Canning Bear?

[wildwood]

I have never canned any meat before and have around 200 pounds of bear meat to do something with thinking of doing around 50 or so in the jar   wondering if somebody could give me a step by step process how to do this

[ICEMAN]

Sure. Very very easy canning project.

Cut your bear meat into cubes a bit larger than you want to eat later.
Meat can have silver connective tissue, but remove any heavy tendons etc...
Meat can have some fat on it. Obviously no hair allowed.
Pack bear meat into room temp clean jars, no closer than 1" from the top of the jar.
Add nothing to meat.
Wipe top lip of jar with a clean rag, remove all moisture or any other residue from lip.
Lay your lids in smoking hot water for five minutes.
Place a lid onto each jar, lightly screw down the lid band, not too tight.
Gently lower jar into your pressure canner.
I prefer to add water to canner, so that jars are half way in water, half way not...
Seal up your canner, bring the heat up.
Pressure can your meat at 15lbs for 90 minutes.
Let canner depressurize naturally, don't hurry it.
Later, when cooled down, remove canner lid and inspect jars.
All jar lids should be sucked down (depressed).
Any jar with a lid that is bulging upward should not be shelved, but rather placed in the refrigerator once it has cooled, as this jar did not seal well in the canner. This is OK, and a nice treat for you. Eat it in the next week.
Be sure to label your bear meat with the month and year that you canned it.

Enjoy   

NOTE: It is never advisable to take pressure canning instructions from the web or guys like me. Get a good pressure canning book and follow those instructions... 

[trophyelk6x6]

 

[ICEMAN]

Wildwood, forgot to mention, I have a new home in Tenino and would be glad to take all that meat off your hands and pressure can it for our use!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[Kc_Kracker]

  x2 

[Eli346]

 Let me know how that turns out Cory. Good idea!

[boomstick]

You should make breakfast sausage too. Bear meat and the right spice makes a good morning meal.

[wildwood]

yep that's my plan I'll probably can one bear and breakfast sausage the other    and thanks for the info iceman I'll probably do this next week since there's no football

[carlyoungs]

There is the pro bowl but no seahawks will be attending. 

[HairTrigger]

Sure. Very very easy canning project.

Cut your bear meat into cubes a bit larger than you want to eat later.
Meat can have silver connective tissue, but remove any heavy tendons etc...
Meat can have some fat on it. Obviously no hair allowed.
Pack bear meat into room temp clean jars, no closer than 1" from the top of the jar.
Add nothing to meat.
Wipe top lip of jar with a clean rag, remove all moisture or any other residue from lip.
Lay your lids in smoking hot water for five minutes.
Place a lid onto each jar, lightly screw down the lid band, not too tight.
Gently lower jar into your pressure canner.
I prefer to add water to canner, so that jars are half way in water, half way not...
Seal up your canner, bring the heat up.
Pressure can your meat at 15lbs for 90 minutes.
Let canner depressurize naturally, don't hurry it.
Later, when cooled down, remove canner lid and inspect jars.
All jar lids should be sucked down (depressed).
Any jar with a lid that is bulging upward should not be shelved, but rather placed in the refrigerator once it has cooled, as this jar did not seal well in the canner. This is OK, and a nice treat for you. Eat it in the next week.
Be sure to label your bear meat with the month and year that you canned it.

Enjoy   

NOTE: It is never advisable to take pressure canning instructions from the web or guys like me. Get a good pressure canning book and follow those instructions... 
[/quot
I just learned last year and I leave the jars to cool on a towel for 24 hours after I take them out of the canner, also note the lids will pop around and this is also normal, also different canners call for different pressures and times

[billythekidrock]

Give yourself about 14lbs for 7 quarts or 16 pints and a few hours per canner load. This will give you an idea of how much work you have ahead of you.

[Florida_Native]

 :

Let me know how that turns out Cory. Good idea!

I've never thought of canning anything but fish. Sounds awful. But my cousin did say his bear progressively got worse in the freezer, so maybe it's a better way. Either way I'm interested in seeing how it turns out. Post up some results!

[billythekidrock]

Canned bear meat is great. We have done it for years. While it is easy, it can be a long process that can take a few hours per canner load..

Start by thawing the meat. We put bags of frozen meat in tubs in a cool room and allow to thaw overnight. If more time is needed we rotate the meat until it is nearly thawed. 20 lb bags of meat can take two days to thaw.

Often we are cutting frozen meat and thawed meat together. Sometimes I will cut up enough meat for a canner load the night before and place it in the fridge for canning the next day. I allow the chilled meat to warm up a tad while preparing the canner/jars.

If you have a glass stovetop make sure your canner is one that can used safely on it. If you have two canners you can speed up the process.

Here is a step by step of how we have done it for decades.
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,12969.0.html

Message me if you have any questions.

[wildwood]

So I guess I have another question do you guys stuff the pints or quarts    I have a family of four to feed   

[ICEMAN]

Both.