Seeing as how they had no trouble capturing sturgeon, was there really a need to kill a mother bear via deadfall? And orphan a cub? Then sentence the cub to death by putting a belt around its neck?

We can assume they ate the bear, but they never talked about it or how they butchered it or preserve the meat.

From a camp-security standpoint, hanging smoked fish (and we can assume smoked bear) right in front of the shelter is asking for a bear visit.

My conclusion is that this is entertainment pure and simple, and not much different than what we get today. It just has that cool 1950s' vibe.