Flowerpower,
Before they leaf out, is when to get the cuttings. With lowbushes, I'm thinking that transplanting the whole plant might work.
I can't do that with the wild highbushes. They're 14' tall with 3"+ trunks/ main stems.
Only one bear? The lowbushes around here that get sun, grow at the top edge of a 500' cliff. The highbushes are on the edge of a swamp. That's when the beavers don't flood it, otherwise the plants are in the swamp. Some on small islands out in the swamp. Rattlesnake/copperhead den between the cliff and swamp. Moose in the swamp in summer. Coyotes, bears, snapping turtles. Ticks everywhere. Blizzard of skeeters as soon as it clouds in. A mile to the nearest road. The shortcut is through rocks, mud, thorns, and brush. I haven't stepped on a yellow jacket's nest, or found poison ivy, yet.
Gary