out of curiousity

[olympia]

how come no one asks or talks much about black bear? does their meat not taste good? i only had it once when i was a kid and i cant remember how it was

[Mr. Dean]

Want do you want to talk about?


It's good.
Real good.

A lot of people choke at the thought of eating one.

[warnniklz]

hang around on this come april

[springpin]

Mmmm, bear..

[swampthing]

I have never cared for bear meat. I buy a bear tag every year but the only thing that ruins a good bear hunt is shooting one. I mix the meat with other scrap meat for pepperoni. Fun to hunt though. Dry fire on a bear after a good stalk and go look for another one. I have "killed" many bears with an empty chamber.

[.330 Dakota]

Most people hunt blacks in the spring as they are much easier to find then

[swamper]

Nothing wrong with bears. Makes some of the best sausage going.

[Iron Glove]

Personally I don't like the taste of bear, ergo I don't hunt bear. I prefer venison.
On the other hand, my Son prefers it to venison.
When we hunt together, he has a bear tag, I have my "venison" tags and everyone is happy.

[Gateholio]

Mostly bear hunting is a spring thing. The spring blackie my buddy shot this year is delicious. Tastes like bison, actually. Too bad we can't cook medium rare steaks from it!

[Big Lew]

Coastal black bear meat can be good or unpleasant depending on what they've been eating. I shot one that had been dining in an orchard for quite awhile, before fish spawning season, and it was very good, but I also shot one in the fall up in the sub-alpine during a poor berry season and it was nasty, even my dog wouldn't touch it. I came upon it feeding in a large barberry (oregon grape) glade....possibly that had something to do with it.

[Gateholio]

Fish eating bears are not pleasant to eat...

[Lozzie]

I've got 3 black bears in freezer I still need to deal with( one is my buddy's). They are abundant here on the island and great source of meat, we butcher them ourselves then take frozen 15 pound bags of clean meat to the butcher. We get some sausage made and the rest gets made into burger with 15% pork fat cut in. The ground is great for burgers, meat sauce, chili, meatloaf, etc. The key to a harvesting a tasty bear is following the purple poo road, we go after berry bears, typically up high, never near a river or ocean and usually between 250-350lbs ( bigger bears don't often taste as good ).

[The Dude]

Funny that both the best, and the worst, game meat I have ever had was from bear.

The best was rocketing out of a buddy's orchard in S Okanagan. When we gutted him, he was full of apples. Some of the best game meat i have ever had, bar none. I would be proud to serve it in any restaurant.
The worst was also a bear. My buddy shot a snaggle tooth chum sucker in the Indian River.
I tried cooking it, and the smell was like someone was stewing a fisherman's boot lining, after he's been at sea for three months, and forgot about soap.
I gave the whole thing to my Wolf, who took it very gingerly between his teeth, and promptly buried it in the backyard, never to be seen again.

It all depends on age and diet.

[jhausner]

The above caller is why hunters don't typically go for bear, especially in the fall. What they eat, like any predator, determins what they taste like. In the fall depending on how late, bears can still be eating nothing but shrubs and berries, or they can be eating fish and scavenging dead animals. It's a crap shoot. Early in the fall the odds are they will be still eating berries and shrubs so the meat will be fine. Later in the season, less so.

My hunting buddies this season have done a few scouting trips for grouse and have spotted a larger than normal amount of Blacks around so I'm going to pick up a tag just to have it. Good sausage though if you get a bear that has been eating the right stuff. ;) As has been said though, in the fall it can be a bit more difficult and more often than not when I've spotted a black bear it has been a sow with cubs, so it's been a simple watch, take a few pictures from my quad, then head the other direction to leave them in peace.

[wicket]

now that is some damned good advice...following the purple poo road :razz::lol: i snickered out loud when i read that but it makes good sence

[emerson]

My buddy just shot a blackie last week and made some
smoked sausage. Tasted great. His wife made sure he bought
a second tag right away.

[warnniklz]

This guy probably would taste like used depends and sweaty hockey gear
http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/557329_10152096745490387_977878116_n.jpg

This guy would probably be pretty tasty
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s720x720/417394_10151898046285387_353414004_n.jpg

[betteroffishing]

eating spaghetti with bear meat sauce right now , mmmmm

[chris]

I take a bear every spring. Usually up high as someone else mentioned but thats only because my favourite spot is up high, nothing to do with meat quality. My wife prefers bear to deer but one time we got an old salmon bear and it was awful. Last time I shoot a bear by a salmon stream. When we got up close to it the smell was nasty like it was recently rolling in dead fish.

[enron]

Well my brother got one this spring and it tasted great! I got one a week and a half ago i will pick up from the butcher tomorrow and let you now how it tastes.

[two-feet]

My pa and I used to get the local farmers to let us know when they had a bear in their oats or barley. Honestly, their is not better game meat than that. My mom was very reluctant to try it but it did not last long in the freezer after she did.