Is bear meat worth the effort?

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I've always thought that the black bears that weigh 300 and 400lbs plus are probably the garbage eaters.  If you go out west black bears rarely ever get that big with a natural diet.  150lbs bear is a decent bear out there.

in Ontario at the camp I went to, they take bears over 300 and 400 each year. Last year the largest went over 600. The lands boarder the Algonquin Provincial Park. which is MASSIVE and really allows them to get old.

[gaprovopapa]

Going sat with my my 12 or.old grandson. Here in Wisconsin. Bears eat alot of acorns, and fieldcorn. Should be great eating

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[Grousewit]

My wife and I both shot bear and we love eating them it. The trick to good bear meat is cool it down as soon as possible. Shot mine about 300 yds above a creek, got him gutted out and into the creek asap!!! On the last one we had a hind quarter cured like a ham-man was that some good eating. Will be doing both hind quarters next time.

[Andy 3F]

I saw this on the DEC web site today then saw this discussion so I thought I'd share. Makes me second guess eating pork.....

 

Cooking Because of the possibility of trichinosis, bear meat should be treated with the same precaution as pork. The incidence of trichinosis in bear is less than two percent in New York, and with proper precautions, there should be no more concern for this disease than there is when eating pork. Trichina larvae are killed by two techniques - cooking and freezing. Minimum internal cooking temperature is 137F. Maximum freezing temperature is 5F for 20 days. In preparing bear meat for the table, it is important to remove as much fat as possible. Many hunters use the fat as suet in a bird feeder. When the above precautions are followed and the meat is prepared as outlined in the butchering section, bear meat can be treated as you would any good quality domestic meat.

 

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/bbhunting10.PDF

Edited November 20, 2015 by Andy 3F

[Dave]

Well the bear I shot this season had been very tasty. So far I made a bear stew and a shepherds pie. There were no leftovers everyone couldn't believe it was bear meat. Even my grand kids ate every bite and seconds. My next meal will

be bear roast. So all you guys/gals who were lucky enough to get a bear start cooking. You will enjoy.

[RoadKill44]

I had eaten bear many years ago. The meat was first canned to preserve it and then finally cooked and served much like hot pulled pork sandwiches and gravy. The taste was top notch delicious. However each bite was a long chew. Not really tough but not real tender either. Of course deer or beef swing that way as well.