Ontario bear hunting is fast approaching
- Thread starter Arclight
- Start date
verminaard
CGN Regular
- Location
- SW Bantario
I am going to try again this year as well. I picked up a tag last season in case I went out while I was at the camp in the spring. Didn't have time between it being a short trip and walleye opener. Heading up again this spring only staying for longer. I am hoping that means I can carve a little time out for some spot and stalk while I look for a place to set up a bait station for next year. Maybe use a buddy's bait station if he has opened it up.
short of seeing it's man parts ? it's a difficult task to properly ID a male from female bear. look around online for proper id techniques, would take some experience and getting used to.
my dads friend simply makes everything into sausage / salami and smokes it... but like any other animal, you can do steaks, roasts etc. whatever you do with the bear, make sure you cook the piss out of it (i.e. 160 deg. C minimum internal temp) no rare bear meat for this guy. not messing with trichinosis.
Got my bear June 1st last year, the roasts were nothing short of amazing. Had some steaks and sausages as well that I couldn't complain about. Marinated the entire tenderloins over night, wrapped em in bacon, then cooked on the BBQ on low for quite a while, they too were amazing.
Good eating? That is subjective. Yes if you love game. If you've only ever had farmed animals then dump bear will be an acquired taste. Even for game lovers bear is on the low end of palatability with moose and elk being the tops.
Most mix bear with pork to make pepperettes or highly spiced jerkies. I highly recomend bear in indian style curries. Rogan Josh is my fav, but there are so many ways to do it and do it well.
The backstraps are also good with honey garlic rosemary.
I need a bear.
Male vs female is ears/head and size. Not always easy, but provincial manuals are good at explaining and you can you tube it for guessing practice.
lol bear is really subjective ... i know some very hardcore hunters that never wanted eat bear then tried ...
we did a blind test with moose, caribou,bison ,moose, elk, black bear and grizzly meats ... that was in a fondue the first one gone was black bear meat and it was with around 10 people ....
if i had the choice caribou first but bear meats is never far behind and even grizzly but we are lucky ours can feed on berries on the short summer ...
we have a great booklet done for bear meat:
h t t p ://www.env.gov.yk.ca/publications-maps/documents/bear_bacon_boot_grease09.pdf
when skinning never let the hair or hide touch the meat nor puncture the bladder.
i need a bear too ...
Species8472
CGN Regular
- Location
- Nipissing Township + 82a
Dump bear - no thanks. I try to take a a bear <200lbs that has been fattened on berries and/or grain. I would rate a bear like this above even moose and elk if slow cooked in a crock pot with the right marinade/broth.
This has been my experience as well. We often do 2 bear roasts in the crock pot for our family Christmas dinner which is 80% urbanites that eat virtually no wild game. The bear disappears faster than the butterball and the ham.
Last edited:
freddyfour
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County, Ontario
Bear meat = delicious
In my experience most people just plain don't know how to cook....
Simple rule of thumb, meat that should be served rare to medium rare like lose or venison should be cooked for short time on high heat...... meat that needs to be cooked all the way through needs to be cooked low and slow. Do the opposite on either type and you get shoe leather....
Hell, if you don't have a lot of time to babysit your bear roast, just put it in a crock pot with a cup or two of red wine and sprinkle some onion soup mix on it and put it on low for 8 hours and it will cook itself....
Simple rule of thumb, meat that should be served rare to medium rare like lose or venison should be cooked for short time on high heat...... meat that needs to be cooked all the way through needs to be cooked low and slow. Do the opposite on either type and you get shoe leather....
Hell, if you don't have a lot of time to babysit your bear roast, just put it in a crock pot with a cup or two of red wine and sprinkle some onion soup mix on it and put it on low for 8 hours and it will cook itself....
Thanks! I must add bear tacos to my list of things to eat. My kids absolutely devoured the venison tacos I made last year. I need more wild food.
I buy a 80lb bag of sweet feed and 4litre of molasses from the feed store for about 50 bucks (oats and corn)
Fill my barrel up, dump all the molasses on top then cover. Bring all the bacon grease I saved over winter and heat it up with blow torch and spread it over the barrel and any big trees in view of the trail camera as high as I can. Use to judge size in the pictures.
Got about 100lbs of deer scraps from the butcher last fall I will use as well. But I don't have a lot so I only use it right before I start hunting and during the hunt to freshen it up.
Fill my barrel up, dump all the molasses on top then cover. Bring all the bacon grease I saved over winter and heat it up with blow torch and spread it over the barrel and any big trees in view of the trail camera as high as I can. Use to judge size in the pictures.
Got about 100lbs of deer scraps from the butcher last fall I will use as well. But I don't have a lot so I only use it right before I start hunting and during the hunt to freshen it up.
I'm waiting on a M14.ca CASM scope mount for my M305S (the best birthday present from my good friend and hunting partner!). It should arrive on 25 April. The next day my hunting buddy and I will hit the range for sighting in and fine tuning his Rem 700 .308 the the M305 using Hornady 150gn SP American Whitetail .308, and Norc 7.62x51 ammo. We will be hitting the hunting area on the first of May for Smokey for the opener. Out friend who owns the property we hunt on, is reporting that a bear is hitting our bait hard. We have lots of dog kibble, deer feed, corn, and apples soaked in molasses. Other then then last deer season, this will be my first bear hunted in about 20 years. This bruin wrecked havoc on our deer hunt last November. He was eating the bait and playing hide and seek with me. He got to within in 1 foot of me on one morning, before taking off once I turned around with a rifle.
