bear meat and warm weather

[tony04]

i was planning on going hunting this weekend untill i seen how warm its supposed to be. so my question is if i shot a bear in the morning or mid day in 80 degree weather, how soon do i have to get the meat to the freezer before it spoils? the area i was splanning on hunting is a couple hour hike in. thanks

[MtnMuley]

Bring a couple big coolers with ice. It will last for several days.

[JimmyHoffa]

I think the part that is more important than how quickly you can get it to the freezer is how quickly you can get the bear skinned and the fat off the meat.  It is cooler in 80 degree heat than it is inside a bear in 80 degree heat--where it will probably be in the 90s.  If it can't be cooled within probably 4-5 hours, might want to look at using something like salt.  Removing the outer moisture slows down the spoilage.

[ICEMAN]

Any way to bag the meat and submerge in a creek? Sometimes it is just too hot and far in to hunt.

[Wake1]

Get the hide off immediately. Had a bear bone sour in a few hours during a November hunt. Learned a great deal that day.

[KillBilly]

I kept a bear in the hide in Matheny creek for 2 days a few years back. It was fine, no damage to meat.

[huntnnw]

Bears are nothing like a deer or elk where u can get away with alot more with the other 2... bears are in the same family as a pig(pork)... it spoils fast... I would make sure its on ice as fast as u can and preferably gettin into a freezer within a day and a half. I shot a bear one morning around 8 am..was to the bear in a hour..gutted and in the truck..drove to camp and skinned the bear and quartered it and had it in coolers within another hour and half..we went to store and filled coolers up with ice. The coolers sat the rest of the day in the shade and we left the next morning... when I opened the cooler that morning the meat was rotten!! almost puked from the smell! I couldn't believe it was bad.. one of the fastest bears I had ever gotten on ice and processed..to this day I am confused as what else could been done.

[GHETTO GUIDE]

I kept a bear in the hide in Matheny creek for 2 days a few years back. It was fine, no damage to meat.

Gutted I assume and then in the creek???   This work well?? 

[tony04]

Thanks for your help. think I'll just do some road hunting with my 4 year old. He'll enjoy that. Besides I don't think the huckle berries are quite ripe yet

[ICEMAN]

Bears are nothing like a deer or elk where u can get away with alot more with the other 2... bears are in the same family as a pig(pork)... it spoils fast... I would make sure its on ice as fast as u can and preferably gettin into a freezer within a day and a half. I shot a bear one morning around 8 am..was to the bear in a hour..gutted and in the truck..drove to camp and skinned the bear and quartered it and had it in coolers within another hour and half..we went to store and filled coolers up with ice. The coolers sat the rest of the day in the shade and we left the next morning... when I opened the cooler that morning the meat was rotten!! almost puked from the smell! I couldn't believe it was bad.. one of the fastest bears I had ever gotten on ice and processed..to this day I am confused as what else could been done.

Huh.... I bet a creek with that continuing icy cold water hammering away at the heat would be better than just a block of ice. We have cooled meat in the creek a couple of ways, somtimes in the hide (deer) and other times in bags (bear and deer)..... Works good to get it cold.

[huntnnw]

dunno..weve put hides in creeks alot.. I have done alot of bears in the coolers and never had one go bad like that.. thought maybe it ws the bear. meat was ice cold in hours