Shot 1 yesterday. Worms in the Thing! couple pics added!

[quadrafire]

You think it will be ok to eat?

Yes. The meat will not be contaminated with the roundworms.

[addicted]

My buddy had a boar tested (we have all boars tested by law) and the unusual 10-20 inch worms werent a problem  , but the bird disease that was found in the test was.  The Testing official guessed that a bird with the disease had died and the boar ate it.   

[snocobearhunter]

as long as they aren't in the meat just the guts your fine

[sebek556]

this is a bad thread to read while eating lunch...

[ouchfoss]

as long as they aren't in the meat just the guts your fine

 
I would bet that it is probably more common than people think to have round worms in the guts of bear. How many people actually cut open the intestins to see what is crawling around in there. I decided to cut the intestins open on a bear I got 5 years ago because I was thinking of making a traditional style bow string for my longbow and after seeing a footlong nasty roundworm wiggling around I decided I might try to make a string out of something else.    A friend of mine got a bear a few years ago that actually had weird worm things and a bunch of nasty sores in the meat.  It was actually a healthy looking bear until the hide came off of it. 

[quadrafire]

This was an article out of Massachusets, but it gives you some idea whats out there
If these worms were in the GI tract I would eat, If I found some in the muscle I would not.



What kinds of parasites affect the black bear?

Black bears have been reported to host more than 30 external and internal parasites, including coccidian protozoans, flukes, tapeworms, intestinal roundworms, lungworms, filarial worms, lice, fleas, ticks, and mites. Roundworms (Toxascaris sp.) were the most common endoparasite in New York, occurring in 31% of bears sampled. In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 90% of bears were infected with the larval form of Dirofilaria ursi, a roundworm related to the dog heartworm. In New York, 46% of bears harbored this parasite.

Trichinellosis, or muscleworm infection, is a parasitic infection of humans (and domestic animals) resulting from the invasion of muscle tissue by the larval stage of the roundworm Trichinella spiralis. Severe muscle pain, fever, edema, localized hemorrhaging, and neurologic problems may result from this disease. Infection results from the consumption of undercooked meat-such as pork-containing encysted larvae. Trichinellosis has also occurred from eating undercooked bear meat. Larval Trichinella were found in 0% of bears sampled in Vermont, 1% in Labrador, 2% in Pennsylvania, 6% in New York, 13% in Idaho, and 22% in Alaska. Although it is commonly believed that bears acquired the parasite from eating garbage, a greater number of infected bears occur in remote areas than those with high human densities. Bears probably acquire the parasite by cannibalizing carcasses of other bears. It has been hypothesized that trichinellosis contributes to antagonistic or erratic behavior in bears. However, there is no conclusive evidence to support this hypothesis.

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii infects a wide ranges of birds and mammals. This parasite is transmissible to humans and may cause serious or fatal illness in persons with compromised immune systems. Congenital infections may produce birth defects. Wildlife can serve as the intermediate reservoir host for this parasite and cysts can survive for years in muscle tissue. Consumption of infected meat can produce infection in humans. In Pennsylvania, 80% of sampled bears showed antibodies for Toxoplasma. Persons consuming bear meat should cook the meat to an internal temperature of at least 66º C (150º F) for 3 minutes, which is sufficient to kill both Toxoplasma and Trichinella.

There may be individual and regional variation in the susceptibility of black bears to ectoparasites. Ticks were the most common ectoparasite in Idaho. Most bears were lightly infested (<25 ticks). However, in Montana, 100% of 117 bears examined in May and June were infested with ticks (Dermacentor andersoni). Subadult black bears were often in poorer condition than adults and probably more susceptible to parasites. Mange mites (Ursicoptes americanus) were found on 4% of bears sampled in Idaho. Since 1993, about 45 cases of nearly hairless bears (infested with the mite Demodex ursi) have been found on the western edge of Ocala National Forest in Florida.

References: Babbott and Day 1968, Briscoe et al. 1993, Butler and Khan 1992, Forrester et al. 1993, Goad 2003, Jonkel and Cowan 1971, King et al. 1960, Rausch et al. 1956, Rogers and Rogers 1976, Schad et al. 1986, Worley et al. 1983, Yunker et al. 1980

[saylean]

The big question is where is the pic of the bear!?

Congrats by the way!

[BOWHUNTER45]

yeah this has happened to me once... gutted it and was putting my stuff in my pack . when I turned around and looked at the gut pile it was moving ... so I boned it out and rolled up the hide tied it on my pack and when I got home I called a couple people to see if they wanted it and one said yes ...so I told him about the worms and he could care less so I gave him the meat and the hide ...I was not eaten it after watching the gut pile crawl along the ground ...

[carpsniperg2]

Yeah make sure you cook the heck out of it! If it was me I would donate it to some more hungry then myself 

[Michelle_Nelson]

Danm makes you wanna not eat bear meat.     Still gonna kill them just give the meat away.

[marty]

My bear last year had worms in the gut meat was fine!

[Kain]

Not really needed in this case but there is a physician alert card posted over at predatormasters that you all might think about putting in your wallet.  Not every doctor may think to ask if you hunt and handle wild animals.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1120001&page=1

[bankwalker]

The big question is where is the pic of the bear!?

Congrats by the way!

haha and the worm pic?

[lokidog]

Could be one of the reasons of all the bears we shot out of our cabin in Ontario, 20+, we nor the guide ever gutted one.  Simply skinned, quartered and left the gut cavity intact.  Never had meat go bad and these were all June hunts before they banned spring hunting.

[one-eyed Ross]

Round worms usually aren't a problem, you have to eat the egg to get the disease process, not the worm itself...and they normally just live in the gut.

(There is an unusual process called "Visceral Larval Migrans" where a parasite, in the wrong host, will travel through the host organism looking for the "correct" to live...but in those cases, you'd know it because the animal would be VERY ill looking since the bowel and other internal organs would have holes in them from the worms travels).