Man and bear have had a history of mutual predation dating back to the Paleolithic. Disrupting these kinds of ecological relationships is not to be taken lightly. Aside from anti-hunters who can gloat about swiping some hunter's bear rug, perhaps the only humans benefiting from the cancellation of the spring bear hunt are poachers. Bear gall bladders and other parts are sold in the black market for Oriental medicine. When a poacher takes a bear, they remove what they need quickly in the woods, leaving the bulk of the animal to rot.
Game wardens are always scarce and a poacher's territory is vast.
The biggest factor limiting poaching, incidentally, is legal hunters, who witness and report poachers. Among the Indians who have hunted bears for thousands of years, disrespectful behavior toward an animal brings on the wrath of the gods. Animal rights activists say they are speaking on behalf of the animals, but I have yet to meet one who has consulted the spirit guardian of the bears. All around the world in regions where bears live, shamans who engage in such inter-species discourses assert that the bear god permits some hunting in exchange for respect shown by man in his methods of hunting and numbers of animals killed. This sounds like what was going on before the antis stepped in.