Keeping a bear from spoiling in the spring. No freezer or cooler

blasted_saber

blasted_saber

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
17   0   0
Location
A blue part of Ontario
Hi all,

Need some advice on how to keep a bear cool in the spring. Expected temps 10-20C day time.

My bait will be at the camp, which is off grid. About 30 minutes from home. My plan, if I am successful is to gut in the bush, skin at the camp, then take the bear to my grandparents house where he and I will do the processing. The problem is that missing work the next day isnt an option. So the bear will need to be suitably protected from spoilage until the following evening when I can cut it up and package for the freezer

What would you do?

Also - I have zero experience with bear meat. Have you encountered issues with thawing meat at a later date to make sausage, then refreezing? Ive done it with venison and moose to no ill effects.

Thanks
 
using pastic bottle (make sure those bottle are really clean) with frozen water inside after you skin it completely. use cotton cheese or big sealed coton drape to protect your meat from spoiling and being of course in a ventilated place.
 
Unless the Bear is absolutely massive,there won't be as much meat as you think by the time you field dress and skin it,remove head and legs. Hunters I know bought a used fridge to store meat in until it gets processed. They hooked it up to a generator. I've used the same set-up on a trailer bringing Moose meat home from Shining Tree that worked like a charm. Be careful with Bear meat. It spoils faster than other game meat because it's more closely related to Pork.
 
^Yep. If you have an "old garage fridge" that could be emptied and the shelves rearranged, a quartered animal would fit. When you break them down, they're much easier to deal with and visualize what to do with them.
 
I made up a couple temp controllers for use with a deep freeze. It monitors temp, turns freezer on and off to maintain setpoint, usually 1C. Pretty simple and you just plug any freezer into it. Have run it on generator at camp for several days, as well as traveling home.

A fridge will work for deer and bear, but for a bull moose we quarter it and use the freezer.

Lots of folks use the same setup for kegs of beer.
 
blargon said:
I made up a couple temp controllers for use with a deep freeze. It monitors temp, turns freezer on and off to maintain setpoint, usually 1C. Pretty simple and you just plug any freezer into it. Have run it on generator at camp for several days, as well as traveling home.
Click to expand...
Did that, too, works very well. The only issue is getting them set up just right so they don't get too cold, for too long and freeze stuff.

You can get them on Ebay for $10 if you can wait a few months.

ww.amazon.ca/Elitech-STC-1000-Temperature-Controller-Centigrade/dp/B00Y8T9YZG
 
Why not just do it all in one go? Gut/quarter in the bush, then off to gramps for the butchering? Or do you think that'll take too much time?
 
Trimmer 905 said:
Unless the Bear is absolutely massive,there won't be as much meat as you think by the time you field dress and skin it,remove head and legs. Hunters I know bought a used fridge to store meat in until it gets processed. They hooked it up to a generator. I've used the same set-up on a trailer bringing Moose meat home from Shining Tree that worked like a charm. Be careful with Bear meat. It spoils faster than other game meat because it's more closely related to Pork.
Click to expand...

never ever lost meat doing my way. bear meat is not related to pork that is even leaner than beef. the fat is on the side of the meat not inside ... the difference with bear meat is you do not need to age it.
 
If you skin it out and quarter or halve it, you can just chunk it up into large clear plastic bags and pop it in the freezer. There is no problem thawing it out to grind or make sausage and then refreezing, I have been doing this for more than four decades. When I take bears a couple provinces over, I just skin and chunk it up, put three block of ice in the bottom of large coolers, put a thin piece of 1/4" plywood (cut to fit) down and lay the chucked meat above... AND keep the lid CLOSED. If you have access to a freezer, chill the meat good before putting into the coolers.
 
Suther said:
Why not just do it all in one go? Gut/quarter in the bush, then off to gramps for the butchering? Or do you think that'll take too much time?
Click to expand...

Essentially, yes. Im not super experienced at butchering.

Ideally if I shoot a bear, its at like 7am on a Saturday or Sunday, but I think the majority of my hunting is going to be evenings after work.
 
I take a cooler with me full of frozen two litre water bottles.

I prefer not to shoot huge bears so after gutting and skinning immediately I cut the two front shoulders/legs off, keep the neck/rib cage on it's own and the lower back/two legs in another chunk.

I bag the two shoulders in a meat bag made of old sheets, the chest in another and the back legs in another. I lay them out on a tarp in the back of the truck with the frozen water bottles on them and go home. At home I have an old upright freezer set to its warmest setting so it won't quite freeze the meat and put the meat chunks in there overnight if I can't process until the next day.

My buddy has what he calls a "7-day cooler" that is big enough to take a cut up small deer or bear and keeps the water bottles frozen for two or three days if you don't get one right off the bat.
 
Last edited:
blasted_saber said:
Essentially, yes. Im not super experienced at butchering.

Ideally if I shoot a bear, its at like 7am on a Saturday or Sunday, but I think the majority of my hunting is going to be evenings after work.
Click to expand...

In that case, if you don't already own a big cooler I would be looking for one. I've got one of the larger Coleman Xtreme ones, and I can fit an average sized bear (plus frozen water bottles) into it once I get it broken into quarters (I bone out of the neck and ribs usually). Spend the first night getting the bear into cooler-sized pieces, and the second night butchering it up.
 
jacob.22 said:
I have never personally tried this but what about bringing along a CO2 fire extinguisher and make fresh dry ice on demand.
That way if you recover/harvest your bear in late evening you can make some fresh ice to keep meat from spoiling.
I don't believe there is an issue of CO2 for foods, many desserts are made using dry ice.
It doesn't melt like water ice. Dry ice turns into a gas as it dissipates, no liquid mess.
No need to make ice or buy every trip. Less space and weight too.

Click to expand...

No need to make or buy ice? You obviously realize dry ice turns into a gas, do you have a plan to reuse it or something?

This is great if you've got a pile of old fire extinguishers lying around but otherwise I don't have any idea how you'd do this economically and repeatedly?
 
You’re close to home by the sounds of it, I’d gut in the field and if I was worried about spoiling I’d skin and quarter and get the pieces in game bags. Bring a big marine cooler in the truck with 3-4 frozen 2 litre bottles, stick the game bags in the cooler and get things home.

If temps aren’t too high I’d just gut it and get it home whole and skin a quarter it, then into the cooler it goes if I don’t have time to cut and wrap the same day. You can generally leave things on ice in a good cooler for 3-4 days in the fall, so plenty of time in the spring to keep things cool till you can butcher it or get it to a butcher depending on your skill level.

Most important part will be to get as much fat off as you can as it can go rancid in the freezer if you leave it on after butchering, I prefer to grind up most of a bear as I love making bear sausages and burgers or just having packs of ground for making pasta sauces or tacos, meatballs etc etc. I keep the blackstraps and tenderloin and a few other cuts like the ribs for cooking but 75-80% of it gets ground up.
 
Ya, Im thinking coolers and quartered bear is the way im going to go. I have access to one huge cooler and several "normal" sized big coolers.

Im not after a big bear. Anything thats not a cub will do for me size wise, being that it will be my first bear.

Thanks all for the advice
 
Suther said:
In that case, if you don't already own a big cooler I would be looking for one. I've got one of the larger Coleman Xtreme ones, and I can fit an average sized bear (plus frozen water bottles) into it once I get it broken into quarters (I bone out of the neck and ribs usually). Spend the first night getting the bear into cooler-sized pieces, and the second night butchering it up.
Click to expand...

That's about right.
 
How many friends you got? The Indians usually cooked and ate the whole thing; not having refrigeration and it not drying well.
 
We always use a giant Coleman extreme with a bunch of 1 liter frozen bottles. Quarter the bear, pack it back to the truck then dress as much of it into chunks at the truck as we can. Bag the chunks into game bags and thats it. Never had issues with leaving it like that for up to 4 hours for the drive home. Those coolers will keep ice for days if you leave them closed.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom