bsurplus2003

If you have a Rat in your house do you feed it? ...............NO you dump it, not only that but if you plan to elk hunt, you might wanna read the part about, bears killing cafs during the spring.
Brett

game4lunch

In Wyoming (and I suspect Colorado) bear is not classified as big game.
It is under the heading of trophy animal along with mountain lion because they don't expect people to eat it.
But if handled properly, can provide some tastey table fare.
My understanding is it needs to get all the fat off the meat and cook it like it was pork. Bear is part of the pork family.

McBruce

seems like an interesting thread going.

so with that..said
1) bear meat its all in the prep. take the tenderloins, use a jacard on them ( meat tendorizer ) that cuts the fibers of the meat doesnt pound it to a pulp. run up the tenderloin 4 times ( each side ) now put in a zip lock bag and soak in butter milk for min of 24 hours. ( butter milk will pull the blood out and remove the hash taste ) now marinade something like herbs and garlic or lemon spice for another 24 hours.
cube and make kabobs. ( smaller sections will cook faster and all the way through, since they need to be cooked well done.
and yes it is good meat...you just have to prep it correctly.

2) in colorado you are not allowed to trophy hunt. meaning if you bear hunt, you must take your hide and your meat and have it checked by DOW. they will want to know how you are processing it. who is and so on.
leaving meat in the field is want/waste and can and will land you in big trouble.

3) when elk hunting ( archery ) it is not uncommon to come across bears. in fact if you are cow / calf calling be ready for a bear or mtn lion to come in. Archery Bear season runs almost the same dates as elk and mule deer. ( but not exact dates )
I always have a bear tag for that just in case while out elk hunting.
and were I live in colorado ( up in the mtns above 10,000 ft elevation )
we have bears around all the time. had an awesome chocolate in my front yard last sat.
its a rush to be out hunting and cross a bear.
its un nerving to quarter out your elk. pack out what you can, come back for a 2nd trip and find a 400lb black bear wanting part of your kill.
yep always have a bear tag when archery elk/deer hunting in colorado.

shed33

The bears I get to hunt here in Idahoare exciting to hunt and eat great.

http://www.huntingnet.com/fieldjournal/fieldjournal_detail.aspx?nID=681

James B

Bear is mighty tasty. I have eaten several.

goos_blues

The only time I dont like when people hunt with hounds, is when they shoot them with something other than a gun. I've see shows where people shot a bear up in a tree with a bow or crossbow. Thats just stupid. If your going to chase a bear for miles and scare it up into a tree, the last thing you need to do is make it suffer that much more by shooting it with a bow. Saying that it makes it more of a challenge by shooting them with a bow, is no excuse to me. Shooting a bear up in a tree isnt difficult with anything.

loverboy9_1_1

Just try it once, its addicting!!!

Folically Challenged

Excerpts from Trichinae Fact Sheet, by H. Ray Gamble of the USDA:

"Trichinella spiralis is a parasitic nematode (roundworm) which is found in many warm-blooded carnivores and omnivores, including pigs. ... Transmission from one host to another host can only occur by ingestion of muscle tissue which is infected with the encysted larval stage of the parasite."

So when a bear (or a pig, or whatever) eats a dead animal (bird, fox, coyote, wolf, etc.) that's got the parasite, it gets transferred.

"Cooking - Commercial preparation of pork products by cooking requires that meat be heated to internal temperatures which have been shown to inactivate trichinae. For example, Trichinella spiralis is killed in 47 minutes at 52° C (125.6° F), in 6 minutes at 55° C (131° F), and in < 1 minute at
60° C (140° F)."

When I worked for the meat company, the National Pork Producers always told us that 137 degrees was the magic number. They also came out with a campaign to "think pink" when cooking pork. If you get it to 150 or 155 deg., then pull it from the heat & let it stand for 5 or 10 minutes, it'll be tender & juicy, & completely safe. I'd have no problem doing that with bear meat.

I've got a tag for blackies for my upcoming trip to the Kutenays. Hopefully I'll score on one of those delicious, non-garbage fed, non-fish-eating, inland bears! But I won't be trying Bear Tartare!

FC

lucas_flesher

Sausage!!!!!

TNHagies

I can only speak for VA bear. One day I hope to hunt brown bear but for now its just black bear. I love both hunting and eating bear meat. The main reason I love hunting them is because there are so few of them that when you do see one your heart about beats out of your chest w/excitement! ex the last live bear I saw huntin' was about 4 years ago. So it doesn't happen often but boy oh boy when it does... Its legal to hunt bear w/dogs in VA but I never was interested in that. My dream is to kill a Bear w/a flintlock as that's the ultimate challenge for me.

As for the meat, I'm sure that people have had bad experiences with it. Every single person that says that they don't like like deer meat I challenge them to let me cook them some and see if they still have that opinion. 99% of them do not after they eat what I cook. Not that I'm a chef by any means but when you leave the hide on a deer in the 70 degree weather for 3 days before you process it, of course its going to taste aweful. Processing of the meat has a lot to do with it.