Bear meat

[Ridgerunner]

What's the best stuff to turn a bear into? My wife is not too thrilled about eating a bear, but I am hellbent on trying to shoot one this year.  Any suggestions? 

[bucklucky]

Breakfast sausage is great, get a variety. Hot, Mild , Italian etc....

[Machias]

First bear I shot I got roasts, steaks, chops, burger, etc.  The only thing we liked was the burger.  Next 6 bears we turned them all into burger.  Bear chilli, bear spagetti, bear tacos, bear burgers!  Awesome.  Next bear I get I'll be having some processed into sausage as well.

[OltHunter]

in my experience, i would recommend only burger, sausage and pepporoni.  not the best tasting meat in my opinion.  burger is not too bad with pork fat, doesn't last as long in the freezer but tastes better. 

[winston2789]

sausage with pork fat is the best way to go!

[wamuledeer]

My bear last year I had processed in Twisp and it turned out great. I had breakfast sausage, burger, summer sausage and then had the hams smoked. I just cook the hams in the oven like a pork ham and they taste great. They are very moist with a lot of flavor but not gamey at all. I am not sure if it was just because what the bear was eating or what. A lot of people don't like the taste of bear but everything I had was very good.

[DeKuma]

I have always done burger, roasts, steaks, chops and sausage.  Been great.  All in how you cook it.  Have not had a bad one yet, luckily.

[Gutpile]

I've only shot one bear and it was a no fat spring bear but I got some bacon done which was out of this world, a bunch of breakfast sausage, some grind, and a ton of bratwurst made. It was all good but the brats and bacon were great!!!!  Still have a couple hams to do, gonna have one tomorrow for dinner.

[billythekidrock]

With proper field/kitchen prep you will find nothing better then bear except a young tender elk steak.
I like to do roasts, burger and many types of sausage.

Here are some links to check out.

Jerky
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,1016.0.html

Roast
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,1012.0.html

Pepperoni
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,1015.0.html

Canned meat
http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,1013.0.html

[ArtistNhunter2]

Only had spicy breakfast sausage in patties. Very good!

[billythekidrock]

Lots of sausage.

[saylean]

I had alot of summer sausage/jerky made on the last one..this year...getting an many roasts as I can (the sausage/jerky was great...I just want more meat I can make stuff with), provided I can connect. I only had a few roasts from last year...ate one of them...then I think my little bro snagged em for college!

Its ok, he helped me drag it out. I am really fond of bear meat...other than elk, it is my fav so far.

[billythekidrock]

I had alot of summer sausage/jerky made on the last one..this year...getting an many roasts as I can (the sausage/jerky was great...I just want more meat I can make stuff with), provided I can connect. I only had a few roasts from last year...ate one of them...then I think my little bro snagged em for college!

Its ok, he helped me drag it out. I am really fond of bear meat...other than elk, it is my fav so far.

Roast for me is a bit of a misnomer. I may take a whole backstrap and fold, wrap it, freeze it, unwrap and cook while frozen in a crockpot as a roast. I will also take the whole ham section and make one or two roasts out of it.

If you want to get more bang for your buck try canning. The meal options are unlimited.

[MountainWalk]

I like bear roast with a good thick huckleberry sauce.

[cascademountainhunter]

red hots or beer dogs

[WildBear]

Can't go wrong with Breakfast sausage! Burger is so versitle. That was the majority of our bear last year with a couple roasts. Got to agree with how you cook it..

[Gutpile]

Just ate one of the hams and oh man was it awesome.  I had no idea but the butcher smoked the hams. I thought he just cut & wrapped them  who knew? We  heated it up and wow was it good, tender too!! 

[BC CHASER]

Bears are cousins of pigs so if you get one this year have some bacon made out of it.  My butcher was kind of hesitant at first but let me tell you what, IT IS AWSOME!  Very little fat and you can cut it to your own thickness.  He did mine in maple and a few peppered.  Burger, bacon, roasts, pep. and sausages.  Remember dont shoot bears that eat garbage unless you like the taste of tampons ands diapers!   Good luck everyone!!!

[rjm5]

I'm gonna have to go with sausage or burger on this one. Not a huge fan of the steaks or roasts.

[Kent Hunter]

We like it all. Steaks, roasts, burger, and sausage. The bears that I've shot in WA, ID and MT have all been just great. The only exception has been the bears that I have shot in B.C. They were not very palatible. I agree with what one poster said about bears that have been eating garbage or fish. My wife does not like wild game for the most part, but she has said that it would be just fine with her if I would shoot a bear here in WA every year. She loves bear meat. The bears that I have taken from the area around the north end of Lake Chelan have been out of this world delicious!!

[Broken Arrow]

I had my first and only bear I shot made into smoked hams and a souther breakfast sausage with green chilies and lots of sage. The hams were so good we actually served one of them at Thanksgiving and relatives we had over who are always critical about wild game being to "gamey" would not stop eating the bear. My kids devoured the breakfast suasage in quick order as it became their first choice of "what do you want for breakfast question"

Now I must add that this was a bear from the Blue Mountains that for months had probably not eaten anything but apples, pears and plums.....( actually put an arrow into him as he was trying to get an apple from the tree).

I really agree that what the bear is consuming goes along way as to what kind of table fair it will turn out to be. I did have some suasage from a bear that my hunting buddy killed on the west side a few years ago and it was so damn bad i tried to feed it to the dog and even he refused.

[BONE COLLECTOR]

 i you get one that isn't very big put it on a spit and cook it like a hog.   or if it's big do a hind quarter.  use green vinemaple on an alder fire.

[Abolt338]

Depends on what they've been eating.  Get a good, young, berry-fed bear and take the loin, backstraps, and thighs and turn them into steaks.  Everything else goes into sausage - I prefer summer sausage as it makes good Holiday gifts.

If it's been eating fish or carrion, do the whole thing as sausage.

Easy way to tell is to cut a steak of backstrap and fry it with salt and pepper.  If you enjoy it, it's good to go...if not, sausage.

RW