The last time I had a bear in camp, intent on finding our food, was 1979.  We chased him out of camp at near dark but found out from the "neighbors" the next morning that he found them and wiped their food pack out instead.  About 10 summers ago we had a bear lurking around our camp on Knife Lake but never actually came in until we had packed up and left; then saw it on the shoreline headed to the camp to check it out.  Growing up on the edge of the BWCA country in the 1960's we saw bears often around our home and elsewhere.  Today it seems rare to see a bear out in the wilderness.  I too always look for any bear sign before settling on a campsite to stay.  IC