First time Bears and Butcher

[Salty]

I have a deep freeze back at home with space, I'm probably going to try and flesh it as much as I can before popping it in the freezer. I've got a buddy who just did a bison hide as well so I may have some help

Sounds like a sound plan especially if you can get your buddy to help LOL

[jlirot]

I can't wait to try that rib roll move. That was super helpful. Cutting it out between the ribs is kind of a PITA. I'm going to try this.

[Rob Chipman]

It's interesting seeing the different ways to gut/skin the animal.

My system has evolved over the years. I generally still start by slicing up the gut (unless it's a trophy animal with cape considerations) but where I used to pull out all the guts and end up with a complete carcass, sometimes with hide off and sometimes with the hide on for later removal, nowadays I will do it slightly differently, especially if I'm packing out the meat on foot in a pack as opposed to throwing the whole carcass in the truck.

Even if you are putting it in the truck this method still works. Slit 'em up the belly. Skin out a hind leg and then detach that leg. Skin forward to front leg, usually going down pretty close to the spine. Detach the front leg. Deal with the neck meat then and there or deal with it later.

Flip the animal over, carefully, and repeat. You now have rib cage, neck, and tenderloin/backstraps, and a gut pile, but it's all smaller and way easier to move and handle. Depending on time of day, the weather and the terrain this can be really fast and pretty easy. It can also make it easy to keep the various parts clean (they get cut off, go right in the bag and often get hung on something).

[walker1985]

I like this guy to show you how to skin and quarter out a bear. And he has a couple other video's to show you how to skin the skull and paws as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFrjVGdMyzw

[srupp]

hmm salt hide NEEDS eyes /lips/nose/ears turned split..also gettinf in between the toes/joints is STILL PITA...best advice on a GREAT bear is freeze.
dont start " save" average bear hides...PRIMO hide..great markings..big head..big paws n claws..
size DOES matter...spend the $$$$ space on close to or 7 foot bear..no 5 footer to 6 footer.
take your time..skinning...
look at lots of videos..even go to your taxidermist..ask what HE wants..watch him do a bear head.skinning etc
good luck
steven

[Livewire322]

Ron did a bear for me in 2014/2015. Product was mediocre at best. I had pepperoni, farmer sausage, and hams done up.
The hams were pure salt and the sausages were drier than a popcorn fart.

Processing game is easy enough to fumble your way through yourself - it seems daunting, but if you can part out a chicken, you can part out a bear… If you can devote an 8 hour chunk to it, do it yourself!
Just bone out the meat and get it cool - if you don’t have time right away, freeze it until you have time to fully process it. You can cut your primaries out and take the trim to a butcher to make pepperoni or sausage.

Also, save some stew, roast, or burger from the bear. I did from my second and third bears and regretted not doing so from my first one.