Elkhunter
New member
Thanks Erik, you must have been reading my mind. I was going to ask about the fish. Does the fish give it a stronger taste?
Eat the meat?
- Thread starter Elkhunter
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Erik in AK
New member
I can't explain how the flavor gets from the digestive tract to the muscle but if bears have been feeding on fish, as is common here in the fall, the meat smells like fish. No matter how huch thyme or wine or garlic you stuff them with the fish smell keeps coming through. The AK DF&G went as far as to not require the harvest of bear meat taken from fall bears in the vicinity of salmon streams.
Come fall I head for the hills at least 5 miles from any significant salmon run.
Come fall I head for the hills at least 5 miles from any significant salmon run.
Elkhunter
New member
I don't like fish so that would not be for me. Down here in the fall they are filling up on all the gut piles during elk season and there are plenty of them for sure.
Ithaca 37
New member
Elkhunter, I guess the other guys answered your question about taste being influenced by diet. I never thought Spring bears tasted bad.
The whitetails I hunt have a diet heavy with wild plums, apples and pears in the Fall and they sure taste great! They beat the he11 out of mulies living on bitterbrush, sagebrush and a few other weeds with no flavor at all.
The whitetails I hunt have a diet heavy with wild plums, apples and pears in the Fall and they sure taste great! They beat the he11 out of mulies living on bitterbrush, sagebrush and a few other weeds with no flavor at all.
Ten Bears
New member
Fall bears in north idaho are stuffed on huckleberrys, choke cherry, and elder berry. They have a good flavor for the most part. I have killed one bad tasting bear during a draught year when the berrys dried up early.
The taste of the meat depends on the bears diet.
The taste of the meat depends on the bears diet.
Elkhunter
New member
So if a bear that has dieted mostly on berries in the fall delicious, would it stand to reason that that same bear in the spring without all the fat and nice and lean would be even better?
Ten Bears
New member
Don't know I haven't tried one yet. Its easy in the fall to find one thats eatin berrys, there the ones in the berry patch. Kinda hard to find a berry eatin bear in the spring when there aint any berrys yet. In the spring I dont have any idea what them bears ate the fall before.
riverswild
New member
My offer to WA/OR bear hunters..
You supply boned, fresh or frozen, bear meat and 30%(of bear weight) pork butt roast (boned) and I will turn it into the healthiest, tastiest (sp?) sausage you could ever buy.
I will supply spices, casings and all the supplies need to do the job, as well as show you how you can do it on your own.
My cut is half of the finished product.
My family has a small "meat room" with tables/counters, wash basin, cooling room, Hobart grinder, sausage stuffer, etc, etc.
You supply boned, fresh or frozen, bear meat and 30%(of bear weight) pork butt roast (boned) and I will turn it into the healthiest, tastiest (sp?) sausage you could ever buy.
I will supply spices, casings and all the supplies need to do the job, as well as show you how you can do it on your own.
My cut is half of the finished product.
My family has a small "meat room" with tables/counters, wash basin, cooling room, Hobart grinder, sausage stuffer, etc, etc.
Moosie
Grand poopa
BUMP..... For Mnt boy
Elkhunter
New member
mtnboy, let us know how you like it.
Washington Hunter
Well-known member
riverswild, how about an elk? Not all sausage, obviously, but cut into steaks, and grind the rest for sausage or hamburger. I like doing my own, but I really don't have the place to do it, especially if I got one during the early archery season in September. Since you've got all the facilities and equipment, would you consider helping out, possibly for a quarter of the elk? Just thought I'd ask...I'm only 20 minutes from Olympia.
Elkhunter
New member
I hope they pan out for you too Kraven. Good luck
Kraven
New member
Dang riverswild I am up to the north of ya but if I score a bear I may take ya up on that.I cant wait until the August opener to head into the hills looking for bear.I have a few prospects this year hopefully they will pan out.
GRAYBEARD
New member
The best meat of any kind I have ever eaten, by far, was bear meat. The worst meat I have ever tried to eat but couldn't was bear meat. The first was a 120 lb. boar that had been living on huckleberries. A friend shot it on a hot day. We didn't get around to processing the meat untill several hot days later. It was basicly starting to rot. That meat was unbelievably delicious anyway you cooked it. The second was a boar that dressed out at 604 lbs. My cousin shot it late in the fall when it was nice and cool and processed it right away. You couldn't even be in the house when it was cooking. The dogs wouldn't even get close to it.
I have had meat from many other bears and it is usualy mediocre at best. So if you ask me if bear meat is good I say "Yes definitely good, I mean no it's terrible or maybe it's just so so." I keep eating it hoping for another one like that little bear my friend shot.
I have had meat from many other bears and it is usualy mediocre at best. So if you ask me if bear meat is good I say "Yes definitely good, I mean no it's terrible or maybe it's just so so." I keep eating it hoping for another one like that little bear my friend shot.
