I still think this deer is dead with the deer bedding like you mentioned . The bear adds a variable I’m not familiar with. Just looking in a quick search they will cache their find. I know how hard they are to find in the open . Often times closer than you think. Hopeful you still get closing in this.
I know a couple years ago my daughter shot a giant I knew she killed. It died in a large snake grass patch. You had to be on the trail it died on to see it. This was October and the tree canopy was still full I thought about a drone, but I thought it would be of no use because the timber was still thick. Three or four weeks later, we tried one last time, and I happened to walk the exact trail he died on.
Funny thing is, I knew I was within 10 feet more than once of it…
That said, if I would’ve flown a drone over that snake grass patch, it would’ve been easy to find in my opinion.