worked. ( only the baiter approach the bait. If bears smell a new person close by the food, it may not come back for sometime). If done right, baiting is 100% successful in drawing bears to where you want them to be. You may not see them ( after dark, or when you have to leave), but they'll be there. The difficulty is for someone who's just getting started baiting, to know the art. There's just so many little things that you have to know.
