Bear meat?

[444 marlin]

how do you guys do your bear meat? I have never hunted bear mostly for this reason,I have ate some as a roast It was ok but I don't think I would want it all like that.
Thanks

[bigwhiteys]

My dog eats it... ground up, boiled and with some veggies thrown in.

[Barracuda]

bear meat is great if its prepared properly but just like moose and deer or any other meat it is dog food if its from a rank animal or poor handling practices by the hunter.

pot roast or done like pulled pork is great , pretty much serve it any way you would serve pig products.

[Jagermeister]

My dog eats it... ground up, boiled and with some veggies thrown in.
How big is your dog? And does one bear carry him over for the year.

I had some combined bear, deer and cheese sausage and some bear, deer, cheese and jalapeno sausage at the Salmon Arm Fish and Game banquet and that was rather right tasty.

Like the O/P I had tasted bear roast a long time ago and it left a lasting impression which was not good. And that was a bear that had been stoking up on peaches for several months. The only thing I liked from him was the lard which made a very good boot dubbing.

[KB90]

Should also note the regulations only state you need to bring the meat home, what you do with it once there is up to you.

I know quite a few people who don't eat it.

[rcar]

Do a quick search and you should find a few threads and also, in the wild game section there are some interesting:? ideas.

Personally I tried my bear last year a few ways but I personally didn't love much but it did make great pepperoni. This year I am going to go for an interior/non fish eating bear to see if the taste is better as many folks here have pointed out.

There are also a few threads about which meat cutters/butchers make the best sausage.

BTW. I wasn't much into bear hunting until I did it. Tracking into the bush after the shot bear is an adrenaline surge not easily equalled. Knowing that at any moment your bear could explode from the bushes and kill you is quite something.

[bigwhiteys]

How big is your dog? And does one bear carry him over for the year.


She's just a regular lab... 50-60lbs. One bear lasts about a full year supplementing her food a few times per week. I scooped the bear "stew" into ziplock baggies and froze them into individual portions. She loves it.

Paid for a bear to be turned into pepperoni and jerky one year... Never again.

Carl

[The Dawg]

Sausage and pepperoni. Delicious.

But I suppose its all in if its a fish bear, and how the butcher does it.

Ours up here is amazing.

[upcomer]

Speaking of bears.. Do you need to buy a tag 2 days prior to legally hunting/shooting a bear? I thought i remembered reading something along those lines but i cant find it in the regs. Can anyone clarify? Much like the OP I am heading up to the cabin this weekend and thought I might take a drive through the backroads on my first bear hunt to test some of these recipes!

[Barracuda]

have you bothered to look in the regs???

[hunterdon]

There is a HUGE difference between young bear and an older bear. Young early season (September is best, October next and so on.) is best since they have been feeding much on the berry season. Meat is tender and tasty. A young bear is not likely to be feeding much if any on meat, while an old bear does and will eat rotten meat when found. I avoid eating older bear. Bear meat makes excellent sausage. The fat is also very good for baking and for use in making sausage from other animals such as deer, moose etc.

[mike 458]

I like to bone it all out. If you don't know how to did it right see your local butcher. I have had mine made in to boneless bear hams. They made them about 1.5 lbs each and they tasted like blackforest hams.
If you hunt the animal eat it. Don't shoot it for nothing. It makes te rest of us who look bad.

[SHAKER]

My dog eats it... ground up, boiled and with some veggies thrown in.
Nice waste of meat buddy........

Smoked bear hams, sausage and loins done on the bbq are top notch.

[DR800]

What mike 458 said is right on. Do your research now to find cooperative meat-cutters. I`ve taken many black bears over the years(35 years) and butchered some myself and most out-sourced. Hams,roasts and yum...pepperoni :) If you don`t want to eat it then DONT shoot it !

[SHAKER]

What mike 458 said is right on. Do your research now to find cooperative meat-cutters. I`ve taken many black bears over the years(35 years) and butchered some myself and most out-sourced. Hams,roasts and yum...pepperoni :) If you don`t want to eat it then DONT shoot it !

Yep....... and forgot to mention a spring bear is what I prefer... very lean meat and they're just slam'n back green's getting their digestive tracks going again.

[tracker]

Bear makes awsome peperoni, I would rather eat deer steaks and roasts.

Some will go to the hound if he gets one in the tree.

[BCBRAD]

Nice waste of meat buddy........

Smoked bear hams, sausage and loins done on the bbq are top notch.

I love my dogz, so we share smokies on the back porch.

[vortex hunter]

Bear Meats great Just cook and eat ...........

[WKCotts]

buddy of mine does it up as jerky... amazing! i was hesitant to try it but i would actually pay money for it! it was that good

[PointMan]

I like it a lot, but find the texture to be a bit odd. The pepperoni is top shelf! Next one will be strictly pepperoni.

[Sitkaspruce]

My wife prefers it to deer.

I hunt meat bears in Oct, a nice young (5'-6') bear that is feeding on berries makes a great amount of meat. We grind it into burger and make sausages out of most of it. Take the roasts and steaks and freeze them whole, then cut up what we want.

Big bears in the spring, meat bears in the fall.

Cheers

SS

[skinarama]

Bear has rapidly become my most favorite game meat by far! I butcher and debone all of my own game, and I usually prefer to grind most of my bears. I cured and smoked a couple of hams, which were ok but it took 2 weeks to do. I like roasts, steaks, stew meat, anything but bear ribs. I have tried 4 different ways of cooking/smoking bear ribs, and everytime they just taste "off". My absolute favorite has to be home made jerky and pepperoni from the ground bear meat. I usually cut the ground bear meat with 20-30% fatty pork or bacon, and does it ever smoke to a juicy finished product! Great, now I am hungry for bear jerky!

[nuadixion]

The easiest way to do it is boil it over low heat for good few hours and let it cool down. You can then sizzle it on butter or pork lard(in the fall i use bear fat) with some salt. Its great. Bear fat is the best, I do not understand why people are told to trim it off?

[SHAKER]

I love my dogz, so we share smokies on the back porch.

Nothing wrong with that but it's great for human consumption too...

[Ltbullken]

Smoked, goulash, bratwurst sausage. My favoritye ways. It is good meat, nothing wrong with it.

[dirtguy]

Made bratwurst outa one last year,turned out really good

[vortex hunter]

My wife prefers it to deer.

I hunt meat bears in Oct, a nice young (5'-6') bear that is feeding on berries makes a great amount of meat. We grind it into burger and make sausages out of most of it. Take the roasts and steaks and freeze them whole, then cut up what we want.

Big bears in the spring, meat bears in the fall.

Cheers

SS

X2 My Wife Never Had any type of game meat before she met me. She would rather Eat Bear over any other Game meat and thats Amazing because It's my #1 Meat

[SimilkameenSlayer]

tastes like pork, good eats.

[BCBRAD]

Nothing wrong with that but it's great for human consumption too...

It is, smokies are the best , Roger's in PG does a fine job of them, bear in general reminds me of mutton which I don't care for, but processed is fine.

[Cherylgrono]

we ground up most of ours and made roasts out of the rump. it makes very good spaghetti sauce and theres no danger of it being under cooked. it also makes very good meatloaf when you mix it half and half with deer meat too.

[300wsmXboltKiller]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG00053-20110514-1239_640x480_.jpg

PEPPERONI as u can see it makes my kid happy also i go to rogers meats hunnyfords and chilako they all do great job on bear chilako dryer pepperoni all 3 these places recommended in prince george garlic coil and pepperoni get a friend to split the cost if its to much for u i always have friends willing to split costs for bear sausage helps me justify shooting big and more bears :) no fishy bears in interior just garbage bears spring bears taste better i find good luck and enjoy

[Stone Sheep Steve]

You don't need to spend money processing to consume bear meat(if you're penny watching...or should I now say "nickel-watching"). Makes excellent burger. Very neutral in flavour. Spaghetti, lazagna, chilli, Hamburger Helper and BBQ burgers.

Get yourself a decent grinder and you're off to the races.

SSS

[BCBRAD]

we ground up most of ours and made roasts out of the rump. it makes very good spaghetti sauce and theres no danger of it being under cooked. it also makes very good meatloaf when you mix it half and half with deer meat too.

You want the best meatloaf? Try 2:1 moose burger to ground pork, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmm and wash it down with a Pacific Pilsner, doesn't get better than that. maybe I'll have one now

[lockmancpl]

Harvested my first bear last spring. It was a young, back country, and grass fed. Absolutely fabulous eating, no fat at all. We were able to clean, cool and process quite quickly, which might have made a difference as to how great it turned out. Made into mostly stewing cuts and burger, some small roasts. Wife said it was the best tasting/ textured meat she ever had. Secret was to cook slowly with moist heat ie. covered pot roast or better yet, slow cooker. Made awesome stews and chili and the barbeque pulled bear sandwiches were to die for. First batch of sausages were a bust though, way too dry. Found the meat dry and tough if cooked too fast or too high a heat. Required additional fat and binders for sausages and used the slow cooker to process them. Finally got it just right and ran out of bear. Tested our slow cooker and on high, it was running 190 degrees F, which is high enough to ensure safety. Don’t know about fall bear, but highly recommend young spring ones.

[sawmill]

After seeing 500 white thread worms crawl out of a bear roast I was butchering.................I like to fry them in Diesal and finish them with quick lime.And I have shot a lot of bears,that one turned me off.I was always a bit sketchy about them anyway,I don`t and haven`t hunted them fo 15 years because if I ain`t gonna eat them then they get to live.

[bigwhiteys]

http://bchuntingblog.com/wp-content/gallery/recipes/bearmeatmix.jpg

And the finished product...

http://bchuntingblog.com/wp-content/gallery/recipes/bearmeatdone.jpg

So Shaker, and the rest who think guys like me "waste" the meat are welcome to come and eat some of my bagged up bear anytime. I could take it to the dump after meeting the legal requirements if I wanted too.

And the bear you see above wasn't even my bear! It was a buddies bear... I thought I saved the meat from being wasted.

It would sure be a lot easier to dump it! Whats pictured isn't even half of one small batch, an average sized bear took me nearly 2 days to process and almost filled 1 small freezer.

This year I want to try rendering a bunch of the fat down... I'll keep the skull and probably tan the hide too. So although I don't "eat" the bear as eagerly as some, I make an effort to use it and don't think others should be discouraged from hunting bears because they themselves don't consume it... We need to shoot more black bears. Thanks.

[Barracuda]

i dont think its a waste and as you pointed out after you get it home you can do as you want with it even chuck it out. Im not a fan of the bear fat so i dont use it or save it ,Heck i have chucked away hides made drags or chewtoys for the dogs etc .

I enjoy bear so we eat the meat if you dont like it then dont eat it saying you should only kill what you eat is about as ridiculous as saying you should only have sex to make babies . :lol:



There been plenty of dogfood deer and moose that guys drag home every year that are unfit for human consumption yet they choke it down like a teenager with his first shot of whisky because its Moose or Deer and they are meant to like it yet bears they wont touch because they cant get past the idea of eating bear .

The funny thing is I have brought over many a dish of bear and put it on the table at many get togethers and outdoor events and not said anything and it has all been scarfed down :lol: .

[nuadixion]

Rendered bear fat is fantastic .... for both frying/baking and topical uses on skin (for arthritis and general skin moisturizer)... awesome water repellent on boots.

[skinarama]

Thats awesome that your dog will eat it. I have a big black lab 80-90 pounds, and she will not eat any part of a bear. No bones, meat, fat, nothin. I read that some canines will not eat other predators, especially ones higher on the food chain. Its weird, she eats moose, deer, beef, pork, any type of fowl, fish, even coyote, but not bear. Oh well, more for me!

[MuleyMadness]

Hams! Mmmmmmm tasty tasty hams.

The rest I generally grind up and use it in whatever sauce or whatever dish I have that calls for ground beef/pork/chicken. I enjoy the meat well enough in a few other ways, but I would much rather use bear for this purpose than much tastier (to me) elk and moose.

[srupp]

Guys from the railway always requested bear grease (fat) and they rendered it down and used it on their boots actually waterproofed the boots and they say it repels grease and the battery acids?? had exceptional pastries done with the grease by a native lady..

Had some REALLY BAD bear 3 years ago..it looked healthy did everything normal...meat didnt stink and he had been eating fresh green s on a slope..but meat was baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad..first one...

steven

[Downwind]

Maybe recently transplanted dumpster bear! lol

[SHAKER]

http://bchuntingblog.com/wp-content/gallery/recipes/bearmeatmix.jpg

And the finished product...

http://bchuntingblog.com/wp-content/gallery/recipes/bearmeatdone.jpg

So Shaker, and the rest who think guys like me "waste" the meat are welcome to come and eat some of my bagged up bear anytime. I could take it to the dump after meeting the legal requirements if I wanted too.

And the bear you see above wasn't even my bear! It was a buddies bear... I thought I saved the meat from being wasted.

It would sure be a lot easier to dump it! Whats pictured isn't even half of one small batch, an average sized bear took me nearly 2 days to process and almost filled 1 small freezer.

This year I want to try rendering a bunch of the fat down... I'll keep the skull and probably tan the hide too. So although I don't "eat" the bear as eagerly as some, I make an effort to use it and don't think others should be discouraged from hunting bears because they themselves don't consume it... We need to shoot more black bears. Thanks.

I'm with ya that more people should be hunting bears... but I was a little suprised that your best advice for the meat was to feed it to your dog. Thats your business and your free to do what you want with it.

[Catahoula Ranch]

WOW, I'm very suprised at some of the comments... ie.. wasted meat,,,, fed to dogs. I love my 4 dogs.., Louisiana Catahoulas, they are highly dedicated members of mv family and household. How is the meat wasted???
wasted meat is the stuff you throw out of the freezer into the garbage at spring cleaning. Geez, when I don't have meat to feed my dogs, I find myself having to buy cheap beef roasts for them. When your family eats all the meat... it is not wasted! This is my way of using my kill properly, ... for food, for my family.
I hunt for the experience, I pull the trigger for food, natural organic, hope it tastes good, or it's dog food.
I don't waste it ever.

[bridger]

Peace country bears that spend a month feeding on oats or barley in the fall are really good. I make roasts out of everything possible and pepperoni the rest.

[Ryan Olson]

I havent had it before but I have heard mixing Bear and Venison in sausage is really good.

[Foxton Gundogs]

I have eaten a ton of bear meat everything from roasts to chops, some I like more than others. Hams and bearcon are excelent(I like these with a seet cure), I do lots of spicey types of sausage from peperoni, spicey hunter sausage, itialian and mexican. I do most roasts and steaks either pulled in bbq sauce or swiss type in tomato sauce. (and no its not to cover up flavor I just like spice lol) Chops are great smoked with no cure then bbqed. Fat is the best leather dressing there is use it on boots and tack when ever I have it.

[444 marlin]

I agree do not shoot it if you can't eat it varmits ok.

[FirePower]

I agree do not shoot it if you can't eat it varmits ok.

I know those would say that includes Black Bears.

[live-for-the-rut]

Sausage and pepperoni is great!

[jjl]

I find that sometime it help depending on the age of the bear to soak the bear meat in vinegar

[jjl]

I find that sometime soaking the meat in vinegar help

[bcbrez]

Smoked bear hams are FANTASTIC. Mmmmmm now I want smoked bear ham, eggs and hash browns.

[mr7mm]

had some bratwurst made very tasty also you can render the fat make awesome pastry

[East Van Ray]

I prefer to sausage everything and great on the grill ... and most importantly ... wash it down with cold beers ...

[The Dude]

Rule #1: Don't shoot fish bears. Even my wolf wouldn't eat that....he took it very gingerly and apologetically with his teeth, making sure his gums didn't touch it, took it outside, and buried it under my Blue Spruce.

#2 My buddy shot a young bear in the Okanagan and when we gutted it, apples and grapes spilled out. It was seriously some of the BEST meat I have ever eaten.
And the Farmer was happy, so....you know...Win/Win.

[The Dude]

I prefer to sausage everything........

Ummmm..welcome to HBC....... I think?
LOL

[moosinaround]

If I run out of sausage from the fall hunt, Like this year, I will take a spring bear. I ALWAYS spring bear hunt!! Probably the only animal that I am choosy about killing. I like to harvest a mountain blackie if I can, as I find the greens they eat in the mountains gives a nicer taste. I do prefer a fall berry bear, and have eaten a few fall bears and they have always tasted delicious as sausage and pepperonies! As for feeding a bear to your pets, hell why not??!! Animals should get to fine dine as well as us humans!! Anyone who hasen't tried black bear sausage, should get out there and shoot one. It is fantastic BBQ fare as smokies, and terrific hunting food as pepperonies!! Moosin

[Islandbowhunter]

Faithful companion eating bear meat is not a waste.

Dude's funny.

[.330 Dakota]

Should also note the regulations only state you need to bring the meat home, what you do with it once there is up to you.

I know quite a few people who don't eat it.

Not sure about BC, but in Ontario the regs read,," It is an offence to allow any game meat to spoil"

[The Dawg]

East Van Ray I prefer to sausage everything


Ummmm..welcome to HBC....... I think?
LOL

Highlighted the explanation.

[TheProvider]

bear is great practically every which way.... A bear fresh out of the den may not be as tasty though. I like to wait a couple weeks and let them get some fresh grass in them