Ways to try bear meat?

[yakimanoob]

You will get the meat tomorrow-already made into german sausage. Your wife will MAKE you go bear hunting I swear ha ha. Sent ups so someone should be looking for it. It is froze now

You are a gentleman and a scholar!

[ghosthunter]

My wife who has been very supportive of my hunting for over 30 years, Likes deer ,elk and grouse. She will not try duck at all.

And refuses to try bear for any reason. She says a bear has paws like a dog so no go. She doesn't want me to even cook it when she is around.
She did jump in and help me cut my spring bear up.

Most of my bear meat will be going to hunting camp.

[yakimanoob]

I gotta say I'm not the biggest fan of duck meat either.  I've had duck that was delicious, but I've had much more duck that I didn't care for particularly.  It's certainly not BAD, just not really my thing.  I've never been big on turkey leg either, so maybe my brain just wants white meat to be white and dark meat to be... um... red.   

[yakimanoob]

Not to derail my own thread, but I can't help but wonder if getting a bear will make me want a smoker so bad I can't help but spend the $$. 

[kselkhunter]

My smoker gets used a lot.  So does the sausage maker.

I just sausage all my waterfowl now, and it's phenomenal.  This is my first year bear hunting also, and I plan to sausage at least half of it. 

[idaho guy]

I also think it has something to do with what the bear was doing before it was killed and obviously how quickly it is cooled and taken care of after it's killed.  I think bears run by dogs any distance do not taste near as good as a relaxed, unaware bear that has been eating berries.  I think a bear that has been run hard has a lot of lactic acid in it's muscles and does not taste near as good.  Also a bear killed but not recovered for some time does not taste as good as one gutted quickly, skinned and cooled quickly.

I agree with you on the care of the meat and it does make a difference what the bear is eating for sure. But I have had some great  meat from bears run  by hounds and also some not so good meat from bears run by hounds. So I am not sure about that one. 

[Machias]

   probably has more to do with how they are taken care of after they are killed then.

[Machias]

My smoker gets used a lot.  So does the sausage maker.

I just sausage all my waterfowl now, and it's phenomenal.  This is my first year bear hunting also, and I plan to sausage at least half of it. 

Just make sure to get it to the proper temp for the required amount of time, 

[kselkhunter]

Yep.  I add pork belly in my sausage, so have to cook it well anyway (same trichinosis concern).

[yakimanoob]

I'm sure you'll all be very unsurprised to hear that the sausage was fantastic, and my wife is officially in support of my bear hunting efforts 

Thanks again to idaho guy for so graciously sharing.  Now let's see if I can make all this talk worthwhile and actually harvest a bear!

[yakimanoob]

On a different note...  how do I delete an attachment or turn a photo?  It appears right side up when I open it on my computer, but apparently that didn't help... 

[Blacktail Sniper]

 

Good luck!

As has been said, after the kill treatment is very important to what you will end up with as a finished product.

Get it dressed out and the hide off so it can start cooling right away, also remove as much fat as you can.  My bear had between 2"-3" on it that I shaved off, kinda amazing how rolly-polly those critters can get! 

Get all that off the carcus to help cool it off, especially in the early part of the season when temps are up.  Find a creek or cool, shady place out of the direct sun to work on it, also if ice can be had, use it generously.

[idaho guy]

I'm sure you'll all be very unsurprised to hear that the sausage was fantastic, and my wife is officially in support of my bear hunting efforts 

Thanks again to idaho guy for so graciously sharing.  Now let's see if I can make all this talk worthwhile and actually harvest a bear!

  we get a bear or two every year and by the next year we never have any left over!

[Machias]

Way to go idaho guy!!!

[idaho guy]

Way to go idaho guy!!!

  Sounds like the sausage converted him to a bear hunter!