Hey guys,

First time posting here and I hope you can help ease my mind. This spring my brother and I got a really young small black bear (first bear ever and we were pumped!). We're confident it was 2 years old (definitely legal, but barely). We didn't weigh it but the two of us could swing it into the truck bed without much trouble.

We butchered it ourselves (done many times with other big game) and are quite meticulous about cutting out all the sinew. At the end we had only 18lbs of meat. The two hind quarter roasts were each big enough to feed two people for a meal, maybe 3 people max.

A very good friend of mine (and avid hunter) has all but eliminated our relationship (or at least it feels that way) because he couldn't believe we only got 18lbs and said we'd wasted it and shot it just for show. I've explained to him that it was really small and the only meat that was wasted was the lower legs which were so full of sinew it would've taken forever just to get an extra couple pounds out of them.

Has anyone else had this experience of so little meat out of a small bear? Being the first time I'd butchered one it was definitely completely different than deer or moose so I don't know what to expect. I feel no guilt over it as I 100% believe we didn't waste it, but I'm on the brink of losing a really close friend over it because he thinks I'm turning into "one of those guys that takes animals and doesn't use the meat". If anything we erred on the side of shooting a bear that was borderline old enough to harvest.

Thank you,

Brandon

At the end of the day...the only person that you need to be satisfied with your bear is you.

18 lbs does sound a whole bunch light, though.

I killed a small boar a few years ago. It was around 140lbs. If I recall, I got a fair amount of meat off it, but didn't weigh it.

I do have to say that of all wild meat, bear meat is one of my LEAST favorites. Just don't care for it.

I personally love black bear meat but to each his own. One thing to remember is bears have alot of fat that accounts for alot of their weight. If the bear was under 120lbs ,than 18lbs sounds about right because alot of it is unusable because of all the fat. Bears also carry trichinosis and you should really only eat the back straps and the lean portion s of the hind quarters.
As far as your so called friend is concerned, I dont see how its any of his biz, how much meat you got, or what you shoot in the 1st place.

I hear ya, Deer and Bear. I eat all kinds of wild meat. Squirrels, rabbits, turkeys, deer, fish, gamebirds, etc. I just don't have a taste for bear meat.

That said, it must just be me...because I never have trouble getting rid of it! LOL

As far as how much meat you should get from a bear, I have no clue since I've never even seen a live bear that wasn't in a zoo. But as for your friend, that's a little odd. Obviously you're not very good friends or he would believe what' you told him. I'm trying to imagine myself in that situation with my friends... They may doubt me if there was reason to doubt, but I don't think they'd ever call me out on the issue, and it definitely wouldn't end our friendship. Good luck with your friend- good ones are hard to come by! And congrats on the bear, no matter how big or little it was.

rw

You really did shoot a small bear. I shot a 115 pound bear and got 40 pounds of meat from it. Some incredibly tasty meat at that. But small bears just don't have much on them.

This bear was shot In the Spring so yes It's going to be much smaller then a bear shot In the fall. Bear put on allot of fat during the summer and fall months. I'm guessing this bear was a year and a few months old. The sow will kick her yearlings out after coming out of the den to get bred again. It's not a cub, It's his or her 1st year away from momma so It's legal. Besides a good sized bear, bear usually don't have near as much meat as a whitetail which allot of people don't realize. This bear you shot probably dressed out at 60lbs or so and would've been 100 to 110lbs or so dressed come fall If not more.

Your buddy Is an ass!!!!

we got around 62 1/2 pounds but we didnt debone it just quartered and that bear was around 225

I asked a friend that guides and he said you did well getting 18 lbs. That is with taking all the fat and everything off it. Myself I can not tell you as I also have a dislike for bear meat..