After the Kill

[ZeroTucker]

What do you guys doing with your bears? Every bit of Bear meat that I have had is nasty... Maybe it just wasn't processed well?

I know I would love to have a sweet bear rug with head and all but that is EXPENSIVE!!!! and it would be such a waste to kill one just for a rug.

[halflife65]

Sausage is good.  I also ground it up and mixed it with beef fat or pork fat and then ate it in spaghetti sauce, tacos, etc.  It was pretty good that way.

You can also get a shoulder mount - I have a rug and shoulder mount (include a white blaze on his chest) and the shoulder was definitely a lot less expensive.  I also have the skull of one of the bears.

[Whitelightning]

I got my first last year, I made steaks and roast just like I do with deer. I really like it not gamey, my kids like it also.

I am having the hide rugged hope to get it back soon.

[bigtex]

What do you guys doing with your bears? Every bit of Bear meat that I have had is nasty... Maybe it just wasn't processed well?

I know I would love to have a sweet bear rug with head and all but that is EXPENSIVE!!!! and it would be such a waste to kill one just for a rug.

Every bear I have had is GREAT. I usually do jerky, peperoni, sausage and hamburger. And mount the head.

[Huntboy]

Summer sausuge, and it was really good.

[skier2480]

I also cut it up into steaks and roast. I BBQ the steaks and season them just like any other stead and to me tastes great. My wife won't touch it after I showed her the pics of the hunt including gutting and skinning. OH well, more for me!  


I just have the skull cleaned and mounted. It's pretty cheap.

[Grizzly95]

I am hoping to arrow my first bear this year, or get my wife on one. It is her first year hunting. Gonna try up outside of Newport if anyone has any tips  My cousin has a place and they have been coming in to his stand.

[saylean]

Im bout like everyone else on here. I have the meat made into summer sausage, breakfast sausage, roasts, pep sticks. Use the hides either as mounted rugs or just tanned, use the skulls as bleached deco art...

[LCG]

I'm a meat hunter and dont care about rugs or mounts. Bear is pretty good if you get rid of all the fat. I treat it just like deer ecept we add more hot spices when cooking. The heat seems to kill of some of the gaminess. Bear chili is great as is sausage.

Don

[HereDuckyDucky]

I don't think bear tastes great or tastes awful.  It's not that simple.  It depends on a lot of factors:  the bear's age; what he's been eating; what time of the year is it; how was the meat cared for; etc.

I've had bear steak that taste like duck liver; and I've had bear steaks that were better than beef fillet.

In my experience, if you get a young bear (250lbs or smaller) that smells like a winery when you open it up (berries / fruit), and you take care of the meat properly, you'll have some of the finest wild game you can find.

Old bears are tough.  Bears that have been eating animal matter taste like it.  Etc.

...but even those bears make AWESOME summer sausage!!!

RW

[Michelle_Nelson]

HereDuckyDucky there are a LOT of Old bears that will never get over 200lbs.  There are also fairly young Bears that are over the 250 mark.  Going by just weight is not a good indication if it is a young Bear or not. 

Field care and what the Bears have been feeding on I think play the biggest part on what a Bear is going to taste like.  If they have not been feeding on fish that Field care is #1.  If it is hot out the fat on a Bear even if it has been skinned can go rancid pretty quick. 

So far I have prefered my Bear made into sausage, and stix.  I am not a big steak or roast eater is the main reason.  i prefer meat in taco's, spagetti sauce, stir fry, etc.  The occational back strap steak.   

[Kain]

Anyone ever try to sell the hide?  It seems like I saw some black bear skins on the list when I was looking at fur prices.

[halflife65]

Is selling the hide legal?

[Kain]

Is selling the hide legal?

Yes

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00766/wdfw00766.pdf  Page 73

3. Purchasing or Selling
Wildlife or Their
Parts:
Non-edible portions of
wild animals and game
birds may be sold or
traded (antlers, hides,
teeth), except for bighorn
sheep; mountain goat;
velvet antlers of deer or
elk; or the gall bladder,
claws, and teeth of bear,
except those claws
or teeth permanently
attached to a full bear
skin or mounted bear
or the raw fur of a wild
animal or the wild animal
itself, if the wild animal,
has been trapped in
this state with a body
gripping trap.

[halflife65]

Ah, so as long as you didn't trap it, if I'm interpreting that correctly.

[woodman]

Bear or deer sausage slices in my lunch every day of the year for years. Love it!

[Michelle_Nelson]

Is selling the hide legal?

YES!


WAC 232-12-071 Agency filings affecting this section 
Buying or selling game unlawful — Game-farmed meat exception.

  (1) Unless prohibited by federal regulations, nonedible parts of wild animals, game birds or game fish lawfully taken may be offered for sale, sold, purchased or traded, except it is unlawful to offer for sale, sell, purchase or trade the following unless authorized by a written permit issued by the director:

     (a) Nonedible parts of bighorn sheep or mountain goat.

     (b) Velvet antlers of deer or elk.

     (c) Gall bladder, claws, or teeth of bear, except those claws or teeth permanently attached to a full bear skin or mounted bear.

     (2) It is unlawful to knowingly buy, sell, or otherwise exchange, or offer to buy, sell, or otherwise exchange the raw fur or carcass of a wild animal trapped in Washington with a body-gripping trap, whether or not pursuant to permit.

     (3) It is lawful to purchase and sell the meat of game-farm raised deer and elk, provided the meat is imported from a licensed game farm in another state or country, the meat is boned and only meat is imported for sale, and the meat is packaged for retail sale prior to import into this state. It is unlawful to fail to maintain proof of the source of the game-farmed meat together with the meat until the meat is consumed or exported.

[snocobearhunter]

i have silvana meats grind up burger,breakfast sausage,pep sticks, and i can a bunch up myself unless it's a sping bear on that grass diet then i cut steaks spring bear rivals any big game i've ever ate

[billythekidrock]

What do you guys doing with your bears? Every bit of Bear meat that I have had is nasty... Maybe it just wasn't processed well?

I know I would love to have a sweet bear rug with head and all but that is EXPENSIVE!!!! and it would be such a waste to kill one just for a rug.

You must have not had it prepared right (from field to table) or you have eaten garbage bears. I find that bear meat is very hard to beat when processed properly.

Roasts, steaks, stew meat, canned, sausage.......it is all great.

[ZeroTucker]

I guess I'm going to have to get a bear and try my own then... Who does your skull mounts around here?? I am in Bellingham so something close preferably.

[Michelle_Nelson]

I do not know of anyone up north that does good skull work.  I am sure there are you just need to look and ask  around.  I only know a few taxi's up that way but I have never seen any of there skull work. 

I clean quite a few Skulls every year.  I would say so far 1/2 of them have been Bear Skulls.  I am located down in Rochester.  I charge $150 to Clean/Degrease/Whiten/Seal a Bear Skull.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
http://mntaxidermy.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=8991761

[billythekidrock]

Michelle has done a great job on a couple of my skulls.

[littletoes]

This guy has done some work for me, and they look great;

http://www.gwskulls.com/html/prices.html



Should mention, bear meat that I have eaten, even since a small kid, tasted great. I've heard folks say it was greasy, but as my mom would say, it was how folks prepared it.
We/I've always butchered my own game, to include making sausage or hamburger, and it tastes mighty good.
Hope to get another chance this year to make some more of same!

Good Luck to you folks.

[Kent Hunter]

We make Polish Sausage out of the majority of ours. The last two that the wife and I have shot we have had the rear legs made into hams. We steak the tenderloins and do one shoulder roast. The bears that we have shot in Washington have all been very good eaters!! The same can't be said for the bears that we have shot up in B.C. That is some FOUL tasting meat!! The B.C. spring bears are great for rugs and mounts but not for chowing down on.

[shedcrazy]

I'm with everyone else here, I have mine made into pep sticks, and breakfast sausage. The sausage is so good made into patties and thrown on the grill. To me it tastes 10x better to grill it verses frying it. I've also trimmed it and sliced it up, rubbed it with High Mountain rub and made some excellent jerkey. The skulls are fun to do yourself, but up in your area, Fidalgo taxidermy might be one to look up..

[Balladeer]

Where do people in the Snoqualmie/NB area get their meat processed? Is there a butcher shop/freezer nearby?

[piled-up]

bear summer sausage is the best ive had!