Rhino, I am not much of a bear hunter but will try answer some of your questions. I am sure some of the other members can give better information on your questions.

The best way to skin a bear is the same as most fur bearing animals, up the front center and on the insides of the legs to the paw. There's a few vids on youtube which show how to skin if you search for them.

As far as eating bear I have only tried it once, a friend of mine had some bear ham. I wasn't much for it actually it was quite strong but that's the only way I have heard of bear being eaten, other than Asian eating of bear parts.

Bears can be found anywhere from the boreal forests to the fringe agricultural areas. Some areas where I have seen bigger bears are in the Marten Hills area near Slave Lake and north of Lac La Biche Country. Of course the best way to take a bear is over a bait, guys commonly have their baits set up well before they are planning to hunt. That being said bears can also be found on pipelines and lease sites grazing on seeded areas that have greened up. In the fall bears love oats if you can find a fringe farming area and get permission.

That's about all I know about bear hunting Rhino.

Here are a few things I go by with bears,

They will be starting to feed on the green grasses and tree buds/leaves now so look for these areas. New pipelines, road edges, and cutblocks are the best.

As for where to shoot one well its best to get a good pic of the anatomy of a bear. The big thing to remember is that a bears shoulder doesnt run like other big game animals. And the vital area just above the leg isnt covered by the shoulder bone like on deer, elk etc. So for me I always shoot the straight up from the leg and a little over 1/3 up on the body.

With the skinning if your looking to make a getting it tanned or rugged its best to go from the throat area to the rectum with one incision then down the backside of each leg till you get the pad. From here you can go a couple ways depending on your plans but its best to go from the center on one side of the pad with the leg incision then around the pad on the inside of the foot to the center of the pad on the oposite side from your leg incision. Then take eack foot off at the ankle, and the head off at the last vertabrae. Hope I explained that ok.
From here its best if you have no experience to get the taxidermist to do it or a friend that can show you how.

 

Right on thanks alot guys,wicked info.Well fingers crossed I can find one this weekend.

Well no luck finding a bear this weekend but still had alot of fun looking.