grizzly bear, why is it?

[Lloyd Smale]

that you don't hear of people eating them. Is it the parasites? I watch one of those Alaskan shows the other night and a guy shot one trying to get at his cattle heard. He went through all the bother of skinning it and took only a roast sized piece of meat and left the carcass and the hide to the scavengers. I guess I thought if one roast is good enough for you to eat why not take all the meat home. The family ate that chunk of meat in a stew for thanksgiving dinner.

[44man]

Sounds like waste to me. I love black bear meat and I am sure Eskimo's have been eating Polar bear forever (Except the liver-toxic, vitamin A over load or something.)
Bear meat just has to be cooked real good, like pork used to need it.

[Wolfer]

I have no personal experience with grizzly bear. From what I've read it depends on what they've been eating.
If they have been eating like a herbivore the meat is edible. If they've been eating like a predator then not so much.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Possibly, although they say lion is good eating. Maybe it is just that a lot fewer of them get shot.

I'd want to stew any bear meat, and stew it carefully. In 1896 a Norwegian Professor Andre tried fly over the North Pole by balloon. You can see him, miraculously preserved in Santa Claus's secret kingdom, in the Beau Bridges movie "Flight of the Reindeer". If you shed ballast every nightfall to compensate for contraction of the gas, and shed gas every morning to do the opposite, you run out of something. So he used dragchains on the ice, but they were seen to fall off, and they were never seen again until thirty years later, when an expedition to rescue General Umberto Nobile after his airship crash found the remains of a camp and partial skeletons.

The men had both eaten and been eaten by polar bears, but left an unsolved mystery. They had guns, a tent, food, a stove and oil fuel. They were ready for the bears, and cold and hunger didn't weaken them. Only in the 1970s a museum found the trichinosis parasite in a piece of bearskin found with the human bones. It doesn't usually kill you, but it weakens you and erodes your judgement, and polar bears are one of the things you can't have afford to have eroded judgement about.

[armexman]

Mr. in Scotland,
Thanks for that response; it will lead me to do some internet research this weekend. Your response brought up facts, information and names I have never heard of in my short 54 years on God's green and blue earth.
Muchas Gracias. Off to the magical world of the internet (where no lies exist);)

[dk17hmr]

Cameron Hanes recently shot a couple grizzly bears and butchered them.....documented on his YouTube channel.

I would at least try a steak and probably make sausage if I shot a grizzly.

[grizz41]

That family doesn't normally waste anything. I'll ask that savage the next time I run across him! Alaska D F&G says brown & grizzly should be same as black bear depending on what they've been eating. I haven't had the chance to chew on one yet. I love eatin blueberry bear that's got purple innards from eatin so many berries. Know of 2 "old timers" that said grizz was ok but not their first choice! F&G says excess vitamin E is the problem with bear liver. Hope this helps.

[Schrag4]

One organism's trash is another organism's treasure. I always get a kick out of the idea that an animal that is killed but not harvested for meat is "wasted." There is a long line of scavengers hoping for a chance at that meat - none of it is truly wasted. I DO understand that the meat could have value to the hunter if only he or she realized it, though.

Disclaimer: I'm not a hunter. The position I take is merely a response to the PETA types who would see one type of creature suffer so that another might not have to.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Well, yes. Even bacteria are God's little children, and those opposed to hunting disinfect more of them in a moment than we would in a lifetime's hunting. Animals are a whole lot closer to bacteria than to us, when it comes to thinking "Oh God, I'm going to die!"

[quilbilly]

My experience is with black bear only but I suspect grizzlies are similar. If the black bears have been mostly eating veggies, berries, bugs, small game and occasionally a fawn, they are great eating. I especially like fennel, black pepper, and sea salt rubbed rump roasts cooked in a microwave. If they have been eating a lot of salmon carcasses or fish in general, they taste horrible IMHO. If the black bear has been eating away from local rivers, the meat also makes primo breakfast sausage, bratwurst, and polish sausage.

[w5pv]

I have eaten black bear once and would never shoot one for table fare.The one I ate on was tough,and tasted like rancid pork to me.I would have to be pretty hungry to try it again.

[GabbyM]

Bear meat strait up pretty much taste like cardboard. That's no excuse not to use it. Get some pork fat from the butcher shop to blend in along with other tricks I forget. Most wild game you need to trim off the fat then just toss that. Like Illinois corn fed deer. Pork fat is good in the sausage grinder but just don't tell the women you tossed in a few raccoons.

Those TV shows running on the Stata light are IMHO mostly anti "we have a right to live free" BS.
Surprise it's TV. They depict people who live outside of Obamas control as idiots. We musty be idiots since we do not agree with them.

[Lloyd Smale]

Lots of guys I know would trade you a nice fat doe for a bear anyday. Me im kind of in the middle. Fried in a pan for breakfast it tastes kind of like tasteless venison for lack of better words. Roasts are good if seasoned well and trimmed well. Any fat and you can have it. It makes good burger mixed with beef fat. Closer to beef burger then about any other meat. Its great in sausage but then you could grind a dog or cat up and make sausage and it would taste the same.

[pls1911]

The only bear I've ever had was canned by a New Mexico subsistence hunter Northeast of Santa Fe.
She relished the stuff, but it seemed more like road kill to me, which in fact it may have been.
I like to watch the bears and will leave 'em alone unless they become destructive, and then there are alternative methods to try before I call the canner lady.

[mart]

Alaska F&G does not require the salvage of brown bear meat except in subsistence hunts. In most cases brown bears are pretty rank, especially fall bears. I've not been around a spring brown bear so cannot comment on it but have been told it can be good depending on their diet. I am quite fond of spring black bear. Everyone I've had has been excellent. However a fall black bear from near a salmon stream will most likely be inedible. As was mentioned before no carcass goes to waste. Carrion feeders, both avian and mammalian make short work of any carcass.

I've been berated for my stance on not harvesting bear carcasses. Our law allows for us to leave a brown bear carcass in the field. It also allows for leaving fall black bears as well. I have no problem with this. Some like to claim the moral high ground with the statement they won't shoot something they won't eat. That's fine but F&G depends on hunters to harvest bears in Alaska to meet their management objectives. In the short 13 years I've been living in Alaska, I've seen the brown bear seasons and regulations relaxed considerably in several units. Some are allowing baiting and one brown bear per year. It used to be one bear every four years in most units. Bear numbers are high in many units. Black bear hunters may harvest 3 bears a year in nearly every unit in the state.

To answer the OP's question, most brown bears are nearly or completely inedible because of their dietary indiscretions.

[Lonegun1894]

We don't have bears around here, even though black bears are supposedly moving my way slowly, but y'all have me curious to try both brown and black bear meat. I keep hearing so many different things that it has me wondering if maybe it's a personal preference thing, flavor, or maybe even as simple as some people can cook it and others can't.

[outdoorfan]

We don't have bears around here, even though black bears are supposedly moving my way slowly, but y'all have me curious to try both brown and black bear meat. I keep hearing so many different things that it has me wondering if maybe it's a personal preference thing, flavor, or maybe even as simple as some people can cook it and others can't.


As to your comment about how one cooks the meat, the first black bear meat I had was as good or better than any beef roast I've ever sank my teeth into. My friend's mom cooked it. When I tried MY hand at cooking/roasting the bear meat, it was hardly edible. :oops:

[GunnyJohn]

I like bear meat. But it is true that it depends on what they have been eating. I got one a few years ago that had been feeding mostly on fruit from old homestead orchards, sweet and delicious. On the other hand, a cousin got one on the coast, couldn't get past the smell. My grandmother rendered the fat for baking grease. She swore it made the best pie crust.

[rintinglen]

I totally agree with w5pv. Bear meat, at least the black bear I ate part of, is pretty nasty stuff. Rancid pork was exactly how I would describe it.

[BwBrown]

From my vast experience involving two black bear I would suggest this: bear - in my experience black bear - is pretty much dependent on how it is taken care of and processed. I have seen deer and bear hauled around for days for photos and bragging.

Like any game, a harvested bear must be eviscerated, skinned, cooled, fat cut off and treated in the same clean, timely manner as the prime rib beef you buy in the market. Anything short of that quality care will degrade the meat. Understandably, conditions in the field may make such care difficult. which may explain why some would leave behind a whole carcass, or only harvest one roast.

I also respect the judgement of others, especially when I'm not in their shoes. I have twice shot deer which were inedible due to previous injuries - in PA such an animal can be turned in allowing a hunter to continue the hunt.

Bottom line: both my bear were and are delicious - thanks to good recipes and a great cook.

[44man]

Deer are the same, diet is important. Nobody will eat a fish duck either. I have taken doe in PA and they were delicious, next season get one in the same place, same size and they were terrible. So far, here our deer are eating corn most of the season and only a little toughness will be found.
I once killed a big, old buck in Ohio that stunk. I cooled him quick and never touched hide to meat. The meat was rank and 2 hours in a pressure cooker still needed a chainsaw to cut. More trophy bucks are tossed for that reason. You might be required to take the meat but once home they get garbaged. I have the cook book for covering wild flavors, it does not work.
The black bear I have had was sweet, better then beef or deer. Elk and moose has been super.
I can see fish eating bears being bad since it all goes into the fat but bear fat has been prized for a long time. Maybe spring bear.
I killed deer that ran out of food and had to eat hemlock that were still good. Something else in the woods of PA caused bad meat.
I have to say I have had more bad deer meat then any animal even when cared for. I hate the wild taste and do not understand how some can eat mutton or goats. No wonder they are terrorists.
Experience has made me a doe or button buck hunter. Why work for hours and hours for meat you can't stick past your nose?
We are the same, eat a bunch of garlic and nobody will come near you. Would you feed pigs garlic?
Bears are like pigs, eat anything and everything. Yet pork is always good.

[BrentD]

A grad student brought some bear meat brats and summer sausage. Both were really excellent - esp. the brats. That is my only experience with bear meat, but it sure was excellent.

[birddog]

I'm not that hungry just yet, Damn prime rib sure is hard to beat!!
Charlie

[44man]

Long ago I shot carp with bows and once we killed 1000# to leave on the bank for animals. I never could cook them. It was true to cook on a board and toss the fish, eat the board. Then a black wanted a carp so we got him a 30# carp. He came to work with a slab. it was the best tasting fish I ever had. ribs were like deer ribs. He had an old woman cook it but she would not tell him how.
You can make stuff good but i can't

[Lonegun1894]

Carp have a VERY strong tasting blood line down their side that has to be removed before cooking. If you get it all out, they're great fried or grilled, or in soups, but if you miss any of it, you definitely know when the flavor hits you.

[rr2241tx]

Pork is NOT always good. I eat a lot of feral hog and a boar with mating on his mind is not worth the bullet to kill him. My nephew in Alaska, physician and avid hunter, advises that no brown/grizzly bear there is safe to eat because of trichinosis parasites and tastes terrible because of their diet. He will only hunt spring black bear and they are delicious.

[dkf]

Deer are the same, diet is important. Nobody will eat a fish duck either. I have taken doe in PA and they were delicious, next season get one in the same place, same size and they were terrible. So far, here our deer are eating corn most of the season and only a little toughness will be found.
I once killed a big, old buck in Ohio that stunk. I cooled him quick and never touched hide to meat. The meat was rank and 2 hours in a pressure cooker still needed a chainsaw to cut. More trophy bucks are tossed for that reason. You might be required to take the meat but once home they get garbaged. I have the cook book for covering wild flavors, it does not work.
The black bear I have had was sweet, better then beef or deer. Elk and moose has been super.
I can see fish eating bears being bad since it all goes into the fat but bear fat has been prized for a long time. Maybe spring bear.
I killed deer that ran out of food and had to eat hemlock that were still good. Something else in the woods of PA caused bad meat.
I have to say I have had more bad deer meat then any animal even when cared for. I hate the wild taste and do not understand how some can eat mutton or goats. No wonder they are terrorists.
Experience has made me a doe or button buck hunter. Why work for hours and hours for meat you can't stick past your nose?
We are the same, eat a bunch of garlic and nobody will come near you. Would you feed pigs garlic?
Bears are like pigs, eat anything and everything. Yet pork is always good.

On the show the OP is referring to they ate a Merganser and fried it in the fat. It was funny to watch. They ate the smelt the duck had in its mouth and said they were far better and tasted less like fish. LOL.


Long ago I shot carp with bows and once we killed 1000# to leave on the bank for animals. I never could cook them. It was true to cook on a board and toss the fish, eat the board. Then a black wanted a carp so we got him a 30# carp. He came to work with a slab. it was the best tasting fish I ever had. ribs were like deer ribs. He had an old woman cook it but she would not tell him how.
You can make stuff good but i can't

Carp are an invasive species in the US, I wish more guys would pull thousands of pounds out a year and for fish bait or field fertilizer. Years ago my grandfather and his brothers would catch a mess of them and then take them into the city to a Rabbi, they had to be alive for him though.

[Markbo]

ASIAN carp are invasive. There are lots of carp species that are native.

[Walkingwolf]

Brine your meat before cooking, it should rest either before freezing or after. And butchers do not cut the fat off of beef, or pork, the fat is a protective layer while the meat ages. Growing up we had always cooked our game in a acidic sauce for hours. Season's will make a difference in flavor, as well as a male to a female. I am not a fan of bear, I prefer deer, or small game.

I cook free range roosters, they are for the most part wild. If not prepared properly they are horrible, cooked in a spicy marinara sauce they are to die for. When I cook a rooster it spends at least eight hours in a pot. On game meat intense heat actually causes the meat to contract, making it tougher. If using a pressure cooker once it perks cut back until it is barely hissing, and cook for longer than store meat, much longer. I only use the pressure cooker for cooking the surface of game meat. Then it goes into the oven, or a slow cooker for hours.

[BrentD]

ASIAN carp are invasive. There are lots of carp species that are native.
Which ones would those be. I can name not a one.

[M-Tecs]

ASIAN carp are invasive. There are lots of carp species that are native.

Suckers are native. All carp in North America are invasive.

[BrentD]

yup .

[castalott]

Some meat is just the luck of the draw. I've had Chinese carp that was wonderful. I've bought beef that was terrible.... Some deer are bad tasting but you can make all deer taste bad if you don't know what you are doing. Some friends claim bear is wonderful but at the time they were affected by Shakespeare's thoughts ..." Hunger is the best sauce...."

[Markbo]

I stand corrected! All carp species have indeed been introduced to the U.S. so while none are native not all are considered invasive, I.e. causing the destruction or supplanting native species.

Thanks for the education!

[dkf]

As a whole the Carp in US waters don't do anything any good.

[M-Tecs]

Common carp are one if the primary reasons walleye lakes have to be restocked. Common carp feed on the eggs. Fish that nest do better against carp but carp eat most of the walleye eggs.

[dkf]

They are like the feral hogs of the water.

[reloader28]

"I do not understand how some can eat mutton or goats. No wonder they called terrorists." 44 Man

We raise and eat goats and they are very good in the smoker with seasoning. A cross between deer and beef.

As for pigs eating everything and tasting fine, market pigs eat grain only. Wild pigs eat everything and each other, but you can only eat certain wild pigs. Some of them are too nasty to eat.
No way would I eat a grizzly.

[Sensai]

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r388/cascade91/date/GrizzlyBearwarningsign.jpg

Too spicy for me!

[BrentD]

Goats are superb meat, by any reasonable measure. And brits seem to have survived for centuries on mutton, so I think the "terrorist" **** was pretty uncalled for.

Cabrito is about as good as it gets.

[BAGTIC]

In the US all carp species are introduced. It is just that some have been here so long we forget their origins just like a lot of plants and birds.

[BAGTIC]

Goat is the most widely consumed red meat in the world. Nothing wrong with it. When I moved to the Ozarks I discovered lamb was unavailable in the markets so I bought a ram and ewe to go with my goats and cattle. I admit that I don't care for mutton however as it is too strong and fat for me. I don't like waterfowl because it is so greasy though it is okay smoked which renders the fat. Muscovy ducks OTOH are basically lean meat with white breasts similar to chicken and turkey. Even ate an armadillo once and it wasn't bad.

Seems like some people can ruin just about anything they cook. As for safety if one gets parasites from eating critters it is because one was too careless or too stupid to cook them thoroughly. Just think of all the diseases one could potentially catch from eating undercooked beef.

[BAGTIC]

Another way to look at it is that the carp are filling the ecological gaps left when our native fishes were eliminated by pollution, siltation, dredging, damming. We pollute and muddy the waters so our native fish can not survive and then complain when the carp seeing the vast depopulated water move in to exploit them.

[TXGunNut]

Just think of all the diseases one could potentially catch from eating undercooked beef. -BAGTIC

Depends on the beef. It's not my cup of tea but good beef can be eaten raw...just don't try it with common hamburger meat.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Goat is the most widely consumed red meat in the world. Nothing wrong with it. When I moved to the Ozarks I discovered lamb was unavailable in the markets so I bought a ram and ewe to go with my goats and cattle. I admit that I don't care for mutton however as it is too strong and fat for me. I don't like waterfowl because it is so greasy though it is okay smoked which renders the fat. Muscovy ducks OTOH are basically lean meat with white breasts similar to chicken and turkey. Even ate an armadillo once and it wasn't bad.

Seems like some people can ruin just about anything they cook. As for safety if one gets parasites from eating critters it is because one was too careless or too stupid to cook them thoroughly. Just think of all the diseases one could potentially catch from eating undercooked beef.

The difference is that there is veterinary and abattoir inspection for beef, product liability and farmers who observe their animals long-term, with a combination of conscience and self-interest. With a game animal you very likely only see it for a second or two.

All this goes double for even part-term carnivores and carrion feeders, which at least in South America the armadillo notoriously is. In the southern United States they are notorious for carrying leprosy, and it is known to be transferrable to eating the meat. It isn't the almost guaranteed unpleasant death it used to be, but it isn't pleasant. While I would be content with careful cooking for a deer, I believe I could pass up on the opportunity of an armadillo.

I didn't think much of the terrorist remark either. There is no such thing as a racial disposition to terrorism.

[richhodg66]

I used to be an avid bowfisherman, did it every day when it was warm. Carp can be great depending on how cooked. Last time I was in Iraq, a fish marlet opened that cooked them on the spot. I didn't get to go, but a buddy brought me back pictures. All of it waas common carp just like here in Milford Lake. They cooked the fish by gutting it and splaying it out, skewering sticks through it to hold it open then putting the sticks in the ground holding the inside of the fish against th heat from a bed of wood coals. Don't know how the seasoned it, but had a lot of sesame like everything Arabs cook it seems. Tasted delicious.

I've smoked a lot of them, used them in catfish stew recipes, made salmon paties out of them. Never had much luck frying them, I'm told you can do it in such a way that it disolves the bones, but I never got it to work. Once the mud line it cut out, they are good fish, but those Y bones are a hassle.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Carp fishing is popular with a small body of extremely skilled fanatics in the UK, as old carp regularly fished for become extremely skilled as well. As stocks and suitable waters are very limited, they are always returned. We now have a lot of Poles working in the UK, and extremely good workers and responsible people they are. (We never did have stupid Polack jokes since we got the best of them in wartime, including my uncle, who didn't know at the time that joining the Royal Air Force was a whole lot safer than staying home.)

Anyway, they catch carp and eat them, against which landowners and clubs had never thought to make rules. A few years back there was a huge row when a huge carp, known and respected as an adversary for decades ended up inside some Poles. They didn't mean any harm by it, of course. They probably thought we all did it.

[Rufus Krile]

The inspection criteria for beef carcasses is the number and proximity of the cysts on the inside of the carcass... if the inspector can cover 5 cysts with his palm, then the carcass fails. Any less and it's good to go. This came out of a freshman biology course 50 years ago... I can now eat rare beef again, but it's been a struggle. Subsequent to that I've eaten armadillo (chewy but ok), monkey (a little too close to kin), dog, wild hog, javelina, deer, elk, bison, water buff, bear, snake, Nilgai, and whatever went in to those questionable tamales in the valley. Cabrito is the best. From El Jardin in Reynosa.

[Lonegun1894]

Carp fishing is popular with a small body of extremely skilled fanatics in the UK, as old carp regularly fished for become extremely skilled as well. As stocks and suitable waters are very limited, they are always returned. We now have a lot of Poles working in the UK, and extremely good workers and responsible people they are. (We never did have stupid Polack jokes since we got the best of them in wartime, including my uncle, who didn't know at the time that joining the Royal Air Force was a whole lot safer than staying home.)

Anyway, they catch carp and eat them, against which landowners and clubs had never thought to make rules. A few years back there was a huge row when a huge carp, known and respected as an adversary for decades ended up inside some Poles. They didn't mean any harm by it, of course. They probably thought we all did it.

It's funny you mention this, because my family is Polish, and to my parents, Carp is a delicacy that was usually reserved for special meals like Christmas dinner and Easter dinner. I eat it too, but to me, it is just another fish that is plentiful and good eating when cooked right. Anyway, I bowfish for them, and have been keeping myself and my parents supplied with it to the point that my mom asked me a year ago if she could go fishing for them with me. Now this is one of those people who is almost too "cultured and civilized", so I should have brought a camera with me for her first, and so far only trip. I still wish I had a photo of the look on her face when I shot the first one. Didn't complain as she was eating it the next day, but thought my dog and I are insane. I shoot them, and he thinks it's great fun to try to catch them in shallow water, and sometimes he retrieves the ones I shoot.

156142

[max it]

this reminds me of an experience;
my buddy killed a black bear and took it to the locker plant which packaged it nicely. he delivered the whole thing to me. I would put a chunk of it in the oven early in the day. I put it right on the rack with a pan to catch the dripping. maybe a little salt and pepper. well we ate the whole animal that winter and I never recall any bad taste, just yummy meat. so enjoy!
Max

[richhodg66]

Carp are protected in the UK and people throw them on thebanks to rot by the truckload here. I admit, a lot of mine stay on the shore for the racoons, I like to shoot them more than clean and eat them, but I respect them for what they are.

By the way, they are a blast to catch on hooks and lines too. A can of corn, small split shot and a medium hook and you routinely catch eight pound or bigger fish all day long. They don't fight like a bass, usually just make one hard pull for deep water, once you get them turned, they're usually pretty easy to land. The rubbery mouths make it very hard for them to spit a hook once you set it. Only fish I ever had break a rod on me was a carp.

[Lonegun1894]

Sorry for the thread drift...

Considering how many feel about carp, and I see a lot of them on the bank here too, but I personally only take what I can eat. Now I'm not saying that I won't fill my freezer with them, but I won't kill them just to kill them. Same with Gar. I love the meat, but it is such a pain in the rear to clean one that I usually only take the occasional one, and never take a big one anymore because I want them alive and breeding, cause I remember seeing a lot more of them when I was younger than I see nowadays. I'll take one or two a year and call it good.

[GabbyM]

Not sure if the company is still up and running. However a few years back some fishermen south of St Louis started fishing carp on a commercial scale. On the Mississippi river. There market was Orientals in New York City. Which is the ideal way to control the invasive species population.

[MT Gianni]

that you don't hear of people eating them. Is it the parasites? I watch one of those Alaskan shows the other night and a guy shot one trying to get at his cattle heard. He went through all the bother of skinning it and took only a roast sized piece of meat and left the carcass and the hide to the scavengers. I guess I thought if one roast is good enough for you to eat why not take all the meat home. The family ate that chunk of meat in a stew for thanksgiving dinner.
It might be that it is not a road hunt. Most of them are either coastal browns ie fish eaters or a long way back in the hills.

[Markbo]

Why don't one of you Alaskans just go out and shoot one and let us know.
They are just hanging out everywhere, right? ;)

[tim338]

I have eaten a few black bear from Northern Michigan and I thought the taste is really simular to venison. We also make breakfast sausage out of the meat and it is great in my opinion.

[44man]

Goats are superb meat, by any reasonable measure. And brits seem to have survived for centuries on mutton, so I think the "terrorist" **** was pretty uncalled for.

Cabrito is about as good as it gets.
Maybe my opinion is tainted! When I was young some woman in the projects we lived in cooked mutton all the time and the smell outside was too much to bear. Then the guy who put goat meat in the micro wave at work. Everyone in the lunch room bailed as did I after almost getting run over.
I watched TV and mutton slow smoked is supposed to be great so I can't say unless I had some to try.
Then a friend bought a cow, all cut and wrapped, gave us some meat and no way it could be eaten. I found it was an old milk cow out of milk.
I did not like wild pig at all either.
I can't hide the bad tastes myself and we all hate the wild tastes.
My friends wife was from Lebanon and made stew with sheep, I had a hard time keeping it down.
Still the worst meat was from old bucks. I don't care if antlers go to the roof, I don't want one.
I don't like salmon either but will eat a whole slab if smoked. I have had trout that tasted like mud.
I have had a mallard that was eating fish--no more. My friend gave me a goose he shot on the Shenandoah and it was terrible but I shot geese from Canada migrating and nothing was better.
I am fussy but darn I ate cicadas and grass hoppers and even the clean fishing maggots. I hear Mexicans eat stink bugs, I won't go there!
If you can cook it, I will try it but be assured I could ruin it.
Carol ruined my squirrel awe Vin by shredding the meat off the bones. What was she thinking?
She made chilly with so much burger it was in clumps. Took a huge amount of hot sauce, chilly powder and Cumin to eat. Even burger done wrong turns me off.
I have a friend from Iceland that goes home and brings food back. You will not get the stink past your nose. They have no vinegar so use chicken poop to preserve, shark meat and rams balls. Ammonia up the ya zoo! Then the canned fish from Finland that explodes when you open the can!
No thanks. Rotten fish buried in the surf in Alaska.
I don't think I want goat meat. My gag reflex is too strong.
I love shrimp, mudbugs, craps and any shellfish but the first time I had shrimp was when a kid. I think they were spoiled. Why we didn't die is a mystery.
I don't like FISHY fish, Sunfish and perch first, walleye and blue pike next. Red snapper, etc. I like real shell fish, not a scoop from a shark. What are the eggs buried with chicks in them? Some people will eat anything. Might include dog poo.

[reloader28]

Balute is the egg embryo.

[tygar]

FWIW, if black or brown has been in skunk cabbage or fish it's dog food! Young spring blacks are good eating, any boar older than 2ish is rank. Never had griz/brown that didn't taste like crp but people don't shoot 1 or 2 year olds. Now that's just my experience yours may differ.

[44man]

I am with you. Button buck or a doe. Even a large doe can be good so I think it is mostly what they eat. Time of year too. Diet changes and the taste gets in.
It is like a squirrel or chuck. Squirrels get muscles of iron from climbing and chucks from digging so they get tough. I can handle that.
Most kill and cook young goats, lamb and veal to eat for a reason. I love lamb chops and could eat a young goat or young cow. For good beef they castrate cows, feed them beer and the best food. Many over the world would pay $400 for a steak dinner but I would not give 50 cents for an old buck.
I have no idea of any bear out of hibernation eating new growth and berries. Maybe I was lucky and got early ones.

[waksupi]

I am with you. Button buck or a doe. Even a large doe can be good so I think it is mostly what they eat. Time of year too. Diet changes and the taste gets in.
It is like a squirrel or chuck. Squirrels get muscles of iron from climbing and chucks from digging so they get tough. I can handle that.
Most kill and cook young goats, lamb and veal to eat for a reason. I love lamb chops and could eat a young goat or young cow. For good beef they castrate cows, feed them beer and the best food. Many over the world would pay $400 for a steak dinner but I would not give 50 cents for an old buck.
I have no idea of any bear out of hibernation eating new growth and berries. Maybe I was lucky and got early ones.

For purely academic discussion, it is the bulls that are castrated, not the cows! [smilie=s:

[Lonegun1894]

At least it wasn't just me that caught that, Waksupi, but your explanation is much more family website appropriate. :)

[freebullet]

I have no experience with bear. Based on the wide range of comments I'd guess it goes about like my experience with all of Nebraska game. It's how you process & prepare that determines if it's good or not. I don't eat meat eaters or organs, just my personal preference.

All the deer I shoot big, small, young, old, male, or female all taste the same with the only exceptions being a wounded or diseased animal. They are all at the same tenderness level and their diet doesn't matter the meat tastes the same. That wasn't always the case for me. It took much reading and experience to turn my deer in to a consistent prized treat. Same goes for our harvest of other game be it big, small, upland, or waterfowl. Once I learned how to handle it properly and found recipes that work for us it became a sought after delicacy rather than a nightmare. I laugh at the "tough deer" stories same as folks in the lgs with expert knowledge. If that's your experience thus far, it's not your fault. They don't teach this stuff in school but, it doesn't have to be that way. I have shot big stinky tough deer however, you couldn't tell a difference in the steak when everything was handled properly.

I don't care much for carp although, I can make it taste good. If it not handled & prepped right it can be like eating a muddy sock just like everything else.

I've read accounts of folks eating coyote and other unconventional animals. Seems the same holds true in their experiences too. With predators I usually take the fur & skull mother nature gets the rest.

[44man]

For purely academic discussion, it is the bulls that are castrated, not the cows! [smilie=s:
Still a cow but maybe we should castrate male bears!
A buck is still a deer too. I want one for the table with those little knobs on the head. When you tag, they are called antlerless, never seen ball less.
Just read in the paper about a girl that shot a doe with a huge rack. I wonder how that would eat?
I watched a woman on Andrew Zimmern's show that cooked crows.
I have recipes for everything but some have ingredients that will never be found or heard of in the stores.
I found something that works best to get anything good--Sous Vide. I tried it in a thick cooler and it is great but I want the machine that you set and forget. Meat can stay in it from an hour to 3 days. Fish only takes 30 minutes but you can't overcook it.
Look it up and watch videos.

[armexman]

Yummy Stink bugs! AKA as leaf debris bugs.
I love to eat these bugs when I go (rarely now) to Mexico.
In a fresh warm tortilla and picked out of the jar with a twig then spread out with a little salsa macha.
Goat made by one of my Sister-I-L; she starts real early in the morning with a dutch pot sealed with flour tortilla dough and cooked for almost 10-12 hours is to die for; she uses bay leaves, chile ancho sauce and oregano and other spices.

[44man]

Yummy Stink bugs! AKA as leaf debris bugs.
I love to eat these bugs when I go (rarely now) to Mexico.
In a fresh warm tortilla and picked out of the jar with a twig then spread out with a little salsa macha.
Goat made by one of my Sister-I-L; she starts real early in the morning with a dutch pot sealed with flour tortilla dough and cooked for almost 10-12 hours is to die for; she uses bay leaves, chile ancho sauce and oregano and other spices.
I am game but you are too far away.

[Markbo]

I'll try anything once. But I believe Ill pass on stinkbugs.

[44man]

My friends ex ate shrimp with the shells on them. Razor blades at the butt!

[Markbo]

I do too. They're pretty soft after they're boiled. Still a nice crunch though. ;)

[Markbo]

Just talking about Grizz, you have GOT to see this
http://mashable.com/2016/01/08/giant-bear-human/#PW_ZmYsUCuqF

[Fishman]

Which ones would those be. I can name not a one.

A more correct statement would be that there are lots of native fish that look like carp but aren't. Examples would be the buffaloes, carpsuckers, and sucker species. The difference is that they are all catastomids, whereas carp are cyprinids, otherwise known as the minnow family.

Lots of people lump them all as "carp" because they don't know any different. Just like folks calling the various sunfish species "perch".

Funniest example I ever saw of all this was the guy I talked to at a local power plant lake boat ramp. He was proud of the redfish he caught and when I went to measure them (I was collecting data), he had a livewell full of common carp. As there were many other anglers around and I didn't want to embarrass him, I just shut the lid and thanked him for the info. I always wondered how those turned out in the blackening skillet.

[OnHoPr]

A buck is still a deer too. I want one for the table with those little knobs on the head. When you tag, they are called antlerless, never seen ball less. .


Back about 25 years ago I was bow hunting early December. Two deer came on the pile. One was about a 10" spike and the other a doe (or so it looked like, even at 15 yd). I had a bow tag and a gun tag. The gun tag had to have horns and muzzleloader season was in about a week. So, I elected to take the doe. After about a 100 yd track at dark back into the cedar swamp along the Au Sable I found it. So, I got my knife and grabbed some legs. I opened them up and didn't see a scrotum, but seen a male part. It was a full grown deer of over 100 lbs. So, I said to myself, WHAT, and I went to look at the head. Sure enough, it had horns, about the size of golf tees laid back and down with the head hair. Hard to see even with a flashlight and only 3' away. The buck had undescended testicles. It ended up being venison table fodder just like and other 1 1/2 year old deer.

[grizz41]

I have no experience with bear. Based on the wide range of comments I'd guess it goes about like my experience with all of Nebraska game. It's how you process & prepare that determines if it's good or not. I don't eat meat eaters or organs, just my personal preference.

All the deer I shoot big, small, young, old, male, or female all taste the same with the only exceptions being a wounded or diseased animal. They are all at the same tenderness level and their diet doesn't matter the meat tastes the same. That wasn't always the case for me. It took much reading and experience to turn my deer in to a consistent prized treat. Same goes for our harvest of other game be it big, small, upland, or waterfowl. Once I learned how to handle it properly and found recipes that work for us it became a sought after delicacy rather than a nightmare. I laugh at the "tough deer" stories same as folks in the lgs with expert knowledge. If that's your experience thus far, it's not your fault. They don't teach this stuff in school but, it doesn't have to be that way. I have shot big stinky tough deer however, you couldn't tell a difference in the steak when everything was handled properly.

I don't care much for carp although, I can make it taste good. If it not handled & prepped right it can be like eating a muddy sock just like everything else.

I've read accounts of folks eating coyote and other unconventional animals. Seems the same holds true in their experiences too. With predators I usually take the fur & skull mother nature gets the rest.

have eaten 400+# black bear with purple innards from living on blue berries... excellent! In early 60's got a large muley that weighed 247# with no hide, hooves, or head... again excellent and so tender we could cut it with a fork. He had the Missouri River on one side and a grain field on the other side of his mountain. Sage brush muleys always had to cut all the fat and bones off em before eating. my partner trapped a nice coyote one winter & we decided to try a steak or two, however, when we opened the gut cavity and smelled him, we decided we weren't nearly hungry enough to even think of tasting it! Different environment, health, food, and care all play a part in how they taste. Im new at this so I hope I put it in the right spot. enjoyed hearing of all the different experiences you fellers have had! Grizz41

[BAGTIC]

As in most cooking it is the cook as much as the ingredients that determines the outcome.

[Lonegun1894]

As in most cooking it is the cook as much as the ingredients that determines the outcome.

I won't argue there!

[Victor N TN]

I've personally had BLACK BEAR on several dozen occasions. Most of the time it was great when slow cooked as a roast, after being para-boiled through 3 waters. That gets the blood and fat out of the meat and makes it more palatable. Without those steps most bear will be tough, stringy and have a real rough "gamey" flavor.

I'm not sure about the differences between black, polar or grizzly bears as far as taste goes. But I do believe that if prepared correctly, it would at least be edible.

Enjoy the food.
Victor

[RugerFan]

I've eaten the meat from several black bear taken in Alaska. Most were from the interior, but that last one was taken off the coast near Homer. All of the meat tasted fine without any special treatment and wasn't tough at all.

[youngda9]

This just confirms my feeling on never wanting to shoot a bear...unless it is an aggressive or nuisance bear that needs shootin.

[BAGTIC]

Jack O'Connor wrote that the second best meat he had ever eaten was puma (mountain lion). His first best was spring bighorn sheep. The carnivore/herbivore rule does not seem to apply here.

[BAGTIC]

Male cattle are not castrated primarily for taste. In many countries bulls are not routinely castrated. When males and females are kept together it makes a difference because males continually on the prowl for accessible females will work off all their fat and develop tougher texture. Such an animal can come as close as possible to zero per cent fat and produce ground meat from which it is impossible to render enough fat to produce a smear in the bottom of a skillet. This has been my personal experience as a hobby 'rancher' that has a small herd of about 50 head. That herd bull meat is perfect for jerky as it is as rancidity immune as any I have ever made.

[Markbo]

An entire bull....tbats a lot of jerky! :D

[Hickok]

I totally agree with w5pv. Bear meat, at least the black bear I ate part of, is pretty nasty stuff. Rancid pork was exactly how I would describe it.I'm with you guys. Bear meat brings tears to my eyes, and the involuntary gag reflex....well you know what I mean. I let everyone else have the meat, with my best wishes and a "hope you enjoy it!"

I wont hunt or shoot one anymore.

[historicfirearms]

The few Michigan black bear I have eaten have been excellent, not tough or gamey. I killed a porcupine once to eat it, and guess I just wasn't hungry enough yet. It tasted like spruce needles.

[44man]

I profess to my hate for "GAMY" meat. I have books in piles that tell how to rid meat of the taste, SORRY, does not work.
I don't even like the low fat burger they sell now. Some animals need ALL fat removed but others get flavor from fat.
Black bear fat was rendered to cook with and even used for salad oil. It is still age and what they eat. You might like goat and old sheep to eat but I never heard anyone using the fat from them for other uses.

[Hickok]

Bear fat is sure different. I believe you could take a handful and sling it against a wall and it will stick. Reminds me of getting "slimed" in the movie Ghost busters!

[Teddy (punchie)]

I'll try anything once. But I believe Ill pass on stinkbugs.

Yep I'm with Mark on this one. They are called stinkbugs for a reason. Just the smell on My hands when eating just makes me want to stop eating, boy can I eat.

[Teddy (punchie)]

Male cattle are not castrated primarily for taste. In many countries bulls are not routinely castrated. When males and females are kept together it makes a difference because males continually on the prowl for accessible females will work off all their fat and develop tougher texture. Such an animal can come as close as possible to zero per cent fat and produce ground meat from which it is impossible to render enough fat to produce a smear in the bottom of a skillet. This has been my personal experience as a hobby 'rancher' that has a small herd of about 50 head. That herd bull meat is perfect for jerky as it is as rancidity immune as any I have ever made.





One of the nicest tasting beef we killed was a bull, Nice beef flavor no need for bouillon in stews, soups it all tasted like beef.
Not too lean just nice, I'm not one for eating allot of fatty meat. Keep them in barn a feed out and when ready call butcher.

[Teddy (punchie)]

Bear is just not tops on the list of need to hunt animals for meat. See it cooked in steaks and sausage never had a liking for it. Just not hungry enough.

How meat taste, ways things may effects taste of meat:

Most of the meat has to be feed right. Under the right conditions. Breed also effects this, type of animal. Chicken and geese and or ducks don't taste alike.

Next would be shot right. Caught right (fish). Killed right.

Handling after harvest . Chilled or cooled down. Cut up too soon before cool down.

Aging. Our beef three weeks, maybe four. If the meat cutter is not willing to work with me on this it goes to a different cutter. Butcher is the guy that kills and cuts. I want a skilled meat cutter not a butcher.

How good of a cook and taste of people eating it.

I see bears that sat in sun, and never cooled that were sour (junk).

Had gut shot deer, that turned out to be good eating, great no but. Usable, nice meat, had to season it up and watch how it was cooked, and used.

Some of the things you'll listed, well I'm just not that hungry.

Need read thanks to all that replied !!

[44man]

I killed geese on lake Erie that came from Canada and were so good I still think about them. A friend shoots them here on the Shenandoah river, gave me a few and they are not edible. Local geese are not the same. A mallard or black duck eating fish is pure junk. Teal and wood ducks best.
I hunted archery in PA a lot and could kill a deer one year that was super but the next year from the same spot was so strong even though a doe the same size.
I have had bear meat so good my mouth still waters and I am the worst about a bad taste.
Too hang beef or deer for weeks would be great.
We do not have coolers to do that. Dry aged beef will cost a weeks wages for one steak.

[44man]

162639
sorry, just HAD to post this.
Love it, who is in the tent with him?

[MT Gianni]

He's probably out trying to dry his shorts.
Here is another one that really astounded me.
162679
Stop off At Goat haunt highway 2 just inside Glacier National Park. Those creatures hang onto nothing for the taste of minerals.

[rbuck351]

I have ate black bear a few times and it was pretty good. Smoked it was great. A friend shot a brown bear and thought he would salvage some and have it professionally turned into pepperoni sticks. He couldn't eat it, I couldn't eat it and as far as I know, no one else could either. I think the reason Ak doesn't require the meat of brown bear to be salvaged is because it tastes like dung. Just gutting a brown bear can take someone with a strong stomach. If anyone thinks they can take a brown bear and shoot it right, treat the meat right, cook it right with gramma's special spices and receipt and make it taste good, please try. You deserve the lesson you will get. I also knew an old Eskimo fellow that took up fox hunting to make a few extra dollars. After being out for a few weeks he ran low on food and decided to cook up one of the foxes he had caught. He said he couldn't eat it. This guy thought boiled uncleaned ptarmigan intestines were great. Some things just aren't fit to eat no matter how you fix em.

[mold maker]

As a rock hound for many years, my yard has a collection of stones I've collected in the last 50+ years/ I recently brought some sapphire in matrix home and placed it on a patio wall. To my surprise, the grey squirrels are eating them. The pieces have almost no sapphire in them but the ghost of the crystals exist, until the squirrels found them.
I accused the children of moving/throwing them away until I saw them for myself.There must be a mineral involved that the squirrels crave. Why else would they wear out their teeth eating even soft rock?

[DanWalker]

I was told by a butcher that hanging deer does nothing for them. The enzyme or whatever it is that ages beef does not exist in game animals. Antelope get a bad rap for tasting Gamey. One of the most common BS stories you hear from people here is "I tried eating one once, and it stunk up the kitchen so bad I threw it out!" That is an absolute LIE. Antelope is by far, the BEST of the big game meats I have ever eaten. It is tender and flavorful, and is a sponge for flavors and marinades. The problems with it come from lazy slobs who drive around on dusty roads all day in 60 degree weather with them in the back of the pickup while everyone in their party tries to fill their tags. Then they stop at the bar for a couple hours, to drink and brag, while the antelope lay covered in dirt in the back of the truck. They then drop them off at the processors.(many still ungutted) Treat your beef like that and see how it tastes. I copied a design of a hitch mounted skinning gantry that Doug Kruske posted a few years ago. Our antelope are gutted, skinned, quartered, washed, and in a 150 quart chest full of ice, within 20 minutes of hitting the ground. We keep them on ice for a week. Every day the bloody water is drained and more ice is added. The cold water from the melting ice washes out any contaminants. We doing our own cutting and wrapping.

[Walkingwolf]

I have eaten black bear once and would never shoot one for table fare.The one I ate on was tough,and tasted like rancid pork to me.I would have to be pretty hungry to try it again.
I hear the same for just about any game, especially the ones that get plenty of exercise. Any game, or even aged roosters falls apart if cooked in acid(tomato juice/onions/garlic) longggg, over low heat.

[centurion20000]

My friends ex ate shrimp with the shells on them. Razor blades at the butt!

Had an Asian friend that ate crawdads shells, tails and all.

[tdoyka]

i only ever shot one bear here in sw PA. the steaks were tough and stringy and not too good. i tried everything from leaving them marinate in buttermilk overnite to italian dressing, they just plain old sucked. the roasts were very good, cooked very slow(10-12 hours) in a crock pot. the jerky was the absolute best i ever had.

i don't know if it is true or not, but a bear that eats berries, any type of game, corn and such can be eaten. but if it goes to the garbage dump and eats, it must be thrown away. they say if you are skinning the bear and the meat has a greenish tint to the bear and it smells like garbage, its no good. this is what i have been told.

i've only had one buck(9 1/2 years old and teeth worn down to the gums) that should have been thrown away. my dad shot it and it took three of us to put it in the truck. it was a decent 9pt, but no matter what you did, it was just a plain old stringy piece of shoe leather!

i've had antelope, moose and elk that makes my mouth water. i've eaten two mule deer bucks that should have thrown away. just too gamey for my taste. ducks and geese were both good. i've had one duck that tasted like the algae it ate, yuck!!! only shoot them in grain fields. stay away from lakes and rivers!! mutton, i'm with 44man with that one.

i've also had bluegills, perch, crappie, trout, large and smallmouth bass, walleye and lake trout that were all good. i've had shark(bought it at a resturant) that was good too. carp and suckers in the early part of spring are good too.

[BrentD]

they say if you are skinning the bear and the meat has a greenish tint to the bear and it smells like garbage, its no good. this is what i have been told.

That's because is spoiled after "they" shot it. That is the only reason for "greenish tint".

[tdoyka]

it may be:confused:. it may eat at a garbage dump also:-|.
like i said, i've only ever killed one bear. i'll stick to hunting deer.

[tygar]

I was told by a butcher that hanging deer does nothing for them. The enzyme or whatever it is that ages beef does not exist in game animals. Antelope get a bad rap for tasting Gamey. One of the most common BS stories you hear from people here is "I tried eating one once, and it stunk up the kitchen so bad I threw it out!" That is an absolute LIE. Antelope is by far, the BEST of the big game meats I have ever eaten. It is tender and flavorful, and is a sponge for flavors and marinades. The problems with it come from lazy slobs who drive around on dusty roads all day in 60 degree weather with them in the back of the pickup while everyone in their party tries to fill their tags. Then they stop at the bar for a couple hours, to drink and brag, while the antelope lay covered in dirt in the back of the truck. They then drop them off at the processors.(many still ungutted) Treat your beef like that and see how it tastes. I copied a design of a hitch mounted skinning gantry that Doug Kruske posted a few years ago. Our antelope are gutted, skinned, quartered, washed, and in a 150 quart chest full of ice, within 20 minutes of hitting the ground. We keep them on ice for a week. Every day the bloody water is drained and more ice is added. The cold water from the melting ice washes out any contaminants. We doing our own cutting and wrapping.

I almost, absolutely agree! Elk is my favorite, next Antelope! I've found that with Antelope you MUST ensure that when skinning you don't get any of their hair on the meat, keep it clean, wash it, hang it, cut it & then eat the hell out of it. Best shishkabob ever.

Even my record book 16 1/2" was absolute excellent. Love it, great meat.

Like I said though, Griz sucks.

[BAGTIC]

You Brits should come here for carp fishing. They are everywhere. Pound for pound they are as strong as any freshwater fish we have. There are even carp addicts that fish for them with flies. I once saw a black bass fisherman land a 15 pound carp he caught while jigging for bass alongside a dock. Was he disappointed but not as much as was my grandfather who caught a 35 pound carp while bait fishing for striped bass. At least Gramps had a good tomato crop that summer.

[BAGTIC]

Despite Britain's system of veterinary and abattoir inspection and the farmers' long term inspection I notice that UK had far more cases of Mad Cow than did the US despite our much larger area and greater beef production.

[BAGTIC]

We did not jerk the whole thing. Divided it three ways, jerky, stew meat, ground meat. I am on a low fat diet for heart disease and that is about the only way we could figure to cook 750 pounds of super lean beef. It is amazing how fast 60 pounds of jerky disappears. I wish I knew how to make tasajo. When I was young and attending graduate school in San Jose I used to buy it by the slab like bacon and slice it super thin ('chipped beef') on my own slicer. We would all get a large bowl holding 4-6 quarts, like a bag of popcorn, and nibble it while watching the TV.

[DanWalker]

Despite Britain's system of veterinary and abattoir inspection and the farmers' long term inspection I notice that UK had far more cases of Mad Cow than did the US despite our much larger area and greater beef production.
That's because they use the ground up bone meal rendered from dead cows as a feed supplement. They were basically feeding their cows mad cow disease prions in their supplements.

[EllasPapa]

Back in the early 70's when I first started working for the Canadian Federal Government, I was posted to Sachs Harbor, WAAY up in the Arctic. Being a young, single, "adventurous" guy at the time, I was pretty excited about the idea of learning & immersing myself in the Innuit's way of life. I got invited to dinner by a local shortly after arriving there; on the menu was fur seal (dried) & polar bear (boiled).

The seal meat was the blackest meat I'd ever seen; it wasn't until later that year when they harvested a small whale (Minke or Bowhead) that I saw meat that was even blacker than seal. Both whale & seal were disgusting...FOUL disgusting. They didn't hold a candle to the bear, though; it was boiled for hours & still the consistency of the sole of my boots. Taste-wise, it was like something had **** on the seal meat BEFORE they dried it. I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for days.

Polar bear live on fur seals. When the sea ice melts in late spring the bears eat very little if anything before freeze-up again in fall. If they're lucky, they may find something dead & rotting on the beach to eat; occasionally a whale that's washed up, or another bear that's starved to death...good stuff like that. Even the Innuit aren't overly fond of them; the value for them is as much in the hide, bones, claws & teeth. They'll use the meat to feed their dogs if they keep any.

They have a lot of "interesting" foods; Kiviak - Auks (a type of Arctic tern, I think) stuffed into a seal stomach, sewed up & left to ferment for a couple months, then eaten raw...apparently the bones get all soft & easy to chew...muktuk- raw whale blubber & skin...

Not only is it WAAY too cold for my tastes up there, I'd flat out starve to death before I'd eat 20% of the stuff they have regularly