Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Brown Bear Question

Hey Guys,

Just curious as to whether or not you all eat Brown or Grizz. Ive never heard talk of it but I'm a big fan of Black Bear meat...was just wondering what it tasted like etc.

Brown bear,grizzly meat tends to be coarser than the black bear I have eaten, but can be decent fare. As with any omnivore - and sometimes even the herbivores- what they have been eating greatly influences the flavor of the flesh. With brownies you can often tell what you'll do with the meat based on a sniff of their paws. (That's because I'm not fond of the smell of rotting seals and walrus; not saying YMMV or not. )

Ate spring brown bears a couple times and it was not as good as black bear, but not bad. Tasted a fall bear once that was horrible... fishy and just plain foul.

I have had interior grizzly killed in the spring and would have a hard time telling it from black bear. Spring Brown bear can be OK, or at least the best cuts, but as a rule it's almost as bad as rutty caribou.
Had a hunter this spring who wanted to eat the testicles of his brown bear and sliced thin and fried in bacon grease most folks went back for seconds.

Phil, If you'd quit killing only the critters that are as old and tough as well-seasoned bear guides, they might be better table fare.

Is that from fall diet residue or spring scavenging?

they have bigger nuts !

I needed an editor on that one as I meant FALL brown bear can be almost as difficult to eat as rutty caribou.

10-4. Thanks!

Uhh........ old....... bears or guides?

Both. Didn't you see the 9 mm thread?

Is this where we resort to riddles?


"How do you tell a big ol' bore bear from a curmudgeonly ol' bear guide?"

Yeah, "The guide has bigger nuts."

That seals it...

One thing that always cracks me up is how small brown bear peckers are compared to black bears...

I suppose that correlates to the big truck method of compensating for....something.

After that incident I think mine shrunk a little

They had to... walking would have been impossible...

Well, not everyone can say they earned a 'reverse hernia' in the line of duty.

they are awesome source of protein, i have had roasted brown bear

"Awesome" has many definitions...

What do most game units require to harvest off a brown bear as far as meat? Is there a food bank type service that accepts it?

No meat salvage requirement on brown bears... due to Trichinella issues food banks will not touch bear meat...

Some goof balls a number of years ago were making a huge "Feed the people" type program and were giving away thousands of pounds of pink salmon being tossed by processors after egg stripping.

Ripe humpies are salable to processors because the eggs are very profitable. But good eggs come from fish too mature to want to eat. They get ground into fish meal. Someone got the idea to not waste the protein and people lined up around the block to get their mushy humpies...

So the right effort might make brown bears salvageable for a while!

One year a local Safari Club chapter in Michigan asked me if I would ship them two hind quarters of Brown Bear for their local game feed if they would pay for the shipping. I did -- and they have never asked for it again.

Maybe they still have it hanging in hope of aging it until it's 'perfect'?

Brown bears hate black bears. I think it's mostly jealousy. Seen six foot black bears better hung that most large brownies!!
I have also never gone back for brown bear meat seconds. Flavor of a fall interior grizzly is good but texture and the amount of chewing wore me out.
I have heard sausage of grizzly is good, also hear sausage made
From old carharts is good too....

ROFL here, I think the carhartts might be the better choice.

Is it true what they say about blacks and going back?

Brown bears have tiny peckers for their body size...

I bet its scary to walk up on a bear

It's scarier telling my wife I'm weathered in bear camp and will miss Mother's Day....

Grind it up three times and the dogs still won't eat it. Did you see that General Mattis has a bear rug in his living room. It's not dead, it' just too scared to move.

That's funny