Bear Meat

[2MANY]

Does anyone know the rules on packing out bear meat?
Is there a minimum weight of meat required or because they are a predator being managed similar to a wolf, cougar, or coyote is the meat even required to be packed out?
I've seen people on both sides of the fence and since I cannot find anything in the regs I'm just curious.

[sumpnz]

Unless it's a bear that's been feeding mostly on spawned out salmon for the last month the meat is edible.  Pretty sure you're required to salvage as much meat as possible just as you would with a deer or elk.  For that matter, the same applies to cougar, as far as I know. 

Thus far we aren't allowed to hunt wolves so their muscle meat is a moot point.  Coyotes are not required to be retained for consumption.

ETA: If I get a bear or a cougar I'm going to pack out as much meat as possible.  If I get a bear it will be one that's been gorging on berries, and should be fantastic eating.  Everything I've heard about cougar is that it is also fantastic eating, like super good pork.  Just cook it (bear and cougar) to 160F internal temp to avoid trichinosis. 

[JimmyHoffa]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

[ctwiggs1]

Unless it's a bear that's been feeding mostly on spawned out salmon for the last month the meat is edible.  Pretty sure you're required to salvage as much meat as possible just as you would with a deer or elk.  For that matter, the same applies to cougar, as far as I know. 

Thus far we aren't allowed to hunt wolves so their muscle meat is a moot point.  Coyotes are not required to be retained for consumption.

ETA: If I get a bear or a cougar I'm going to pack out as much meat as possible.  If I get a bear it will be one that's been gorging on berries, and should be fantastic eating.  Everything I've heard about cougar is that it is also fantastic eating, like super good pork.  Just cook it (bear and cougar) to 160F internal temp to avoid trichinosis.

Why wouldn't you pack out bear?  Yum

[sumpnz]

Correction.  137F (for an hour) will kill trich.  160F is basically instantaneous for killing trich.  If it's slow cooked and held above 137F for an hour you should be fine to eat it.

[sumpnz]

Unless it's a bear that's been feeding mostly on spawned out salmon for the last month the meat is edible.  Pretty sure you're required to salvage as much meat as possible just as you would with a deer or elk.  For that matter, the same applies to cougar, as far as I know. 

Thus far we aren't allowed to hunt wolves so their muscle meat is a moot point.  Coyotes are not required to be retained for consumption.

ETA: If I get a bear or a cougar I'm going to pack out as much meat as possible.  If I get a bear it will be one that's been gorging on berries, and should be fantastic eating.  Everything I've heard about cougar is that it is also fantastic eating, like super good pork.  Just cook it (bear and cougar) to 160F internal temp to avoid trichinosis.

Why wouldn't you pack out bear?  Yum

Ummm.

[Blacktail Sniper]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

 


Both bear and cougar are considered big game animals like deer or elk.

[SilkOnTheDrySide]

Bear is delicious...


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[ctwiggs1]

I feel like this is the equivalent to someone asking if they should throw away breakfast sausage, ham, and bacon.
 

[Blacktail Sniper]

I feel like this is the equivalent to someone asking if they should throw away breakfast sausage, ham, and bacon.
 

 

[JimmyHoffa]

I feel like this is the equivalent to someone asking if they should throw away breakfast sausage, ham, and bacon.
 

If it had been feeding on salmon or a horse carcass, it would be like asking to throw away tofu and kashi.

[Squidward]

if it's feeding on stuff that makes the meat by its self taste strong (to you) make sausage. always good to fry up the 1st steak the taste it, to see if it's a steak bear or a sausage bear.

[jrebel]

if it's feeding on stuff that makes the meat by its self taste strong (to you) make sausage. always good to fry up the 1st steak the taste it, to see if it's a steak bear or a sausage bear.

 

I made the mistake of listening to everyone tell me bear was horrible to eat.  I kept one pound out and made the rest in to sausage.  Later that night I cooked the pound I kept out and it was delicious.....I was pissed off and started doing the above with bears from that point on.  Last bear I had taste great but was an old bear.  The meat got bigger and tougher as I chewed so I turned that bear in to sausage. 

[high country]

We roasted half a bear on a huge spit at a party. Nobody knew what it was because it was cooking all day.....but they sure could not get enough of it. Not a single complaint.

[justyhntr]

Personally I would take the meat out before the hide , the only reason I keep the hide is to keep the meat clean while I drag the bear out . We only hunt bear for the meat , if they weren't so delicious we wouldn't hunt them . There is a member on here that I gave some steaks and ground to a couple years ago , his wife doesn't like venison but she liked the bear and insisted he get a bear tag , hoping he can get one this year .

Quote from jrebel:  Last bear I had taste great but was an old bear.  The meat got bigger and tougher as I chewed so I turned that bear in to sausage.
 
My wife shot a 10 year old a couple years ago , good flavor but tough , she started  cooking it in a pressure cooker , came out great . 

[2MANY]

Glad to hear all the positive feedback.
I personally have never eaten a bad bear but know of some naysayers.

[Jpmiller]

I have only had be priveledge of bear steaks a few times but loved it. I am really.hoping for my first bear soon. Couldn't believe how much the meat shrank as I cooked it though.

[timberfaller]

Bear Chile,  yum yum yum yum!!!

[cougforester]

I summer sausage'd an entire fall bear that I killed out of a huckleberry patch last year, and it is the best sausage that I've ever had before. I'm sure that the steaks would have been good off it as well, but I'm quite content to continue down that road for a loooong time.

That way any elk or deer I harvest can be steaks/roasts/ground while still having the bear be summer sausage!

[JDHasty]

I used to have Stewarts smoke the hams and turn the rest into pepperoni sticks.  When I was in college I used to take a couple fists full of pep out of the freezer every morning and put it into my book bag.  Other students used to come looking for me and hit me up all the time for pepperoni sticks.  Once I was at a party and someone said:  I have never seen a corned beef w/a bone in it, I said: neither have I.  They then asked:  So what is that?   Smoked bear ham does taste about like corned beef, I guess. 

I never did much else w/bear meat because I had so much other meat and thoroughly enjoyed it smoked or in pep.   

[JoeE]

People love bear meat. After choking down my last bear and giving away as much as other people would take off my hands I'm in no hurry to shoot another one. Wasn't for me.

[saylean]

I am having bear breakfast sausage tomorrow morning, its the only sausage that doesn't hurt my stomach>> (I can hear the YAR crowd already).

Don't waste the meat or the fur, its worth the effort! (boy, I am setting them up for ya'll).

[j_h_nimrod]

Glad to hear all the positive feedback.
I personally have never eaten a bad bear but know of some naysayers.

I have eaten fall Alaska black bears and browns both and the meat was never worse then a rutty buck. All the spring bears I have had were very good and at least 8 different Washington fall bears were great. I have been told bear was not good eating on numerous occasions by numerous people but have yet to experience it.

I know there is a lot of mental "flavor" with some people and animals, they cannot get over the mental aspect of knowingly eating certain animals. I had otter blackstrap once that was really quite good, but I still could not bring myself to like it just because it was otter.

[andrew_in_idaho]

I'm in the never eaten a bad bear crowd also. But if a guy wanted to kill a bear and not pack out the meat Idaho has no salvage requirement on bear meat. That being said I'll be packing the meat out when I get my next one


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[zwickeyman]

I love Bear meat. Backstraps into steaks and the rest breakfast sausage, makes great sausage

[lewy]

Cubed bear meat makes for excellent stew as well

[DOUBLELUNG]

I don't have first hand experience with this, but according to a friend with 25+ Washington fall bears to his credit, they are all good to eat BUT the ones eating fish carcasses, garbage or other carrion have nasty rotten oily gunk in their hair and the challenge is to skin and peel them back carefully so the hair doesn't touch the meat.  He hunts dense forested country near salmon streams in the East Cascades, and uses a come-along and improvised meat pole at the kill site to hoist the bears in the round to then carefully peel the hide back and keep the hair from the meat.  I know this to be true for pronghorn, people either love or hate antelope and it has everything to do with post-harvest cooling and keeping the hair off the meat. 

[Squidward]

I don't have first hand experience with this, but according to a friend with 25+ Washington fall bears to his credit, they are all good to eat BUT the ones eating fish carcasses, garbage or other carrion have nasty rotten oily gunk in their hair and the challenge is to skin and peel them back carefully so the hair doesn't touch the meat.  He hunts dense forested country near salmon streams in the East Cascades, and uses a come-along and improvised meat pole at the kill site to hoist the bears in the round to then carefully peel the hide back and keep the hair from the meat.  I know this to be true for pronghorn, people either love or hate antelope and it has everything to do with post-harvest cooling and keeping the hair off the meat.

you can say this about any animal you clean up. keep the outside off of it.

[csaaphill]

bear sausage is pretty good had tons of it years ago when I killed a bear.
never tried just plain bear meat like steaks or loin etc... so not sure how that is. had a bear roast once............. greasy............ but it wasn't mine it was from my uncle so he may not have done it right so dunno.

[biggfish]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

 


Both bear and cougar are considered big game animals like deer or elk.

And this is why I don't even attempt to fill my cougar tag. I'm terribly allergic to car hair I would be near death by the time I got it skinned and dressed.

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[Jpmiller]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

 


Both bear and cougar are considered big game animals like deer or elk.

And this is why I don't even attempt to fill my cougar tag. I'm terribly allergic to car hair I would be near death by the time I got it skinned and dressed.

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I'd never thought of that, would an allergy to domestic cat hair make you allergic to cougar hair? Or is it different?

[Trevor91]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

 


Both bear and cougar are considered big game animals like deer or elk.

And this is why I don't even attempt to fill my cougar tag. I'm terribly allergic to car hair I would be near death by the time I got it skinned and dressed.

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I am the same way deathly allergic to cat hair. My buddys dad growing up had a Yukon lynx, and Japanese Jaguar as house cats.... Yes they lived and roamed his house freely, and I never had a problem with them.  I see a house cat and my eyes swell shut its that bad. I am pretty sure you would be fine with a cougar.

[DOUBLELUNG]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

 


Both bear and cougar are considered big game animals like deer or elk.

And this is why I don't even attempt to fill my cougar tag. I'm terribly allergic to car hair I would be near death by the time I got it skinned and dressed.

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I hate to see anyone pass up the chance to legally harvest a cougar.  Maybe if you get the chance, shoot, make sure it's dead and down, notch the tag, and call a buddy or ask for help on here!  I'm not in your area, but I'd happily drive 50 miles in any direction to help dress, skin and pack one out.

[biggfish]

game animal, so take what is fit for consumption.  However, I don't think it is spelled out what meets the rule vs the intent of the law like in Alaska.  Just your opinion vs the gamey about what would be waste.

 


Both bear and cougar are considered big game animals like deer or elk.

And this is why I don't even attempt to fill my cougar tag. I'm terribly allergic to car hair I would be near death by the time I got it skinned and dressed.

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I am the same way deathly allergic to cat hair. My buddys dad growing up had a Yukon lynx, and Japanese Jaguar as house cats.... Yes they lived and roamed his house freely, and I never had a problem with them.  I see a house cat and my eyes swell shut its that bad. I am pretty sure you would be fine with a cougar.

I've never been around a cougar so can't say for sure there but bobcats set me off.

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