3 questions about black bears

lord-humungous

lord-humungous

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I'll be concise:
1. Season in Ontario opens in August. How do you keep your meat from spoiling if you take one early season? Or do you wait till it's cool.
2. Does anyone have a link or a vid about field dressing? I assume it's the same as any other type of game in principle. If I take one, I want to keep the meat and the hide.
3. When roughly do bears den down for the winter in Northern Ontario? Specifically, WMU 28?

Reason for all the questions is that I am planning to take a bear tag on my moose hunt in fall 2010 (WMU 28). I haven't hunted bear before.
 
I wait untill the temp drops. It's uncomfortable to sit in a tree in hot weather, even worse when your in full camo. The bears are less active in hot weather. Plus you need a cooler for your meat.

Dressing the game is basicly the same. Keep your knife sharp, bear is greesy and will dull the blade quicker.

I've seen boars out in first and second week of nov before.
 
1. Field dress and skin right away then get it into a cooler somewhere is the way my buddies are handling the meat during the bear season. Temps are staying warm right into October these days up in those areas. They have been bringing freezers and generators, getting their kills cut and wrapped and frozen and then throw it in their freezers for the ride home.

2. Never cleaned one but have watched it done and didn't seem any different to me than cleaning a deer or moose etc.

3. WMU 28 covers alot of ground, the south end being as far south as New Liskeard and the North end Timmins. There is a good 2- 3 weeks difference in seasons beginning and ending weather wise between the north and south ends of the wmu. When I lived in Timmins we rarely saw bears after the end of Oct unless it was a really mild fall. When I lived in New Liskeard we often saw them in the grain fields regularily into the first week of November if there were still uncut crops. I'd say in a typically average year you arent going to see any in WMU 28 after the first week of November at the very latest IMO.
 
Personally for bears I don't bother hanging them.

Field Dressing is the same as a deer. Just know what you want to do with the hide (eg: rug, full, 3/4) google is your friend for that one.

They usually go down early November, late October.
 
1 - I find like most animals if you can get it skinned fast and then give it a vinigar and water rub then it cools pretty quick. Vinegar has two benefits - it's a strong anti-bacterial so it helps prevent bacteria from growing on the meat, and it also evaporates much more quickly than water and if you remember your high school science evaporation is a major cooling tool, so it helps cool the meat faster. Doing that (and possibly repeating it once in a day or so) will probably buy you an extra two or three days.

Hang it in the shade where there's a bit of a breeze if you can.

2 - it's just like deer - but there is a HELL of a lot more fat. Even the initial incision where on a deer you expect to cut right thru the skin, you may find there's an inch or two of fat to get thru before you're into the gut. I was shocked first time i did one - and wound up playing 'bear hocky' with the thing after we gutted it and were trying to load it :) The fat made it slip around so bad it was very difficult to hold without it shooting away, even when halved. Some meat hooks might be in order :)
 
Im not too far away.

My bait was getting lots of hits until after the opening weekend for Moose (rifle). they completely dropped off the map by mid october for me this year. Probably didnt' help that the area was a lot more active after moose hunting started. Im Aiming to have everything wrapped up by end of september next year and wont bother sitting in the stand until the temp has dropped below 10 C .

I think the other guys have covered the dressing etc. btw..the bear needs to be skinned immediately.

I would pick up the tag just in case but depending on when you go it may not be worth it.
 
Be aware that many butchers will not accept bear carcasses. I believe this is due to the risk of contamination with trichinosis (sp). The regs in Ontario governing butcher shops have been beefed up over the last few years (go figure....)
 
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bears are easy to butcher yourself. if your looking for sausage or ground debone it, cube and freeze. maybe save a roast off the rear. grind what you want for burger and package in baggies. i prefer sping bear as there is less fat and a better hide.
 
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