Eat the meat?

[Elkhunter]

With spring bear easonjust around the corner it got me to thinking if any of you eat the meat. I have heard more bad things about bear meat than good and that is the reason for asking. I have only had bear once and it was from a young spring bear. I did a roast on the smoker and it was about the best roast I have ever had. How about the rest of you.

 

[AZHUNTERR]

i eatten bear meat once my self it was good an old hunter told me once to make sure to cut all the fat off before freezing it or cooking it it makes it have a funny tast

 

[Ten Bears]

I've ate lots of bears. I smoke the hams, and their better than pork. I turn the rest into about 100+ pounds of different kinds of sausages. I only hunt the fall bears, but have been trying spring bear this season for a change. I usually stay away from the spring season because of the cubs issue.

 

[1_pointer]

Be careful!!! Bears carry trichonosis(sp?) just like pork!! A kid in UT died about 4 years ago due to poisoning from undercooked bear meat.

 

[Ithaca 37]

The best thing to do with bear meat is can it. Canning causes the fat to come out of it and rise to the top of the canning jar. Throw the fat away and you've got great tasting meat. Fat's not as much as a problem in Spring bears as Fall bears, but any fat at all makes the bear meat taste bad, in my opinion.

 

[danr55]

1 Pointer is full of all kinds of good news, but from experience with bear meat, I would suggest that the best thing to do with it is give it away. I've had bear everyway I can think of. Ground up it tastes like tires smell when they burn. Roasted it tastes kind of like tires smell after they're burned out. I would say that I don't have an affinity for bear meat. It's about the only wild meat I don't like. (That includes rattlesnake which does not taste like chicken. It tastes like snake..)

 

[maineiac]

Elkhunter,its easier to eat a bear if ya know what he been eatin.Thats why ya gotta treat em like a hog in a pen.Dump 100 lbs of #16 dairy,a truck load a donuts,and 30 gals of bacon grease into a barrel over a mths time and you've got bearmeat that will rival the best prime rib.Ask my 11 yo boy.

 

[Moosie]

EAT a BEAR /......... HUMmmmm I'll go with Danr on the Giving it away

I've made breakfast sausage, I've made ground up, I've made dried salamii..... AND.....

MAybe I'm no

but I haven't found a good way yet.......

 

[1_pointer]

Moosie-

Give it to me!!!! Don't I look like I'm starving!!!!! Seriously, IFyou get one I'd like to try some. I know I'll get to try some WHEN I get mine!!!!!

I've seen some chef's that like tube steak.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-12-2002 11:49: Message edited by: 1_pointer ]</font>

 

[Calif. Hunter]

So what do you do with it, Moosie? Say you shoot a bear - you can't leave it (wanton waste of game.) Do you pack it all out, and really find someone to give it to? I ask only because I would probably give it away, too. If I could find someone to take it.

Jason Lee - do you eat the stuff? How do you like it?

 

[Ithaca 37]

If you can't find somebody who wants it you can always donate it to the zoo. I still recommend trying to can some of it, you might be surprised.

 

[Moosie]

Cali.... I always proccess the food. then I throw it way HAHA !!!

Ithica, sounds liek a good idae . I didn't know that was Legal /?!?! NOW I need to ask !!!

 

[Elkhunter]

Now I only had the one smoked roast and it was from a young spring bear. From what I have been told or led to believe is that spring bear is far better than fall bear because they are lean in the spring. In the fall they are full of fat which takes away from what would otherwise be some tasty meat.

So now I ask which is better, spring bear or fall bear.

 

[Ithaca 37]

Elkhunter, Read my 4/12 8:28 post. Yes, fat is the problem and most of it's gone in a Spring bear. That's why canning bear meat is the best way to handle it---all the fat comes out. The hillbillies I used to hunt with back East taught me that a long time ago. They ate just about anything they could shoot and knew the best way to prepare it all---woodchucks, raccoons, porcupines, beaver, chipmunks, possum etc.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-12-2002 19:38: Message edited by: Ithaca 37 ]</font>

 

[Elkhunter]

Yes i did read it where you stated that fat was the problem, but my last question was which is better, spring or fall. I ask this because of the bears diet during the summer and early fall of eating lots of berries and such. Does this make a fall bears meat better even though they are carrying fat. So if you canned both the spring bear and the fall bear, which would be better?

 

[Ithaca 37]

Elkhunter, I never noticed any difference. There are other variables, also, that might influence the taste. Frankly, I never thought about trying to run a comparison test.

When we canned any kind of meat we always put in some bay leaves, other spices, maybe even onions or carrots to give the meat some flavor.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 04-12-2002 20:11: Message edited by: Ithaca 37 ]</font>

 

[Elkhunter]

Thanks Ithaca. Yes there must be a number of variables like diet, age, the way it was handled, temperature when it was taken and time to get cooled, the way it is prepared and so on. I was asking thinking that the fall bear's meat may be sweeter dure to a berry diet as compared to a spring bear whos system was sustained by living off of the fat. Does this make any sense?

 

[Erik in AK]

Bear is no different that any other game meat in that if you dork up the post-killing part of the job you get poor quality meat.

I prefer fall bears that have been feeding on berries. Reduced to edible sized portions with care, bear meat is excellent IMHO. I like to roast mine in an oven bag. 3-4lb roast, 2 bullion cubes dissolved in 1 cup of flat beer, 2 bay leaves, 1 sprig of rosemary and a bunch of split potatoes and chunked carrots, 325 oven for 2-1/2 hours, remove bag and finish for 1 more hour or until meat thermometer reads 165-170 in the center and enjoy.

 

[Ten Bears]

I've had fall bears that had more fat than meat, and I clean them up, it's a greasy job. I haven't found anything that beats a smoked bear ham (oven roasted, virginia smoked).

I was told by some old hunters that the spring bear has a bad taste because there metabolic wastes are recycled during hybernation (I have no idea if that's even true).

I've eat every bear I shot, and I aint got any complaints. My wife and kids like em to.

 

[Erik in AK]

I agree Ten Bears, there is gobs of fat to get through but I think its worth it. BTW bears that have been on fish or carrion stink to high heaven.