ok i get a bear and then what? steak or dog food? NOT DISRESPECTFULL

[Ray]

It turns out that it was a great idea. We had a few batches that way.

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Well the one  black bear I shot(Satus Pass, Goldendale, Cinnamon Bear) we did polish sausage, jerky, steak and seasoned hams. By far the seasoned hams were the best.

They were kind of like corned beef but the best corned beef you ever had.

Mt. View Meats, They are on 112th st e. Tacoma, Wa. They did an outstanding job.

[Little Fish]

...seasoned hams. Sounds good to me. Thanks for the tip Wapitihunter.

[rasbo]

you take a hind quarter and smoke it you will love that..We did Tamales out of a quarter for my 50th  it was great.

[Curly]

Which leads me to my question;this same theme. I'm reading on the www (so I know it must be true) that a two hundred pound bear produces approximently fourty to sixty pounds of edible meat? Say it isn't so.

Airnip, welcome to the site.  I didn't really follow what you were getting at w/ most of your post.  But to answer the above question.........60 pounds of meat sounds about right.

[Airnip]

Thanks for the welcome; have really enjoyed catching up on the archives here.

Main thrust of most of my post was meat animals have a tenderness curve. Sheep for example. Lamb is much different from mutton. Caged rabbits have different names along their life cycle. Prime eating domestic rabbit 'fryer' only has about a three week time slot. Much more familiar with farmed animals than wild ones. When time comes to be making meat. This thread verifys, tame or wild; how a meat animal tastes and it's texture depends on it's diet, condition, and age.

Dispersed camping on public lands is finding locations not designated as an official camping site. Various annoyances including garbage burning, peculiar generator habits, blaring electronics, endlessly barking dogs, cum by yah's into the night, and such left behind. 

Grateful for the answer to my ratio of edible meat question.

Too late for me to enjoy smoked bear on my 50th. Congratulations on both having a birthday and having an enjoyable meal.

[Kent Hunter]

Every bear that I have shot here in Washington has been fantastic eating. We cut it up just like our deer and always make some polish sausage out of some of the meat. A couple of my B.C. bears wern't very good and we ended up making sausage out of all of it. My wife is not real fond of wild game but she does LOVE the bear meat from the ones that I have shot here. In fact she always wants me to shoot a bear every year more than anything else.

[PA BEN]

First bear I shot when I was 14 we made roasts, steaks, and burger. My Mom rendered the bear fat, it make the best pastry's around, I also use it for boot grease, but the deer ran the other way. Now, I have the hams smoked, steak the back strap, burger or sausage the rest.