Doyle Shipp's bear had a distinctive golden snout and a large head.

Bait barrels don't bother me, either. Without a standard gauge of size, black bears can be almost impossible to judge, but with a barrel you can make a proper harvest decision. A bear with a back line below the second (top) ring on the barrel is less than 23 inches tall and less than 200 pounds. A bear as tall as a standard 34-inch U.S. 50-gallon drum normally is two and a half to three times that heavy, with a trophy hide and a record-book skull to match. Bears standing between 23 and 34 inches are nice. What you shoot depends on how many bears you've shot and your personal druthers. A bait barrel at least helps you make an intelligent and deliberate choice.

SOME BAIT SITES are hot, others are not. As luck would have it, the two guys in our group who just wanted a nice bear above the second barrel ring were having fits seeing one. Randall had spent three days on a bait with only one glimpse of a bear, and that bear was tiny.

Meanwhile, Gene had yet to lay eyes on a bruin. Both stand sites he'd hunted showed big bear tracks, but maybe that was the problem. One dominant, night-feeding bear can scare other bears out of an area, and if you don't see Mr. Big, you might not see any bears.

With our six-day hunt half gone, we compared notes late one night. I say "late," because it was well after midnight before we all got back to camp. Danny's hunting area is 250 miles long and 100 miles wide, with more than 150 active baits scattered all over the map. In late May, shooting light lingers until 10 p.m. We were driving 75 to 150 miles to and from baits, so we usually ate supper between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Randall and Gene expressed concern.

"Don't worry, boys," Danny said over chicken noodle soup and toasted cheese sandwiches. "We have a lot of hot baits, and a lot can happen in three days."

Doyle, on the other hand, wasn't worried. The first night, two 250-pound boars had a tooth-and-toenail fight only six yards below him. The second night a tall, big-headed bear with a golden snout had fed, then bedded at the foot of Doyle's ladder platform. In all that time, the bear never once presented a broadside shot. And when it left, it galloped away after a female.

Doyle's Big Boy showed again on night number three but not until almost dead dark. Doyle could clearly see the bear through his 10x42 Swarovski binoculars but could not see his sight pins to shoot.

AS DO ALL GREAT bear outfitters, Danny monitors his baits and gives bruins what they want. Unlike his hunters, who sleep in and eat a leisurely breakfast before heading to their stands in midafternoon, Danny and his guides work 20 hours a day, collecting bait scraps from every butcher shop and doughnut store within hundreds of miles. And while clients are relaxing on roomy ladder platforms and watching bears, guides are checking baits, refilling barrels, and scouting for new bait sites. Between mid-spring and late June, it's a never-ending process. But it's worth it. Danny's clients bat over 95-percent on spring bears, some of which weigh more than 500 pounds and have skulls measuring 19 to 22 inches.

Almost all of Danny's bears are black, although some have white spots or blazes on their chests. And the spring hides are almost never rubbed. All the bears I saw in 2004 had long, thick, glossy coats.

On the fourth night, the wind whipped up about 5 o'clock, and rain started pattering down. Only two bears showed at my bait before dark, both small sows with the telltale narrow faces, rounded heads, and dainty forelegs. Black bears don't like wind or rain, and they tend to hole up because they cannot easily hear danger or keep track of other bears near a bait. Contrary to what you might think, these furry animals move best in hot, still, and buggy conditions.