Had our First Bear Meat.

[Smoke4320]

I just wonder if there is a alien somewhere typing .. don't eat the humans coming out of Walmart only the ones from whole foods!

[dverna]

One thing...bear meat can spoil quickly.

Another thing...a bear hanging after being field dressed and skinned looks a lot like a human...and that can play in people’s heads.

Bear fat is disgusting and you must get it off the meat. One of my neighbors does bear ribs. He cuts as much fat off as possible and then boils them for 90 minutes to get more fat out. Then in the grill...and they are good. Most people just throw bear ribs out but they can be good IF done properly.

[wildwilly501]

I can't make myself like bear meat I've tried it many times many ways and I don't like it and I'm not a picky eater.

[Lloyd Smale]

Id rather gut and cut up 20 deer then one 200lb bear. there greasy smelly and nasty. I remember one my dad shot at camp back when you could shoot one with your deer license. He skinned it hung it out front of camp and not a sole in camp would eat it. It looked just like a 4 foot muscle builder would look like if you skinned and hung him. Dad cooked some venison steak and a batch of bear steak for the crew one morning without them knowing it. they licked up both plates. there was one piece of bear left when my dad admitted what he did and not a single one of his buddys would eat it!!

My feelings exactly. I have tried bear meat every way it could be cooked, made into jerky, roasted, etc., and I just can't keep it in my mouth long enough to swallow it!. The more I chew it, the bigger it gets! Spit and sputter and out it goes.

I wont hunt them as I can't stand to gut them, clean them or eat them.

[AllanD]

I've been told that the absolute best tasting bear meat comes from a late summer bear that you have personally killed while it was trying to kill and eat you, apparently the claim is that the "revenge" improves the flavor, I have no personal experience, so I'll leave it there...

[Traffer]

Never had bear but from what I have heard, It depends a lot on when you shoot them and where they feed.

[GregLaROCHE]

To be good first it’s got to be black bear and a young one, even better if it’s a good blueberry year. The worst meat I’ve ever tried to eat was an old grizzly that had been eating salmon.

I never cook it like steaks. Always like beef stew with plenty of garlic and some tomato. You need to cook down for quite a while. Season it the way you like. I like a bit of hot pepper in most things.

Other way is to marinate it in red wine and herbs for twenty four hours. Then cook down smaller pieces or roast bigger one basting with olive oil.

Believe it or not bears are very closely related to pigs. That’s why they are called bores and sows. Unfortunately, they can also get trichinoses too. Be sure it’s cooked well.

If you like wild hog you should also like bear. Cook bear with herbs and spices the same as wild hog and you will have a difficult time telling them apart.

I’ve never made it, but have eaten a lot bear sausage. I think you trim off all the bear fat and add pig fat.

Don’t forget the nice rug they can make.

Finally, you can render down some fat and it’s great for leather boots.

Have I forgotten anything? Maybe a necklace of bear claws too!

[snowwolfe]

Thank Mr Google for this:

Bears are not part of the pig family. Bears come from the Ursidae family, while pigs are part of the Suidae family. Both bears and pigs have the same infraclass, Theria, which includes all mammals the have placentas such as tigers and horses.

Although bears and pigs do not share the same family, they do have a few similarities. For instance, they both have broad molars used to crush food, and they both use mud to maintain their body temperatures. Scientists classify the males as boars and the females as sows.

Bears or the Ursidae family are close relatives of dogs, seals and skunks because they are all in the Carnivora order. The Ursidae family consists of five genera, including Ailuropoda, Helarctos, Tremarctos, Melursus and Ursus. The four species in the Ursus genus include American black bear, brown bear, polar bear and Asiatic black bear.

Pigs or the Suidae are more closely related to other even-toed hoofed animals, such as deer, camels, cattle and giraffes, because they are all in the Artiodactyla order. The Suidae family is broken into the Babyrousa, Hylochoerus, Phacochoerus, Potamochoerus and Sus genera. Warthogs belong to the Phacochoerus genus, while boars and pigs belong to the Sus genus.

[GregLaROCHE]

Always good to know the real facts. Good job on that research.