Daytime sighting by a hunter visiting his bait station near the town of Virginia witnessed in St. Louis County, Minnesota

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This incident occurred in early September 2012. Bear hunting season had just begun in Minnesota and I was running a few bait stations. It was maybe 07:20 in the morning when I left my house to go to my first bait station. I have never harvested a bear and this was my most promising bait station I had. It was hit every single day from the first day it was legal to bait. I had a trail camera on this bait station the week before season for a few days so I had an idea of when the bear were coming in and the general direction they were coming from. The morning was beautiful, cool and the sun was just over the horizon. This is my favorite time of day because it seems this is when the woods 'come alive'. I turn off the dirt road and start down the logging trail. My bait station was located about 150 yards through the brush. The area holds a bunch of mature poplar mixed with a few maple and balsam trees. As I was sitting at the fork about to get out of the truck I was looking down the left tra...