bear meat

[pointman]

Was infrormed this past weekend that my neighbor saw a set of bear tracks near his pond. I know this is a silly question,since I hunt the same area for deer and never seen or shot at a bear, was just wondering if bear meat is good to eat. I will not shot anything just for the sake of harvesting the animal. Thanks for any advise.

[mac]

thats one animal I would not rush to hunt for the meat. fatty & more gamey than deer, elk, moose..though maybe the tenderloins done right could pass.

[Single_shot]

I can't think of anyone I know,that dislike it.Been eating bear since 1979 off and on through the years and enjoy it.If you cut it right and cook it right,it is delish.

[joe12]

I read that bears eat their own waste during hibernation. Not sure I would be in a rush to try that meat.

[papabear]

the one I got I gave all the meat away did not loke it and I tryed every way I could think of to cook it

papabear

[2GRIT]

Skinning a bear as soon as possible and cooling the meat fast is imperative for good tasting bear. I like it as good as venison any day. My youngest daughter will tell you that bear is her favorite meat

[Dom]

I hav'nt shot one but have eatin them and enjoyed it.I think that you would have to butcher the same way as beef need to drain as much blood as possible then hang and let it cure for couple days.

[the blur]

I seen mixed reviews. some bad, some good. some people eat fatty bacon, I don't.

some hunt for the rug, and trash the meat. which I think is a waste.

[dbHunterNY]

haven't ever shot one... haven't gone anywhere for one and haven't seen one where i hunt. there's a few around but still a rare sight. i've heard bear meat is great. i'm sure it's like any other game meat though, in a sense that wrong preparation and wrong cooking can ruin it.

[Makwa]

Like all game, the quality and taste of bear meat depends a lot on how it is looked after once it hits the ground. What it is feeding on plays into this and there is also a difference between spring and fall bears.

Like all game it needs to be dressed and skinned quickly and the meat chilled ASAP. Once it is cooled all of the fat should be removed as the fat will turn rancid fairly quickly. My wife and I prefer to kill a fall bear for eating as the meat is way better and the animal is on the gain, not stressed and losing wait.

With a fall bear we cut off all of the exterior fat as soon as it is cool and then we render it for lard. The rest of the carcass we hang for a couple days and then process it. Like pork, it does not need to be hunt a long time. I will quite often brine and smoke the hams. Have never had a single individual that ate our bear meat not like it........... hunters and non-hunters.

With respect to feed......... if you are hunting bears that eat a lot of trash and nasty rotten fish, carcasses or what have you, or eating at a dump........... I would not bother with the meat.

Where we outfit and live the area is rolling mixed forest and agricultural land next to a national park. The bears spend all summer eating natural vegetation, alfalfa, oats, barley and wheat, plus berries in late summer. They are fat as ticks in the fall and the meat is excellent.

Unfortunately there are a lot of hunters who do a very poor job of looking after game animals. I have seen them take absolutely prime game animals and end up with meat that my dog would turn its nose up at.

[New York Hillbilly]

I have taken several bears, years ago in Canada, by gun and bow. My family enjoyed eating each one of the bears. Like any other animal, you need to pay attention to how you handle it after the kill, and in preparing it for cooking. We liked the meat cubed and on skewers after soaking in "speedies" over night and cooked on the grill. The kids went wild over it! To the wide eyed amazement of my neighbors at the time so did their kids. LOL!

I would say however, the bears we shot were in way back "in the bush" as they refer to it in Canada. I might not be as quick to jump on the chow wagon to eat a bear that has spent it's life time raiding dumpsters and the town dump as some unfortunately do these days. A fella I used to work with years ago talked about the wonderful time he and his wife and grandkids had "over the weekend" once. I will try to say this as close to how he said it to me, "watching the momma bears, daddy bears and their little baby bears playing and eating at the dump, it was beautiful..........nature at it's finest!". Honest to goodness I almost choked! Something in my minds eye says watching a bear walk around with an old dirty diaper around in it's mouth, or some other nasty garbage, is certainly not nature at it's finest! Oh well, to each his own.

Bon appetite.....lol!

[Uncle Nicky]

I've shot 3, and all tasted fine to me, a little chewier than venison, and a little less gamey than deer meat. Supposedly they often carry trichinosis, so the ones I killed were cooked medium-well, and I didn't make any of the meat into smoked sausage or jerky.

I've heard that if they are on a garbage diet they can be rank, and brown bears that eat mostly fish aren't worth eating, but I don't know this first-hand.

[tughillhunter]

I've shot 3, and all tasted fine to me, a little chewier than venison, and a little less gamey than deer meat. Supposedly they often carry trichinosis, so the ones I killed were cooked medium-well, and I didn't make any of the meat into smoked sausage or jerky.

I've heard that if they are on a garbage diet they can be rank, and brown bears that eat mostly fish aren't worth eating, but I don't know this first-hand.

ive heard that very same thing. the ones that eat berries and other vegetation taste the best. ive had bear and i thought it was pretty good, but couldnt tell you what it ate.

[landtracdeerhunter]

Watched a guy on tv, deep fry it in its own bear fat. He said it was good, but don't tell his cardiologist.

[zoschag08]

I shot a bear this year and used most of the meat in sausage. Combined it with venison and pork, by far some of the best sausage I've ever had. The prep process is extremely important (skinning quickly and cleaning all the fat off, having it be a younger bear/non nuisance bear may be just as important), but the work was worth it. I had planned on taking a few years off and just being a driver but with how well the sausage turned out I'll be carrying my gun again next year.

[Jafo]

When you guys say "skin it quick" how quick is quick?  5 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours? 

[Doc]

I've never had it. I think I would have a few irrational thoughts about it that are based on nothing that really makes any sense. All the while I was eating it, I would probably be envisioning this thing wolfing down some putrid deer carcass ...... lol. It would rank right up with consuming any carrion-eater. I probably will never eat buzzard either.  

[MACHINIST]

When you guys say "skin it quick" how quick is quick?  5 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours? 

 

ASAP.We all know it may take a bit to get to depending on where he dropped.The main thing is cooling the meat and getting the fat off.I've ate bear plenty of times,one bear we didn't recover till the next morning(it was in the 40's that night) and it was still great.I can honestly say that the bear meat I have had I liked better than deer,deer to me has a more gamey flavor bear is a bit more chewy but when prepared right,both after the animal is killed and for the table bear is very good.One more thing we do is let the meat sit on a fridge or a iced down cooler for a few days before vacuum packing or wrapping in freezer paper and then  packing it away in the freezer

[A Sportsman]

Jafo, I would determine what "quick" is based upon the air temp. If its not getting over 40 degrees, ii don't think you have to skin it all that quick. Few days hanging won't hurt it. Don't hang it in sun tho. If its warm, you do it as soon as you can. Not 5 mins if you plan on dragging it out. Do it That night.

In terms of cooking it, I found the meat most enjoyable slow cooked in a crock pot as a roast. The stew and chili was good too. Didn't care very much for the chops but that could have been from a lousy recipe or just me the way I cooked it.

[Daveboone]

I have served it prepared pot roast style to 3 different sets of guests this summer, all knowing it was bear. All agreed it was hard to distinguish from beef. A friends family gets bear yearly, and they prefer it to venison.

[jjb4900]

I would think the quicker you can get it dressed out and skinned the better, with the thickness of the hair and the amount of fat on a bear, they will hold body temperature for quite awhile......and I would suggest not letting a bear hang to "cure", the fat on them is unlike beef or venison and has a greasy quality to it, kinda like a giant raccoon.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I read that bears eat their own waste during hibernation. Not sure I would be in a rush to try that meat.

 You mean eating their own waste like chickens?..LOL

 

I have had bear many times and as others have said it is more about care of the meat and what they are eating than anything else. I know everything you read Officially on how to cook it says otherwise but just like venison I don't care for it done more than medium rare. (other than the pot roast) Most people that say they don't like bear...or venison for that matter I ask how they eat beef and they say well done. Heck I don't even like a shoe leather venison steak.

 

If you are going to use the hide for a mount or a rug contact the taxidermist you are going to use for how he wants it cared for. Because of the type of fat on a bear and how well their fur insulated and holds heat in there is a risk of very quick bacteria growth in the fat and that will cause the hide to let loose of the hair. The last one I took the hide was put in the freezer in a matter of 4 hours from the time I took it becasue it was so warm out. Unfortunately I think being rolled up it took to long for the entire mass to cool and the hair didn't hold. Scrape off as much fat as you can. Lay it out flat and hammer the salt on the inside of the skin.

[Five Seasons]

depends a lot on what the bear eats. dump bears? no fricken way. Very wild, natural fed? pretty descent if harvested, cleaned and prepped correctly.

[Jafo]

The one thing I have read consistently is that some bear meat may be vulnerable to trichinosis.  If you read the NY DEC site, they say you can fix this by feezing the meat for 3 weeks.  The Mayo clinic site however says this is not applicable to bears.

Mayo Clinic:  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trichinosis/DS00689/DSECTION=prevention

NY DEC:  http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/bbhunting10.PDF  (see section on cooking)

 

Just something to consider when eating it rare.  I am not sure who to believe, but I think the Mayo clinic thinks the trichonelli live longer in the bear fat.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I was just given a pack of bear steak last week. I seasoned it and let it marinade for a day, then slapped it on the grill and cooked it to a medium level. It was very good, though I wouldnt compare it to beef. It had a stronger flavor than beef, and was more rich. I prefer venison to it, but will never turn down an opportunity to shoot one or eat some of the meat.