My SIL is not going to let me drag my little brother to Africa to hunt, so I am going to take him bear hunting in NC.
I put us in on two permit hunts, draw is tommorow.
First one is Texas plantation game lands. second is Holly Farm game lands.

We don’t have dogs. Baiting is not allowed on game lands.

Holly game lands are a 95% draw rate, 35 hunters, on average about 3.5 bears are killed each year. This area was just murdered by Florence. The floodwaters have just receded. Friends who live near there say there are so many damn fish dead that the entire area reaks. So the bears will be eating well for a bit. I tried to look up mast reports, NC only does mast surveying for the mountains....  
I am going to assume that The hurricane damaged a lot of the nut crop. Same thing for planted crop fields, they are all destroyed by floodwaters. There is not a lot of hardwoods in this area, looking at the day map it only looks like their are deciduous trees right along a few creek bottoms, not sure what kinds.  On the map for the ecology next to these black water creeks no game species are listed, just non-game critters they are trying to protect.
There is some pocosin habitat in the hunting areas, and this is the only habitat that mentions black bears. I have been in that kind of habitat. I don’t understand how you hunt it without dogs or stalk hunting. It is that fucking thick. Easy to get lost as fuck in as well. It is only still hunting without dogs.
You only get 3 days hunting on the permit.

So that is the most probable option.

Texas plantation is the other. It is missing from the black bear game land reports. It may have just opened for bear hunting. 15% draw rate. It is heavily managed for ducks. This area was also hit hard by hurricane Florence. Satalite images show 60% swamp, and what looks to be fields ready to be flooded for ducks. No idea what remains of those fields after Florence’s dumped 2 feet of water on them.

So, as someone who considers himself a very accomplished deer hunter, but not a damn idea on how to bear hunt. I am all ears.

Sorry man, killed a few bear....your screwed.

Without dogs or bait I don't see how your gonna score in that mess.

Without the flood that would be a hard hunt, with everything turned up-side down....it will be hard.

If they are feeding that well on fish they will be nocturnal as hell, good luck to you.

Only good thing is that the hunt is in November or December, so the fish will be gone by then.

hunting without bait that has been set up for a month or longer, or hounds is really they only way to be successful for bleak bear. the rest is all by chance.  most bait sites are only active at night and sometimes only a few times a week, so even then it is hit or miss but certainly helps chances. there is a reason why only 3-4 bears are killed a year.

OP, best chance get up high with a view over as much area as possible..next find food sources..late fall /early winter figure grains, berries, fruit or fish/meat....I always try to be facing north when looking, just seems like bears like east/west/southern slopes/ridges plus less chance of the sun facing me, making glassing better and movement stand out better...Remember many predators  use the ridge lines as there highways to get around...some will also use the river banks...

How about calling? Like predator calling. It works out west pretty well.