RFI: Black Bear meat

[Totem Polar]

Give me your opinions; give me your recipes.

Black bear harvesting has come up 3 separate times in 24 hours—which is pretty weird for an arts/academia guy during the shut in of the century. I gotta chase this one down. I tried bear once, decades ago at a sportsman‘s fundraiser dinner. Not impressive... but, then again, my first escargot experience was in a dorm room with a hot plate decades ago, and I eventually figured that I’d been had on that too, at a 5-star resort.

So, bear? Thanks in advance.

[mtnbkr]

I don't have any recipes but the one time I had wild-harvested black bear it was great. It was a combination of the best characteristics of beef and pork. I cooked it on a charcoal grill with just salt and pepper. It was medium rare because I didn't know any better at the time.

Bear meat varies wildly depending on diet, with those that eat fish or carrion or garbage being the worst. The best are the ones that feed on nuts and berries.

I buy a bear ticket every year, but they continue to elude me. I run across them all the damn time outside hunting season, but on the first day of bear season, they evaporate.

Chris

[GJM]

The last person I know who ate black bear meat got Trichinellosis. I would rather eat something gluten free, and I don’t eat that.

[Paul D]

The last person I know who ate black bear meat got Trichinellosis. I would rather eat something gluten free, and I don’t eat that.

Mmmm, Trichinellosis....yummy. I agree with GJM. A big nope for me too, and I'm Vietnamese and we eat everything!!!


https://notesread.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Trichinosis.jpg

[Matt O]

Trichinosis is killed at 137 degrees so treat it like pork and you're good.

https://honest-food.net/wild-game/wild-pig-recipes/

[Clusterfrack]

I had some bear meatballs in AK, and I like moose better. Bear was kind of meh.

[MickAK]

It varies wildly and violently depending on what they've been feeding on. Berries are good. Carrion is bad. Depending on the season where you are you can kind of target them based on this but it is not a sure thing. Just because you saw it eating berries doesn't mean it wasn't eating garbage that morning. Bears are opportunists.

If you luck out and get a good early berry bear render the fat and use it for cooking. It's phenomenal.

[GJM]

I had some bear meatballs in AK, and I like moose better. Bear was kind of meh.

Never would have guessed you were a Rocky Mountain oysters kind of guy.

[Clusterfrack]

Never would have guessed you were a Rocky Mountain oysters kind of guy.

Hahah! Nope. I’ve eaten some horrible guts during my years in Asia. Been there done that. No need to eat offal ever again.

Now, Mrs CF (now also known as the Pepperspray Princess) will eat that sort of stuff.

[Borderland]

Moose is far better, by far. :D

[wrmettler]

Steve Rinella describes how he got trichinosis from undercooked black bear.

Doesn't sound good. Far too much talk about larva.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5ZKJ0Vozc&list=PLruOc0aW845AGWyu5Z2hVkOBTpUZznKUZ&index=56

[AKDoug]

Moose is far better, by far. :D
All depends, they are different. I'm not a huge moose fan. The only wild meats I enjoy as roasts or steaks or blacktail dear and Dall sheep. When we whack a moose it's spread among our families as ground meat.

We primarily use black bear for making sausage. Where I end up cutting moose with 20% pork trim to add some fat, I only use about 10% on bears. I shoot most of my bears in the spring so they're a bit lean. I use rear quarters to make hams, just like you'd do with a pig. Ground bear is good for chili, tacos and spaghetti. One of my neighbor soaks bear rump roasts in coca-cola for a few days, then smokes on his smoker to 165F. No matter what I do, all bear is cooked to 145F every single time; sausage gets taken to 165F. I've eaten my part of over a dozen bears. Never had an issue with trichinosis.


The standard method of soaking in ice water, or iced buttermilk for a couple days to pull out the "gaminess" works for slightly funky bear just as it does for other meat that isn't that great.

[Duelist]

Only have had bear once. It was okay, but not something wonderful I just have to consume again. Rather get a Coues whitetail or an elk, or a pig.

[Malamute]

When working at a lodge in Wy ages ago one of the guides shot an unusual colored black bear and didnt want the meat. I split it with another guy working there, I liked it. As mentioned, its sort of a cross between beef and pork in texture, greasiness, and flavor. I knew enough to cook it thoroughly, and had no complaints from anyone I shared with. I dont know what it was eating, but it was a fair ways out of a town (35+ miles) and in good grizzly country, so they kept a somewhat low profile.

[cornstalker]

I have killed and eaten three black bears. All three were fall bears that had entered hyperphagia and had been gorging on berries and acorns. Very sweet and tasty meat, but it tends to be a little greasy. I have never eaten a spring bear. I often wonder if they taste any different.

As previously mentioned, it has to be handled and cooked like pork for safety. If I ever draw a good bear tag again and succeed, I am likely to make a few steaks from the round and backstraps and grind the rest, mixed with 25% fatty pork and German sausage spices.

[AKDoug]

I have killed and eaten three black bears. All three were fall bears that had entered hyperphagia and had been gorging on berries and acorns. Very sweet and tasty meat, but it tends to be a little greasy. I have never eaten a spring bear. I often wonder if they taste any different.

As previously mentioned, it has to be handled and cooked like pork for safety. If I ever draw a good bear tag again and succeed, I am likely to make a few steaks from the round and backstraps and grind the rest, mixed with 25% fatty pork and German sausage spices.

This is the primary reason I eat spring bears. They are less greasy and fat than a fall bear. In a typical spring they will be eating greens for a few weeks before the fish start showing up here. In a bad snow winter like we had this year, the dead moose are everywhere and they get on those right away. If I don't get a bear this weekend, I doubt I will try any more. They are going to be STINKY with all the carcasses around.

[Lester Polfus]

In my opinion, bear meat is the most widely variable wild game meat there is. Typically, poor taste in wild cervid meat can be blamed on either poor field care, or more likely home butchering from someone who doesn't know how to properly trim meat and do things like pull the lymph nodes out before they toss it in a grinder. You can kill a bear, do everything right, and still wind up with a pile of inedible shit if it has been eating fish or garbage.

The best way to get Trichinosis from bear meat is to cook a big roast until it "looks done."

Every last gram of the meat MUST be cooked to 160 degrees for at least three minutes. Some folks report a lower temperature, but that is the temp where its as much of a guarantee of safety as you can get.

A safer, and often tastier way is to make things like carnitas, and various Asian inspired recipes where the meat is sliced thin or shredded. I find it works well with flavors like soy, ginger, lime and etc.

Having said that, I have a mutual non-aggression pact with the black bears on my property. I drop a black tail every year if I can. I always buy a bear tag, in case I have a problem bear, but I've let them nose around within view when I've been sitting there with an arrow on the string. I certainly don't mind other folks hunting them, but for the most part I just let them be.

[Yung]

I want to eat it, not just try it once to say I've had it.
I have read about, and thought about, game meats too much to have it be a one-time thing.
Unfortunately, I have no hunting background and it's always been a timing thing when it comes to getting with someone who can show me.

Crowd Cow is probably great, but I'd sure rather pay for some Crowd Elk or Crowd Wild Turkey (not that kind you lushes) or Crowd Bear. Too bad it doesn't work that way.

[Totem Polar]

Great input so far everyone, I appreciate it. I’ve got a cop buddy who is willing to take me out and show me the ropes, provided that I #1, am willing to get up crazy early on a Saturday, and #2, will finally Agree to buy an AR like he’s been telling me to do for years (I don’t actually own an AR, but I do have a lot of quality friends). :cool:

[Duelist]

Great input so far everyone, I appreciate it. I’ve got a cop buddy who is willing to take me out and show me the ropes, provided that I #1, am willing to get up crazy early on a Saturday, and #2, will finally Agree to buy an AR like he’s been telling me to do for years (I don’t actually own an AR, but I do have a lot of quality friends). :cool:

I promise, you don’t need an AR to hunt a bear. Your .44 mag lever gun will kill one dead. If you need more range, the .243 won’t just give it an owie.

[Totem Polar]

I promise, you don’t need an AR to hunt a bear. Your .44 mag lever gun will kill one dead. If you need more range, the .243 won’t just give it an owie.

Oh, he wants me to have an AR, because, ‘Merica; the 2A. Absolutely a separate issue from the bears. :D

[Lex Luthier]

Oh, he wants me to have an AR, because, ‘Merica; the 2A. Absolutely a separate issue from the bears. :D

Wait, you don't own one?

This is to be rectified, because the very fact of an art guy buying an AR will give Maria Cantwell inexplicable gas and bloating.

Supposedly good-to-go Sabre Defense 6.5 Grendel uppers http://www.redxarms.com/category-s/1892.htm

[Borderland]

Great input so far everyone, I appreciate it. I’ve got a cop buddy who is willing to take me out and show me the ropes, provided that I #1, am willing to get up crazy early on a Saturday, and #2, will finally Agree to buy an AR like he’s been telling me to do for years (I don’t actually own an AR, but I do have a lot of quality friends). :cool:

Forget it. Bear meat isn't on your diet plan and isn't on mine either. Bears eat garbage and all kinds of shit. It depends on where you shoot them. I once saw a black bear going thru a garbage can at Cape Disappointment State park in WA. They like garbage.

[Totem Polar]

Well, it looks like I’ve been roped into helping my buddy set up his hunt. He’s already loaned me a ruck, with instructions to put a full ammo can in the radio pocket, and use it on my walks every other day. Did y’all know that a 50cal ammo can full of 115 9mm ball weighs 55lbs? I didn’t, either...

[Borderland]

Well, it looks like I’ve been roped into helping my buddy set up his hunt. He’s already loaned me a ruck, with instructions to put a full ammo can in the radio pocket, and use it on my walks every other day. Did y’all know that a 50cal ammo can full of 115 9mm ball weighs 55lbs? I didn’t, either...

Well shit. The bear hunters I knew had a rig with their dogs on a platform behind the cab of a 4WD PU. They drove the logging roads and when a dog got wind of a bear they put them on the ground to track and tree the bear. Bunch of damn tar heel red necks. Absolutely no sport in that.

The bear will smell you about 10 minutes before you see the bear, if they stick around.. I hope your buddies hunting plan has a dog or two in it. :D

[AKDoug]

Forget it. Bear meat isn't on your diet plan and isn't on mine either. Bears eat garbage and all kinds of shit. It depends on where you shoot them. I once saw a black bear going thru a garbage can at Cape Disappointment State park in WA. They like garbage.
Plenty of bears out there that have NEVER seen a trash can. Many live their entire lives eating perfectly natural food.


Well shit. The bear hunters I knew had a rig with their dogs on a platform behind the cab of a 4WD PU. They drove the logging roads and when a dog got wind of a bear they put them on the ground to track and tree the bear. Bunch of damn tar heel red necks. Absolutely no sport in that.

The bear will smell you about 10 minutes before you see the bear, if they stick around.. I hope your buddies hunting plan has a dog or two in it. :D I've run bears, hogs, and cougars with dogs. It's every bit as sporting as many other forms of hunting. It's not like you can drive that 4WD to the bears that are treed. On bears we only treed half the bears we got onto. Of those two bears we managed to tree, I shot a boar because I could readily identify he was a boar because he was in a tree. The second bear was a sow with no cubs. We let her go. We easily put 5 miles on our boots on each of those bears. I'm still 0 for 3 on cougars. Maybe my buddy just needs better dogs.

I've shot a black bear in Idaho with the same spot and stalk methods that I used in Alaska. Knowing what they eat in certain time of year, being patient, and having a good set of binoculars are all keys to success. I bet that Sidheshooter will be hunting in similar terrain that I was in Idaho. The open high country of Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho makes spot and stalk bear hunting totally possible.

[Totem Polar]

I've shot a black bear in Idaho with the same spot and stalk methods that I used in Alaska. Knowing what they eat in certain time of year, being patient, and having a good set of binoculars are all keys to success. I bet that Sidheshooter will be hunting in similar terrain that I was in Idaho. The open high country of Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho makes spot and stalk bear hunting totally possible.

You are spot on.

[AKDoug]

You are spot on. That country is the only place I like as much as Alaska. Once you get in the pine forests, you can move twice as fast as you can in the forest in Alaska. It's a damn jungle in most places up here.

[Borderland]

Plenty of bears out there that have NEVER seen a trash can. Many live their entire lives eating perfectly natural food.

I've run bears, hogs, and cougars with dogs. It's every bit as sporting as many other forms of hunting. It's not like you can drive that 4WD to the bears that are treed. On bears we only treed half the bears we got onto. Of those two bears we managed to tree, I shot a boar because I could readily identify he was a boar because he was in a tree. The second bear was a sow with no cubs. We let her go. We easily put 5 miles on our boots on each of those bears. I'm still 0 for 3 on cougars. Maybe my buddy just needs better dogs.

I've shot a black bear in Idaho with the same spot and stalk methods that I used in Alaska. Knowing what they eat in certain time of year, being patient, and having a good set of binoculars are all keys to success. I bet that Sidheshooter will be hunting in similar terrain that I was in Idaho. The open high country of Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho makes spot and stalk bear hunting totally possible.


Bears here in western WA get hunted a lot. I would suspect the same is true in eastern WA and ID but don't know that for a fact. I've seen bears hiking in the Olympics that didn't run but that was after we were 3 days in. Not many people and no roads. Saw one in the Okanogan hunting grouse also. Just a blur moving away at warp speed. Hunting bear with dogs was outlawed in WA in 1996 unless by permit for destructive activity.

If SS can get hooked up with a good hunter he might have a decent chance to put a bear skin on his floor. Now that would impress the hell out of almost anybody.

[Joe S]

Did y’all know that a 50cal ammo can full of 115 9mm ball weighs 55lbs? I didn’t, either...

Total aside from bears, that's a lot of weight for most to start out with. I might suggest lightening it and working up to that weight. Wear good shoes, watch your foot placement. Get your ruck adjusted right. YMMV, but I've seen a lot of young and very fit guys come out of service with jacked up lower back and back joints as a result of heavy packs and issue boots, with not enough care to detail. Done right though, great workout: my ILBE has about 30% of my weight in sand and plates in it for trail hiking and hill sprints, and is basically the only kind of cardio I can stand.

[UNM1136]

I have a honey hole a couple hours away. When I was deer hunting that unit I checked a tank that had more bear sign than I had ever seen in one place. I keep telling myself that I want to go back with an OTC bear tag and my wife's grand dad's 03A3 running 150 grain TTSXs. I have always wanted a bear skin rug and one of my coworkers recently quit to hang out his taxedermy shingle.

All that said, given storage issues around here I would make lots and lots of sausage. Breakfast sausage, bangers, Italian seasoned sausage, chorizo, even some burger. I have a butchershop nearby that will practically give me suet, or pork bellies to get the fat content where I want it. Maple blueberry breakfast sausage would be high on my kids' list. I might even try a fermented sausage like salame or pepperoni.

I would love to bag one late season, really fatty, and store a hind leg or two in a tub of salt in an unheated garage to make ham, with or without smoke, slice thin and wrap around pieces of melon, or chop and crisp up in a hot pan to add to salads, or sliced and eaten on crackers or homemade bread with cheese and mustard. Homemade pizza.

Since bear is one of the few OTC tags to be had in this state, and I am taking a bigger freezer off a buddy's hands this week, I may need to start planning a trip....

pat

[Totem Polar]

It wasn't bad.

(Not my skull)