Bear Meat Care after the shot

[ghosthunter]

Well since there hasn’t been many bears posted yet. Thought we could get some meat care tips.
With the weather warmer now.

If I shot one this week I would try to get the hide off asp. I carry a plastic sled in my truck so would get meat in that with some frozen gallon bottles I carry.

Nearest store would get some more ice to cool down on way home.

What’s your warm weather bear meat tips?

[jrebel]

If I'm close to home.....get it gutted and skinned and in the walk in cooler ASAP.  If I'm away from the walk in cooler.....gutted and skinned ASAP and maybe deboned.  Then it would go in a cooler with ice.  If I can find shade, I would hang to firm up in the wind for as long as possible before going to the cooler.  After the guts are out and the hide is off......the meat does real good in the shade for the most part. 

If I was in the back country, I would cool in the wind, pack in dry bags (bone out) and submerge in a running creek.  Most my bears are killed close to a cooler though. 

[dilleytech]

Idk how far from home this hypothetical is but you really have a lot of time. Get the bear home or on ice as soon as reasonably possible just like anything you don’t need to skin it right away but as soon as you get it to camp or home or whatever if your not in a position to get it out whole your skinning it to quarter it anyway.

Absolutely don’t leave a bear over night. If you hunt bears in the evenings have at least 2 flashlights and preferably a good side arm and plan on finding the bear or losing it. This isn’t a deer in winter I’ll find it in the morning kind of thing.

[dreadi]

Bring a battery powered fan if you are doing any work near the truck. The Ryobi can make enough air move to keep some bugs off while you work.

Earlier this week we had ice blocks made from gallon size water jugs. Those were on the bottom of the ice chest, game bag on top. Left the top open. Got to the gas station and bought ten bags of ice. Eight went into contractor trash bag and was placed on top of the meat. Chest would not close which was fine. It allowed heat to escape while providing some cooling. Kept the chest in the bed of the truck overnight while driving home, topper with windows open.

The hide went into a separate chest fur side down, two ice blocks on the meat side and the rest of the hide folded over the blocks. Two bags of ice also fit in there.

Overnight drive. Chests were put into the garage.
Meat was COLD when I got to processing it that afternoon. No meat loss.


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[boneaddict]

This will likely sound funny, but since the August openers, I still don't hunt them until September.  That is bad enough.   A bad hornet or yellow jacket year is a real pisser.   Better have a Benadryl in your pack and if you have the notion, an epi pen.   Gotta get the hide off and a lot of the times the bones out.   We typically will sink em in a creek in bags to drop the temp.  I suppose its funny as typically you want to air circulate and plastic bags would be a huge no no, but I found the cold from the creek offsets that, and keeping them dry is a safer bet from spoilage than just sinking them in water.

[dilleytech]

This will likely sound funny, but since the August openers, I still don't hunt them until September.  That is bad enough.   A bad hornet or yellow jacket year is a real pisser.   Better have a Benadryl in your pack and if you have the notion, an epi pen.   Gotta get the hide off and a lot of the times the bones out.   We typically will sink em in a creek in bags to drop the temp.  I suppose its funny as typically you want to air circulate and plastic bags would be a huge no no, but I found the cold from the creek offsets that, and keeping them dry is a safer bet from spoilage than just sinking them in water.

Air circulation is best for long term storage but short term it’s not necessary. Putting them in plastic bags is trapping moisture and far from dry. At least you’re not adding new bacteria directly by setting them in creek water. As long as there not in mild temp creek water for to long. Ice is a lot colder than a creek.

[boneaddict]

Usually overnight to get it chilled, then hung in the shadows to dry. Short term

[jrebel]

There are a lot of folks that have debunked the theory that getting you meat wet is bad.  If that was my only option, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop it in the creek.  My only debate would be, hide or hide off??   

[boneaddict]

I’ve lost meat twice both had to do with water. A moose shoulder from Alaska, we accidentally dumped it into a beaver pond when we were bringing it out.   It was the only meat that spoiled.  Another was an elk quarter on ice, we put the meat in plastic and packed in ice and drove from New Mexico overnight.  We did one without the plastic, and it spoiled.  Anecdotal at best but what we experienced. I’m with you though. You have to make choices with what options you have.

[EnglishSetter]

I’ve lost meat twice both had to do with water. A moose shoulder from Alaska, we accidentally dumped it into a beaver pond when we were bringing it out.   It was the only meat that spoiled.  Another was an elk quarter on ice, we put the meat in plastic and packed in ice and drove from New Mexico overnight.  We did one without the plastic, and it spoiled.  Anecdotal at best but what we experienced. I’m with you though. You have to make choices with what options you have.

A buddy lost some wild pork.  I told him to just wipe it (cavity) down with a damp rag.  He chose to hose it down inside and out.

I've never really hunted bear.  Got one while hunting deer.  Gutted it in the field and propped the cavity open while I dragged it out.  Skinned it in camp say an hour later.  Hung it in game bags in the shade.  Was fine.  Temps were warm, but not triple digits.

Used to hunt deer in Medocino in August where 90's -100* was the norm.  An evening deer would get gutted, skinned and hung in game bags.  Never saw more water than a damp rag.  Then after a morning hunt we'd take it to town to the processor.  Morning deer got gutted skinned, bagged and off to the processor.  It was fortunate that the processor was < 1 hour from camp.

But I'm with you that air is good, water is bad, guts and hide are really bad. 

[mountainman]

There are a lot of folks that have debunked the theory that getting you meat wet is bad.  If that was my only option, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop it in the creek.  My only debate would be, hide or hide off??   

Have done that with bear quarters several times. Not for periods of time, just to cool meat between pack out trips. No worries at all

[Kingofthemountain83]

I always carry a couple bigger thicker garbage bags to dunk boneless meat into the creek if it's an option... Has saved the meat many times... Once time when I was young I shot a deer open sage ridge, sunny 75*... My Dad and I drug it down to the creek after gutting and left it overnight... Whole, hide on... Looking back I know it was the only thing that saved the meat...