Grizzly bear meat....edible or not??

[magicarrowman]

I was fortunate to get a Coastal Grizzly draw this fall, and I was wondering if grizzly meat was any good??? Just wondering if anyone out there knows?? My draw is in the Bella Coola area, and if there are any tips as to where I might go in the area would be appreciated. You can also send me a p.message.

[lorneparker1]

IF you dont shoot em buy the river id eat it. eating a fall bear eating rotten salmon is a bit much for me anyway

[cameron0518]

always thought jerky would be cool to try.

[magicarrowman]

Got a Coastal Grizzly Bear draw for Bella Coola this September. Just wondering if anyone out there knows if grizzly meat is any good or not?? Also if anyone has some advice about the area, that would be great too. Hopefully I can turn this into my ultimate bow hunt.

[sawmill]

The big boars I have shot and friends as well were so stinky you could not get the smell off you with gasoline after caping them.Hazelton semi coastal bears.The smell stayed in your nose for days after.

[Gateholio]

Coastal bears- Grizz or black- are fishy. Interior bears are not fishy and make better eating. I wouldn't go out of my way for a coastal grizzly steak.

[Ike]

Bella Coola area is not an easy place to hunt, you will definitely want to do your homework before you head in.

[Goliath]

Coastal bear is not my idea of a special treat. Some folks say the spring coastal bears are great but I had spring grizz in northern bc (Rupert) and it was terrible fishy/seaweed tasting. At least the rug was nice!

Perhaps if a guy watched the bear the moment he left the den, paying attn to what he ate, that would be useful info.

Interior bear = good to eat.
Coastal = yikes.

[Paulyman]

If a guy wasn't inclined to eat Bear meat could he feed it to his dog? I am guessing yes, but what does everyone think?

[srupp]

mm coastal bears stink..not worth the efoort to eat..Bella COOLA has changed LOTS IN PAST FEW YEARS..make some enquireries..

cheers
Steven

[evhunter]

I've been fortunate enough to be on quite a few grizzly hunts and we've kept the hams and backstraps from all but one bear. From this, we have the meat processed into pepperoni, jerky and/ or black forest ham. However, only one was a coastal grizzly (Spring, ... May 8th), all the others were interior bears. The mountain bears, all mature boars, were (are,... 2 from this Spring) very good. But the coastal grizzly had the remnant taste of salmon even after being made into pepperoni! I'd expect a fall bear feeding on salmon would be even more flavourful, indeed! I say "give it a try".... Congratulations on the draw and enjoy!

[emerson]

If a guy wasn't inclined to eat Bear meat could he feed it to his dog? I am guessing yes, but what does everyone think?

Yes. I debone, cut to palm size chunks, and boil on BBQ
before freezing.

[magicarrowman]

Srupp, what do you mean by " changed lots over the past few years"?

[trapperRick]

My son and I got a really nice black bear up by Port Hardy in 2011. The bear did not stink at all the hide or the meat both smelt like a fresh salmon, but try to eat it differant story it was terrible, so no more fish bears for us.

[604redneck]

I believe unless ur in the valley there alot of it u need to charter a boat to get into areas

[604redneck]

This is coming from people who owned a large guiding territory up there and now owns bella coola grizzly tours. Lots of bears in the valley if ur draw is in that far

[Ike]

Srupp, what do you mean by " changed lots over the past few years"?

I think he is referring to the floods. There was a 200 year flood in September 2010, a 150 year flood September 2011 which had some substantial river changes and loss of access to some of the FSRs.
There are also some expected impacts to some 2012 salmon runs (i.e pink returns expected to be very low) but no conclusive evidence that this has impacted the bear populations IMO. There were enough salmon before the floods as well as after that they should have fattened up enough for winter, so they won't have starved in their dens like some think. There were lots of black bear numbers this spring.
Cheers

[magicarrowman]

Thanks for clearing that up for me Ike. I guess that's what you ment about the changes in the forestry roads. Send me a p.m. whenever you get a chance with that info. Thanks for the help, you're gonna help me turn this into my bow hunt of a lifetime!

[longstonec]

Rivers Inlet I can help you. B Coola I cant much. They eat their fair share of berrys on the coast same as any other bear. But they also get to swim in feilds rotting pinks and chums...

[yukon john]

If a guy wasn't inclined to eat Bear meat could he feed it to his dog? I am guessing yes, but what does everyone think? What did your dog ever do to you?

[Paulyman]

What did your dog ever do to you? ha ha, that bad?