Bear meat

[Blammer]

anyone know of a good video showing how to process a bear for the meat?

I can find several for how to get the hide off of it for a rug.

[flounderman]

Just keep your hands clean and don't handle the fur and then put your hands on the meat. Trim the fat and any glands and kernels. Cook it like pork and be sure to cook it done. Depending on your temperature, the meat would benefit from being stored, unwrapped for a few days at about 35 degrees.

[Cornbread]

What flounderman said is how I cut it off the bone. Then I grind it all, wrap it in packages and toss it in the freezer for three months which will kill all but one strain of trichinosis. Then I take the burger, mix it with whatever I am wanting to for sausage sticks spice and other meat like pork or deer etc., stuff it in the casings and smoke it until the internal temp of the sticks reaches 145 degrees. Take it out and let it cool. Then eat.

[M-Tecs]

Not a video http://www.ehow.com/how_6644986_butcher-bear-meat.html

I have only butchered a couple. Made basically the same cuts as deer. One was about 200 pounds live and the other about 150.

For a large bear using hog cuts may work well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXPmxWEXrRU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W_emv8ANt0

[Idaho Mule]

Cut it up like a deer. If it is a fall bear it should be good tasting as long as the fruit and berry crops were ok where said bear is from. If it is a young bear that is fat on fruit and berries then you have EXCELLENT meat. It will be like a nice young hog. JW

[Don Fischer]

I've only done a couple of bears. Very important to get the fat off of it. Save the fat and render it down, good boot oil and some people say it's a great cooking oil. You couldn't pay me to eat another rib, horrible. Had the one's I got smoked at a market in Kalispell, Mont many years ago. Like eating Canadian bacon. If you hang it, don't let anyone see it. Look's like you shot a man and hung him in a tree!

[bearcove]

Only thing I can add is dress ASAP and get it cooled. Faster you do the better it eats. Then you can age as you like.

[smokinfeathers]

I cut mine jo like a deer n fried the backstraps n was as good as any fried deer meat

[sixshot]

Just like Pronghorn Antelope, it can be very good or very bad, depending on what its been eating & how its field dressed. I've only had spring bear meat & it was very tender....you would be too if you had been sleeping for 4 months! Not much taste unless you really hit it with seasoning. Well cooked is very good advice. In Idaho you no longer have to recover the meat, which is good advice. Not cooking it right can be a real problem.

Dick

[10x]

Cut up the same cuts as pork. Cook the same recipes and temperatures as pork. Sausages the same recipes as pork.
Make sure you hit 154F to 168F internal temperature depending on how much nitrate you use.
To get the same texture as commercial sausauge, emulsify 7% to 10% of the sausage mix and mix it back in

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/meat-smoking

[10x]

Rendered bear grease makes an excellent high temperature deep fryer oil. Probably why old timers referred to doughnuts as "bear sign".

[GunnyJohn]

The fat (rendered into lard) also makes excellent pie crusts. It's all grandma used for pie. As stated, cook to well done. Young berry bears are good eating. IMHO.

[Blammer]

The "bear" I've spotted is a HUGE black bear. 400lbs or so...

He's a regular to the spot. I'm the only one with access to hunt the land. Soooo.... I'll have to check out when bear season is and if I'm willing to do the grunt work after the trigger is pulled. I'll most likely want to have a nice bear rug. I'm gonna check out some tanners in the area and see what they'll do.

[TCLouis]

Do yourself a favor render the fat separately and save for leather treatment.

I have never seen anything better.

One fat bear will give you several lifetimes of leather balm so share with friends.

I will say I do not know if it will attract problem critters on the leather as I never treated anything that was left where mice or other critters were an issue.

[54bore]

As everyone else has stated, it's very important to get the fat off, my dad and I used rendered down bear fat to grease our corked boots, put the old coffee can under the wood stove just long enough to get it manageable and use the old paint brush already conveniently in the bucket! I never was much for bear meat, it sure made good summer sausage, but so would a dog

[white eagle]

I found bear meat to be excellent table fare served it to the family
at a holiday dinner even the women liked it
the bear in question was a fall bear and weighed about 430#
most of the meat was roasts and came from a smoke house
enjoy

[irishtoo]

i cant answer your question but i can tell you of my bear. 2 years a shot a pa black bear apox 200 lbs, aged by the pa game commission at 2yrs 10months. the meat was very lean, and almost bland, very very mild. the area hunted was surrounded by corn and hardwoods. render the fat just for fun, i forgot to tell the processor to save it for me. save the leg bones for future knife handles also. irishtoo

[GBCAPT]

An old alaskan friend shoots a spring bear, bones the whole animal, and then pressure cans all the meat in pint mason jars. He adds his own spice mix (sorry but don't know the content) a bay leaf and tablespoon of oil to every jar.

He says the spring bears fresh out of hibernation have almost no body fat to contend with! The results are darned good and require no refrigeration!

[RugerFan]

Cut it up like a deer. If it is a fall bear it should be good tasting as long as the fruit and berry crops were ok where said bear is from. If it is a young bear that is fat on fruit and berries then you have EXCELLENT meat. It will be like a nice young hog. JW

I cut mine jo like a deer n fried the backstraps n was as good as any fried deer meat

These are generally my experiences with black bear as well.

[mikeyman]

An old alaskan friend shoots a spring bear, bones the whole animal, and then pressure cans all the meat in pint mason jars. He adds his own spice mix (sorry but don't know the content) a bay leaf and tablespoon of oil to every jar.

He says the spring bears fresh out of hibernation have almost no body fat to contend with! The results are darned good and require no refrigeration!

This is what I plan to do with my spring bear. I'm hunting with 2 guys who want the pelts and Not the meat so hopefully I will have plenty to can.