# Bear Meat for the Bear ??? (could be offensive pictures to anti-hunters)



## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

It looks like I could be getting some Bear meat in my future.
Don't know what kind yet (Roast--Burger??). I'm not going to hound him.
Here are a couple pictures of a Bear my buddy just shot.
I worked with this guy for almost 20 years, and I hunted with him (Archery, Deer, Bear, & small game) many times.
I can't think of anybody I would rather see get a huge Bear than him. He really deserves it!
One shot---"06"---Chest shot---Took out both lungs.
Ran 25 yds downhill, rolled once & done.
The Bear was 535 pounds live weight, and dressed out at 453 pounds.
He shot it about 80 miles North of here.

Here he is:

Took this many guys, and a few more, to get him out of the woods!







No--No, Not the French Kiss!






This picture shows how really big he is:






Bear


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## rdknb (Nov 26, 2010)

WOW that is one large bear.  Look forward to seeing what you do with what part/parts you get


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## dale5351 (Nov 26, 2010)

Will they make a rug out of the fur?


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## shooterrick (Nov 26, 2010)

Those that are offended by hunting do not understand the need to keep the population in check in todays crowded world.  MMMMM Bear Roasts?


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## forluvofsmoke (Nov 26, 2010)

Hey Bear,

Have you cooked and eaten Black Bear yet? I'm sure the natural flavor profile matters on the geographical location where it lives and is harvested from as it does with mule deer or white-tail, but I had the opportunity to partake of some shoulder steaks from a Black Bear taken from N/W Colorado about 13 years ago which were given to me by a co-worker as well. This is a sparsley forested area of conifers (pinion, cedar, and a few spruce), with equally sparse under-growth of grasses and brushes (such as sage), no fish and few small animals for the Bear's diet. There are a few fruit-bearing plants (berries) which I'm sure the bears dine on when rippened in the fall, but the bears are mostly herbivores in that area.

The steaks I had were very rich, with a naturally sweet background. The first aromas when I opened the freezer wrap after thawing confused me, so I kept the seasoning simple and followed the KISS method...cbp, salt and garlic. As I recall, I dusted them in flour after seasoning and pan fried to med/well. Very unique eating experience for sure, not even comparible to lamb, IMHO.

If you're looking for ideas on something different, with your background, I'd bet you could whip out a few sticks of smoke wicked summer sausage. Maybe keep a small amount just to toss into the smoker or on a grill just so you can get the true flavor experience. Hmm, had I known back then what I know now, I may have even smoked and dried some cured jerky. Sheesh, now I wish I had about 50lbs to experiment with...better shut my pie-hole and go grab a turkey sandwich, 'cause I'm gettin' hungry just thinking about this...LOL!!!!

Anyway, some Bear for "the" Bear sounds like a winner to me!!!

Let us know what you get for samples and what you do with it...sounds like a great second adventure after the hunt!!!

Eric


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## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

dale5351 said:


> Will they make a rug out of the fur?




Yes he is. He says he doesn't want to get another one, because it's gonna cost him $1000 for the rug. He can only afford one!


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## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

ShooterRick said:


> Those that are offended by hunting do not understand the need to keep the population in check in todays crowded world.  MMMMM Bear Roasts?


Yeah I know, but I don't want to offend somebody. if it may bother them to look at the pics. I gave my warning.




forluvofsmoke said:


> Hey Bear,
> 
> Have you cooked and eaten Black Bear yet? I'm sure the natural flavor profile matters on the geographical location where it lives and is harvested from as it does with mule deer or white-tail, but I had the opportunity to partake of some shoulder steaks from a Black Bear taken from N/W Colorado about 13 years ago which were given to me by a co-worker as well. This is a sparsley forested area of conifers (pinion, cedar, and a few spruce), with equally sparse under-growth of grasses and brushes (such as sage), no fish and few small animals for the Bear's diet. There are a few fruit-bearing plants (berries) which I'm sure the bears dine on when rippened in the fall, but the bears are mostly herbivores in that area.
> 
> ...


The PA State Game Commission cuts many food plots for our 4 legged friends. In many heavily Bear populated areas they pay farmers to leave the corn stand for the Bears to go in & gorge themselves. The regular diet of a PA Black Bear, I believe would be comprised of Corn, all kinds of berries, acorns, Dunkin Donuts (LOL), and an occasional New Jersey hunter. I was pheasant hunting one time in the Tocks Island dam area. I went into the standing corn field to help a guy look for his lost dog, and I spied a 50 gallon drum about 4 rows ahead of me. I only wondered why a drum would be in that corn field until the drum moved. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  I don't remember exactly what happened next, but the next thing I knew I was no longer in that corn field. I think I might have set a new land speed record! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Bear


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## rbranstner (Nov 26, 2010)

That's one big bear for sure. I love bear meat. I had always heard how greasy it was and that it smelled and didn't taste good but I shot one last year and my whole family loved it. I'd dare say that I like it better than venison.


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## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

rbranstner said:


> That's one big bear for sure. I love bear meat. I had always heard how greasy it was and that it smelled and didn't taste good but I shot one last year and my whole family loved it. I'd dare say that I like it better than venison.


LOL---One of my sisters said she would never eat bear meat. So my Dad made a Bear roast. My sister didn't know it was Bear, and she said, this is really good---Where did you get this meat. My Dad looked at me, and said "Barringer's" (a butcher shop down the road from us). My sister said, "This is the best roast I ever ate!"

We told her awhile later, so she wouldn't barf the best meat she ever ate!

Bear


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## jirodriguez (Nov 26, 2010)

What *REALLY* happened to that "bear"


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## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

JIRodriguez said:


> What *REALLY* happened to that "bear"


That squirrel better hold on tight, else that scope wild do a number on his buck teeth!


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## bassman (Nov 26, 2010)

That's a fine looking animal and yes, bear meat is very good.  It's been said to treat it as the long-ago pork (160°) as they may contain trichinae.  Enjoy whatever you end up with.


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## arnie (Nov 26, 2010)

I understand the desire to not want to offend anyone, but the name of this site is .smokingmeatforums.com. 

Where would anyone think all that meat comes from? People Eating Tasty Animals?


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## deannc (Nov 26, 2010)

Thats real nice black bear.  Wasn't there a new state record set this year?


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## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

Arnie said:


> I understand the desire to not want to offend anyone, but the name of this site is .smokingmeatforums.com.
> 
> Where would anyone think all that meat comes from? People Eating Tasty Animals?


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## Bearcarver (Nov 26, 2010)

DeanNC said:


> Thats real nice black bear.  Wasn't there a new state record set this year?


Yeah, I think as of last year, the New PA State Record is 879 pounds---Shot with a Bow & Arrow!


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## meateater (Nov 26, 2010)

Nice bear! Double points for stick and string. I've had bear a few times and loved it, good stuff.


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## pineywoods (Nov 26, 2010)

Congrats to him that's a good sized bear


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## mballi3011 (Nov 26, 2010)

Now that is one big bear there Bear. Now that is one meat that I would really like to try one day.


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## dale5351 (Nov 26, 2010)

We don't have bear around us.  We are in an urban area of central Maryland, but with enough green space around us that deer population can get to be a problem.  The state regularly licenses hunters to thin the population, either with bow & arrow in populated areas or by sharpshooters in places like the state parks.

As an illustration, here is a picture I took in the late afternoon in August out of my front door.  The crabapple tree was dropping its fruit, and the deer loved it!


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## scarbelly (Nov 26, 2010)

Hey Bear

That is one awesome animal. There should be some great eatin for sure


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## iamaxxer (Dec 1, 2010)

This is an awesome bear..... But with my personal experience in bear hunting, butchering the bear ASAP after the kill is very important for top quality bear meat. What bothers me is how stiff his front legs are.... How long was he down before they recovered him? With the 3 to 4 inches of fat that this aninal would have been hauling under his coat,  it takes forever forthe bear to cool with the hide on...

The best bear meat I have ate, was skinned and quartered in under an hour... This meat will be all right but it won't be the best tasting.....


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## native (Dec 1, 2010)

I'm not a hunter and I donate to Animal Humane Organizations. But I have no problem with SPORTSMEN (and women)  harvesting animals for food.  Wildlife management is important to have a healthy, sustainable population.

I DO have a problem with those that go out and take potshots at everything that moves, leaving many animals to die a slow painful death.  The only canned hunt I think should be approved would be to use those guys as the prey.

                                                                      IMHO


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## Bearcarver (Dec 1, 2010)

iamaxxer said:


> This is an awesome bear..... But with my personal experience in bear hunting, butchering the bear ASAP after the kill is very important for top quality bear meat. What bothers me is how stiff his front legs are.... How long was he down before they recovered him? With the 3 to 4 inches of fat that this aninal would have been hauling under his coat,  it takes forever forthe bear to cool with the hide on...
> 
> The best bear meat I have ate, was skinned and quartered in under an hour... This meat will be all right but it won't be the best tasting.....


He only traveled 25 yards, after the one shot through both lungs.
It probably took them (13 guys) a good part of the day to get him out of the woods. 535 pound bears don't usually hang around the back of your pickup truck, waiting for a ride, and they don't drag too easy. Pike County, PA is full of swamps, so I would guess this one was shot a ways back, along the swamp. And if you know anything about swamps, you almost always have to walk down hill to get to them, and up hill to get out of them.

I don't know about other states, but PA Game Commission has done miracles building the number of Black Bears in the state.

One of the ways they do this, is by having a Game Commission Biologist carefully gut the Bear at one of their numerous check-points, so he can inspect the sexual organs, the teeth, and other biological happenings. Gary Aldt was the foremost authority in the country on Black Bears, and he was instrumental in this whole plan. It is illegal to gut your own Bear in PA.

So it would be kinda hard to get a 500+ pound bear from a few miles from the nearest road, to a check-point maybe 20 to 40 miles from your hunting spot in an hour. You just gotta do what you gotta do, and hope for the best.

All things considered, just getting him there in the same day is an accomplishment.

Bear


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## meateater (Dec 1, 2010)

dale5351 said:


> We don't have bear around us.  We are in an urban area of central Maryland, but with enough green space around us that deer population can get to be a problem.  The state regularly licenses hunters to thin the population, either with bow & arrow in populated areas or by sharpshooters in places like the state parks.
> 
> As an illustration, here is a picture I took in the late afternoon in August out of my front door.  The crabapple tree was dropping its fruit, and the deer loved it!


Heck you could tackle them at that distance.


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## walle (Dec 1, 2010)

Pass my congratulations on to your friend.  That is one HUGE BRUIN!!  I've seen a few that big, but they are far and few between.

Can't wait so see some bear bacon... 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





.

Thanks for sharing BC, I LOVE THIS POST!


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## iamaxxer (Dec 2, 2010)

Bearcarver said:


> iamaxxer said:
> 
> 
> > This is an awesome bear..... But with my personal experience in bear hunting, butchering the bear ASAP after the kill is very important for top quality bear meat. What bothers me is how stiff his front legs are.... How long was he down before they recovered him? With the 3 to 4 inches of fat that this aninal would have been hauling under his coat,  it takes forever forthe bear to cool with the hide on...
> ...


Follow me here!.... this is an awesome bear... great shot placement... a bear I would love to have taken, but what I'm saying is don't expect the meat to be top notch!!

I'm not dissing the hunt or the hunter but when you drop a trophy bear and take most of the day pulling it out of the woods the meat WILL have a taste to it more so than one that was skinned and butchered in an hour...

Like I said personal experience.... 

What I should diss is the PA. game commission's laws, they are enforcing game laws that  force you to run the risk of destroying the meat of this awesome bear by not properly cooling the meat down after the kill... 

All I read on this forum is food safety... temps in the safe zone in your smoker,and proper handling of raw meat...... sorry this don't qualify!

While I have never seen a bear of this size in Minnesota their DNR allows you to harvest your bear and gut on site, yes it has to go to a check station for the removal of a tooth and a chunk of a rib for examining. But you can begin with cooling asap....I have seen guys haul in bags of ice to cool down the body cavity on site....I have also seen guys drive around for hours with an unskinned bear in the back of their truck(showing it off). I know what meat I wouldn't eat.....

Again awesome bear!


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## Bearcarver (Dec 3, 2010)

iamaxxer said:


> Bearcarver said:
> 
> 
> > iamaxxer said:
> ...


I I understood what you meant. I didn't think you were picking on my buddy or PA. I just stated what the rules were, and that we had to do what we had to do. Since you got me thinking about it, I looked it up, and that rule of "No Gutting" that they had when I used to hunt Bear, has been changed. Now you can gut them. Maybe they had too many complaints about spoiled meat. Other than that, the time is a factor, and I didn't ask how long it took, but in the picture of the Bear on the fork lift, it is still day time, so it was a shorter time than many. 

I know we always hung our deer up to let them cool out before we cut them up. I went with a buddy of mine to take his deer to a butcher, and the guy just threw it on a pile of deer (not in a cooler). Then he went back two days later, and it was still in the pile!

I can't fault the PA Game Commission, because they did a Hell of a job with the Black Bear Population in PA. We now average about 3,000 harvested every year here in PA.

I will however be very careful with the meat---if I get any of it.

Does Iowa have many Black Bear?

With all that corn, they would be good eating, I would think?

Thanks,

Bear


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## iamaxxer (Dec 3, 2010)

Bears is Iowa?? Nope...might hear of one a year roaming the country side but no bear season here... We have done all of our bear hunting up in northern Minnesota around the International Falls area... But yes we have some of the best whitetail hunting in the country! All of our whitetail are raised on corn and beans and browse very little on anything else 8 months out of the year...

Glad to hear that you can gut it on site... That would help tremendously. And like previously stated bears can carry tric. so cook well just like pork...


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## Bearcarver (Dec 3, 2010)

iamaxxer said:


> Bears is Iowa?? Nope...might hear of one a year roaming the country side but no bear season here... We have done all of our bear hunting up in northern Minnesota around the International Falls area... But yes we have some of the best whitetail hunting in the country! All of our whitetail are raised on corn and beans and browse very little on anything else 8 months out of the year...
> 
> Glad to hear that you can gut it on site... That would help tremendously. And like previously stated bears can carry tric. so cook well just like pork...




It's been awhile since I hunted Bears, so I don't know when they changed that rule---I'm glad they did. Maybe it was just until they got all the info they needed, and maybe a lot of complaining stopped it.

PA is a great hunting state, with about 3,000 Bears, and about 350,000 to 360,000 whitetails (more than a third buck) bagged every year.

They have been working on establishing an Elk herd too, but I don't know how that's coming along.

Yup, our deer usually have ticks on them too!

Thanks again,

Bear


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## umrjake57 (Dec 3, 2010)

Whoever shot an 879 pound bear with a bow and arrow must have some huge cajones

 


Bearcarver said:


> DeanNC said:
> 
> 
> > Thats real nice black bear.  Wasn't there a new state record set this year?
> ...


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## Bearcarver (Dec 3, 2010)

Whoever shot an 879 pound bear with a bow and arrow must have some huge cajones




Thats real nice black bear.  Wasn't there a new state record set this year?
Yeah, I think as of last year, the New PA State Record is 879 pounds---Shot with a Bow & Arrow!


Yup,
I heard there was a big stink about it.
Apparently some locals were feeding it for years, as they do all over Northern PA.
But it was investigated, and found to have been taken legally, so the only ones who were breaking the law were those who were feeding it.
Even a friendly Bear would get annoyed with an arrow sticking in him, especially an 879 pound Bear, so I would have to agree with the size of the cajones.

Bear

PS:   Another buddy of mine lives in Potter County, in a Log Cabin that he cut all of the trees down & built himself.
He heard a noise outside one night, while his 80 year old Dad was visiting him. He looked out the peep-hole in the back door, and couldn't see, so he told his Dad to turn the back porch light on. His Dad said, "The light is on!".
He couldn't see, because the bear was standing on his hind legs against the door, blocking the peep-hole. He locked & loaded, but the Bear lumbered off.[/quote]


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## Bearcarver (Nov 11, 2017)

I figured I'd Bump this up, since it's been hiding for 7 years, and the Pennsylvania Rifle Black Bear Season opens November 18, 20, 21, and 22.


Bear


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## woodsman5150 (Nov 14, 2017)

awesome pics and a great time-congrats on that experience


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## Bearcarver (Nov 14, 2017)

woodsman5150 said:


> awesome pics and a great time-congrats on that experience




Thank You Woodsman!
I wasn't there on this hunt---Just my Buddies. :(

Bear


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## radio (Nov 14, 2017)

That's a big'un!  never ate bear meat, but hear it's awfully good.  Did you end up getting a roast or something from that one?
A few months ago, a member of the Acrobats of China brought me a pair of huge Grizzly claws he wanted set with silver and Turquoise for necklaces.  The puppies were just over 3 1/2 inches long!


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## Bearcarver (Nov 14, 2017)

radio said:


> That's a big'un!  never ate bear meat, but hear it's awfully good.  Did you end up getting a roast or something from that one?
> A few months ago, a member of the Acrobats of China brought me a pair of huge Grizzly claws he wanted set with silver and Turquoise for necklaces.  The puppies were just over 3 1/2 inches long!



Yeah, they can get huge!!!
I never got up to my Buddy's place to get some, and I never pushed it, because it was so big it probably took them too long to get it to the butcher & get it cooled down.
I got some from another Buddy of mine since---Smaller Bear & it was Great !!

Bear


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