Eating bear meat

[RobG]

My friend says that the hardest part about hunting bears is finding someone who will eat the meat more than once. Another one says it is great stuff. What is the story with bear meat? Does spring or fall make a difference?

rg

 

[have gun will travel]

I don't know a whole lot but it makes ok breakfast sausage. It's kinda greasy, but I'm sure you will find some that love it some that hate it. I guess there are some cooks out there that can make an old shoe taste good....

 

[JohnCushman]

The bear roast Gerald made during the HT hunt was amazing

 

[Nameless Range]

Cook it thoroughly. Steve Rinella recently became infected with Trichinosis.

 

[sbhooper]

Cook it thoroughly. Steve Rinella recently became infected with Trichinosis.

It has been banned from the house by his wife after his sickness. It is no joke and nearly all of the trichinosis cases in the U.S. came from bear meat. Make sure you cook it well. I cannot believe that people actually make jerky from bear meat. They are playing with fire.

 

[have gun will travel]

Wow that's good to know! I hadn't heard that before.

 

[MontanaWild]

Bear meat is pretty dang good. Breakfast sausage and burger I can't even tell the difference between other game meat in most cases. Steaks you'll probably want to have a recipe or marinade but still are good. I've only ate spring bears though. Not sure how the fall bears are with all that fat.

 

[RobG]

MT will test for trichinosis and you don't have to keep the meat if it is infected. http://fwp.mt.gov/news/newsReleases/hunting/nr_1771.html

 

[mdunc8]

I've heard differing opinions too. However, you'll never convince me that a bear is as good (much less better) as deer, elk, antelope, etc. I had the guys out in Amsterdam turn most of my spring bear into brats, which were amazing. It sucks they don't take wild game anymore. Actually I guess it doesn't really matter since I now live over 2,000 miles away. I didn't care for the steaks or burger though. Wasn't terrible, but not something I would really enjoy eating.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Spring bear doesn't taste much different than venison.

Crock pot sandwich meat is good. Through a big roast 4-5hours in a crock pot with water and lipton onion soup, or cook it overnight. About an hour before you want to eat, take 2 forks and shred the meat, mix in BBQ sauce and warm it up. It goes fast next to a stack of buns.

 

[Elkoholic]

The bear roast Gerald made during the HT hunt was amazing

^^^ this! The roast Gerald made was from my bear, about 2wks later I received the remainder of my bear meat from the processor in Mt., although this is the first black bear I have ever tasted I don't have any previous to compare. I now have had the chance to try the breakfast sausage, burger, brats & tenderloin chops and I must say it is all excellent. This was a spring bear and I am sure the processor had a part to play in the results as well. I have always heard bear meat sucks from others, but this sucker is yummy!!! Of course preparation/marinades, etc. is the key as well.

 

[RobG]

Spring bear doesn't taste much different than venison.

Does that mean that fall bear is notsogood?

 

[----]

Does that mean that fall bear is notsogood?

I've ate four fall bears that were berry fattened and three of them were among the best meat I've ever had in my life. All the spring bears I've had were dang good too.

Last fall we put an old boar black bear, two antelope, a whitetail, a mule deer and half an elk in the freezer, and the bear was gone before the rest. I used the last of it this spring making biscuits and gravy on the bear hunt.

 

[RobG]

Hmmm.... it is sounding like the meat is good. I wonder if the issue people have had is from spoilage since I'm guessing the meat won't cool with that thick hide on.

rg

 

[The Hedgehog]

Bear have relatively thin hide. I've no experience with fall bears and how they taste.

 

[MTbowhunter84]

I think it is partially that someone doesn't like it so it may be perceived as bad from others right from the start. I have only had bear a couple of times and didn't mind it at all.

 

[nbell]

I have had great luck treating bear like I would venison or elk trim for sausage. I have made summer sausage, peperoni, polish, and brats out of bear, and all turned out well. If you research tric, you can see that long periods of cold, as well as cooking it hot enough will kill it. I am careful to smoke everything hot enough, and then cook it again on the BBQ before serving it.

 

[jryoung]

I would guess a bear in later spring/green up is better than early. Early spring they could be eating winter kill. Post green up you get bears feeding on grass....grass fed meat is good. Based on what I learned at the Spring Bear Hunt is that they go for the short, fresh shoots of grass. Similar to a micro green and packed with nutrients.

 

[jrod]

As with any animal, meat care is paramount. Cool it off asap. That is what makes it tastes good ( and don't hunt within a few miles of a garbage dump and expect to eat it; jjust sayin). Last bear we shot just outside Lassen Nat'l Park, and he was eating an all organic diet I suppose, because he was outstanding, and we had him on Ice in less than 2 hours. Just happened to walk across the road as we were leaving the area

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

I'll pile on. I have only killed one, and it has been great!