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Is Bear meat any good?

6K views 25 replies 23 participants last post by  WapitiBob 
#1 ·
I have heard both good and "real bad". I hear the same for Antelope but know from personal experience, the goat is great. It could be the process I go thru or maybe not.

I quarter all my game right where they hit the ground, then pack to the truck and put in coolers with Ice. They stay there for about a week, then I seperate every muscle and burger most of it. There is virtually no fat on any of the meat.

So, assuming I do the same prep with Bear, is it going to be any good?

The wife has also mentioned Tricinosis.
 
#4 ·
Exactly; a bear is what it eats. If you shoot one in a huckleberry, blueberry, or wild raspberry patch - he is likely to be pretty tasty.
However - some bears taste like greasy road-kill in my opinion and are better suited for summer sausage, mixed grade burger, and pepperoni sticks rather then steaked out table fare. The smell of some bear meat simmering on the stove - will run even an avid game eater right out the door !
 
#5 ·
Is bear better than elk? yes of course it is. As burger, stew, roasts. Shoot it, skin it, cool it down. Then cut and wrap ASAP. Do not age a bear unless you like poor meat.
 
#9 ·
Yes, it is, if field dressed, cooled, and processed correctly. Some ideas to kick around with the meat are:

1. Chorizo- spicy, Mexican blend sausage, usually scrambled with eggs.
2. Breakfast sausage seasoning. Witts or A.C. Leggs makes great pre-mixed ingredient packets.
3. Pepperoni. Depending on the lean-to-fat ratio of your bear, you might consider adding beef or pork fat to it. Once again, buy a pre-made ingredients package, very easy to DIY. High temp cheese is a great addition to this recipe aswell.
4. Brine injected bear ham. Lots of recipes out there for a brine, as long as you do it right, and use a cook schedule with an adequate cook cyle (google "Lethality Chart-Appendix A") in the smoker, it tastes very comparable to a smoked ham.
5. Greek sausage- recipes vary, but main ingredients include Kalamata olives, feta cheese, red wine, salt, pepper, oregano, coriander and garlic. Very good recipe if you want to try something a little different.

Hope that helps.
 
#10 ·
I enjoyed some bear meat from the cascades area, while I received some spring bear meat from Alaska that was terrible. Tasted like salmon and smelled like salmon while it cooked and that was backstrap Just Wrong and distasteful. I agree with those that have stated; it depends on where it was harvested, how it was cared for and what it was eating. I would eat it again but from a salmon stream :palm: pass..
 
#11 ·
I did a blind taste-test with bear summer sausage vs. elk summer sausage, results were indistuishable; 12 people preferred the bear, 14 people preferred the elk. Interestingly enough, almost everyone thought they had chosen and preferred the elk; sounded tastier to them I guess :whistle:
 
#13 ·
Coastal bears are tops. Dumpster bears and fish eaters get a free pass.

If you get a fall bear (fattie) can the meat as this gets any remaining fat out. Makes excellent soup and stew meat. Yum. Cooking in/on the stove leaves to much grease in the meat for me but the flavor is fine. Spring bears are probably better.
 
#14 ·
My first taste of bear was awful. Bear ribs without the fat removed. My next taste was great. I shot one in Montana, trimmed off all the fat I could and had it sugar cured up in Kalispell. Tasted like canadian bacon, gret stuff!
 
#17 ·
A chemault area bear will be the best bear meat of any in the state. They are eating grubs, bees, honey, ants, currant, manzaneta, random birds, cougar kills, small critters it catches, grass/forbes.
 
#23 ·
Tried bear a lot of ways and have enjoyed almost all of them but hand down the best so far is canned bear to throw in enchiladas. You can't beat them enchiladas!

We are running low on the spring bear and the wife is asking me to go bear hunting soon.:)
 
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