I would not eat that bear

[HunterStrait]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2bvvILi84w

I don't know about you guys, but if i ever shot a bear with roundworms in it, you can have it.

[bowhunterwa87]

Disgusting... might skin it but thats all i would do with it

[Ripper]

I'm not familiar with those kind of worms. Do they get in the meat or are they just in the gut's? If they are not in the meat then it should be fine. I will have to research this.

[Bean Counter]

Tag 

[Ripper]

A quick google seach revealed that bears can host up to 30 different parasites including round worms. None of them are harmful to humans as long as you cook bear meat thoroughly.  They don't suggest making jerky out of bear meat due to the fact that smoking  does not cook the meat or kill parasites. I also found that other game meat also can contain many parasites, including moose and caribou. The parasites in the video look nasty, but unless you eat the gut's, there is nothing to worry about.

P.S. if you do decide to eat the wormy gut's, make sure you cook them till they are well done.   

 

[Turner89]

Thanks Ripper.......I was worried I would have to start leaving the gut pile in the woods

[180-GRAIN]

I have shot a couple bears with those and it gives me the creeps! Latest one was this year opening day. I skinned it and gave the meat to my buddy's workers. They did not care about the worms, took in there house and butchered it on the kitchen table  .

[DOUBLELUNG]

If you have harvested and eaten wild fish or game you have eaten parasites.  Same with organic domestic meat, antibiotics-free domestic meat, or if you raise your own and don't worm them.  Even if you don't eat them, you are habitat to all kinds of little critters.  I understand the creepy part of seeing big, gross parasites, but intestinal worms of the adult, reproductive lifestage parasite, are of little concern to humans - unless you eat raw intestines, and even then, it is the eggs of the gravid female that are more dangerous, your stomach bile will destroy the adult worms. 

It is the little, tiny worm cysts that occur throughout the muscle tissue, and which are the immature life stage that matures in the intestinal tract of a carnivore (you!), and which have a tough protective outer layer to get them past the stomach acid to the intestines alive, that may grow and thrive (not most, humans are incompatible hosts for most parasite species) - but even then, unless it is one of the few species that can exit the GI tract and travel to other parts of the body to mature, or goes haywire in the wrong host (you!), it probably isn't a worry.  They don't eat much, and most of us can stand to lose a few extra calories anyway.

Cook your game meat, and if you're squeamish don't play in the guts.  If you are grossed out by visible cysts in the muscle tissue, best have somebody else process the critter (they won't tell you what they cut out and discarded).  I have, on rare occasions, discarded an animal with a heavy parasite load, because it was in such poor condition or under sufficient stress that it would be poor quality food. 

Most harvested wild species have few to no parasites that can affect humans through normal care and consumption of meat. Most zoonotic diseases (those passed from animals to humans) are transmitted via bites from insect vectors (West Nile Virus, plague, tick fevers, Lyme disease), or contact with raw body fluids (plague, brucellosis, tuberculosis) or feces (worms like these!, hantavirus, tularemia, giardia).  Generally, there are negligible health risks associated with harvesting and eating fish, birds and wild ruminants (deer, elk, moose, pronghorn, sheep goats).   Bears and feral hogs carry a bit more risk, which is eliminated by cooking to an internal temperature of 160 (well done).  It is prudent and advisable to wear disposable rubber gloves when processing rodents (beaver, muskrat, squirrels), rabbits and hares, and carnivores, whether for food or fur, to avoid disease transmission.

Me personally, I'm far more afraid of E. coli and other bacterial contamination that occurs in unsanitary commercial slaughterhouses, or spoilage during storage/transport to retail consumption.  I gave up buying commercial raw ground meat from the grocery store years ago, our burger is either game, or custom cut beef purchased from a trusted friend.     

[Stein]

Pretty much any salt water fish has worms if you look hard enough.

That video was crazy though, have never seen something that loaded with them.  I imagine there are cafo & slaughterhouse videos that would make me start fileting those worms.

[elkoholic1]

 

[ICEMAN]

I tend to agree with you...

[BOWHUNTER45]

Knock on wood that this has happened to me only once ...but I did not notice the worms until after I removed the guts and put all my stuff back in my pack ..I then turned around and the whole gut pile was moving  needless to say I packed out all the meat and hide and called a few people to see if anyone would still eat it ..Dis find someone who did not care So he got meat and the hide ..The hide was late September and beautiful ..he was happy as can be ... No way in heck I am eating it even if it is cooked 

[pianoman9701]

It would be pretty easy to see if there were any in the meat, though. You've got to eat the meat if you're gonna kill it.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Not to scare anyone but I did forget about last years incident . My son shot a really nice bear in September and was eating nothing but Blueberries . Well at least up to his point of death . This bear had 5 inches of fat on him and was very healthy looking . I gutted him out and got him squared away and the meat was kept perfectly clean the whole time boning it out ..Looked just perfect . When I got him home and was separating the meat and cutting off the remainder of the fat I noticed these little white balls in the meat . I have not seen it before So as picky as I am with meat I got on the internet and looked up a few things ...come to find out it looked like Tapeworm Larvae  I wish I would have taken it to someone who could clarify what I was looking at but I did not .. It totally threw me into thinking it was . These pictures are what it looks like and are off the net ..Not my kids bear but it looked just like this :

[BOWHUNTER45]

and I saw no worms in the guts when I was gutting him  just something to pay attention too !

[BOWHUNTER45]

It would be pretty easy to see if there were any in the meat, though. You've got to eat the meat if you're gonna kill it.

I do not think they can make you eat it if it has worms .. I am not