New to bears

[brian]

Although I am primarily hunting deer, next year I plan on scouting an area that as I understand it has a healthy black bear population. So I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. When spring scouting for deer I could keep my eye out for a spring bear. But I haven't tasted bear myself and have read conflicting accounts here on how good it is. It seems it really depends on what the bear eats. So I have a few questions.
1. Have any of you eaten coastal bear meat, was it good? Any tips on hedging the bets for a good tasting blackie?
2. I am deathly afraid of killing a sow that has cubs (I haven't been around bears enough to make a solid ID between sows and bulls). Do their cubs basically follow them around all spring? Do they leave them behind for any reason like does do with fawns? How long do you watch a blackie before being reasonably sure no cubs are around? Any tips for ID other than glassing for a pair of testicles?
3. Anybody know of any place that has bear meat on the menu?

[tristanmac]

I think the meat is great. You want a bear that is eating berries and greens so if you hunt an area where the bear doesn't have access to fish, you will probably be better off. I passed on a few bears this year because I wasn't sure if he was the legal 2 years or if there was cubs around. Eventually I found one in a large open slash where I was able to be certain there were no cubs and I could see he was legal age. So basically I only will shoot one if I have time to be absolutely certain.

[bigneily]

I've eaten bears also, but i'de have a tough time eating one that hasn't pissed or shat in 5-6 months. If your gonna eat bear i think your best bet is a fat berrie fed salad eatin one, but maybe that is just me. The ones i've had were quite tastey tho....Neil

[wunderboy]

I love spring bear. There hide is great and if you don't want it you can sell it to a fur trader. Their meat is awesome but I think it makes the best sausage so thats what I do with it. That allows me to keep all the deer and moose for roasts and steaks. I shouldn't under sell its roast many friends of mine trade me for some bears roasts every year. They give up some elk and deer for bear roasts. What does that tell you. I find fall bear greasy and so I focus on deer and moose in the fall.

Just remember bear can have Trichinosis so it MUST be cooked throughly. Thats the main reason I make it into sausage.


I'll put bear pepperoni up against any other kind!

[brian]

So would it be safer to assume that on the coastal rivers spring bears outside of the salmon run don't have access to enough fish to make them really stinky (assuming they are not garbage bears)? Or are they better fishermen than I am assuming they are?

I do some leather working so the hide brings up another question for me, anybody ever heard of people working with bear hide leather, or do they usually just make em into rugs? I tried to do a google search for bear leather and it just brings up a whole slew of websites that ain't my cup of tea. As for selling a hide, who usually does the buying? Any legalities around it?

[257stew]

Spring bear that is eating grass etc. Forget steaks,chops hams etc and just hang for a few days and the grind it into burger. Fantastic lasagna ,spagetti sauce or where ever you use burger.
Do not shoot a fall bear that has been into fish. My brother in law made that mistake and learned the hard way.