The only thing that I don't keep off a bear is the ribs. Backstraps are "steaked", Hind Quarters go for roasts and everything else is burger. I personally don't render the fat but I do keep it and donate it to the local native elders who really appreciate it. I wouldn't feel right about leaving bear meat to rot, I guess if I couldn't find a use for it I'd probably stop hunting them. They're a magnificent animal it's too bad that some people treat them like vermin.
Bear Meat?
- Thread starter mmattockx
- Start date
One should never eat bear jerky! Trichinosis is not your friend........
http://www.medicinenet.com/trichinosis/article.htm
Just ask the biologist up here who contracted it.
Ted
My buddy cold smokes the ribs for about an hour. The entire racks are done whole, and just long enough to get a good flavour in them. When they come out they smell like bacon, and then go into the freezer. When it's time to use them, I saw them into short ribs, while still frozen, and cook them like any other rib dish.
Ted
I have eaten grizzly meat twice, both were mountain bears.
The eating was the same, perhaps a bit coarser texture. Served it to friends, who all declared it much like beef.
Ted
Here's a thought passed onto to me. Not sure what to make about the health part.
"Never eat spring bear, too skinny and possible detrimental to your health. Hunt for hides only in early spring as the armpits and flanks aren’t worn out, better rugs".
"Never eat spring bear, too skinny and possible detrimental to your health. Hunt for hides only in early spring as the armpits and flanks aren’t worn out, better rugs".
Personally, except for beef, I'm not a fan of aging meat. It makes it more tender; but I'm not fussy about the flavour that develops most of the time.
I used to raise goats, and I was always told to just give the old bucks to the rendering plant because the meat was as "goaty" as the buck was.
When it came time to 'teminate' my first breeding buck, (he would have been about 10 years old), I decided to make my own dog food. So I dressed and skinnned the carcass and chopped it into manageable size bits, filled a pot and dumped the rest into the freezer.
Well, after adding some garlic (very good for dogs) and leaving it to simmer on the back of the stove for a few hours... I couldn't resist having a taste for myself.... All the dogs got from that old goat was some drippings and the bones.
So after that, kill-dress-freeze was how I handled all the adult goats I butchered, and it worked really well.
Myself, I generally prefer it to deer meat. The trick, IMHO, is letting it sit in a good marinade overnight, then BBQing it. And as an added bonus, compared to deer, bear meat is much more resistent to over-cooking. Take a deer past medium rare, and it starts getting awfully dry. Bear, on the other hand, seems to retain a lot of moisture even when well done.
- Location
- vancouver island
- Location
- London,Ontario
Bear meat is some damn good eating "if dressed properly and timely"
Splatter: I hope you don't add garlic to your dogs food regularly as it's in fact mildly toxic to them. Onions and to a lesser extent garlic contain thiosulphate which causes everything from an upset stomach to anemia. There's a whole grocery list of human foods that are not safe for dogs so if in doubt there is always the interweb.
X2 was just about to write this too.
Bear meat is fantastic, I lay in wait every spring and fall for the bears to visit my apple and cherry trees. yum yum yum
I really don't treat them any different than deer. hang em if the weather is appropriate, butcher if/when it isn't. I totally bone it out, and trim off all fat if possible. steaks, chops, roasts, and burger meat. By far my wife's favourite meat (and 4 years ago she was reluctant to even try it).
also x2 on the fat for skin ailments... not from personal experience, but know people who use it for eczema, and swear by it.
