Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Black Bear meat.......what's your opinion of it?

I've never had black bear meat. Heard and read about trichinosis risk and a lot of people said they didn't like it. Now it seems there's more people saying they enjoy it. What's your opinion of it?

Very good in pot roasts. OK in summer sausage .. though to be honest I don't eat any summer sausage regularly. Not so good as steaks/shish kebabs, etc.

I've shot both spring and fall black bears. I've only eaten fall black bear. Being a big black and fatty animal they can spoil quickly esp in the direct sun. Mine shot just before dark was gutted and packed full of ice to cool it down fast. The next morning it was checked in at the mandatory check station. Soon after, it was skinned, quartered and in a cooler on ice.
Once home I cut all the fat away I could and cut into chunks for grinding. Had it turned into hickory stick and brats, both were great eating.

I've also had crock pot style roast from other people's fall bears. Some very good , others not worthy of dog food.

Like most wild game it depends on what it has to eat and how well it's cared for after the kill.

Had it one time that I remember.
Cooked over a good bed of coals
with just salt and pepper.
It was beyond reproach.
Tender as any meat I've ever had.
Of course, it was COOKED and
not bloody like so many like these days.
I don't eat bloody meat, and I don't
have any red wings.

I might have ate some bear that I didn't
know about. Some of the different dishes
at various hunting camps had meats of
unknown origin

As long as they weren't eating what I suspect is winter kill or gut piles, I've always liked it.
The few bad ones I have had reeked of eating something nasty....sure as hell wasn't berries or grass.

All depends on what they eat. We have great eating bears here, better than blacktail deer any day.

I have taken Spring bear and Fall bear. Spring bear is to be avoided. They come out of hibernation and it takes some time for the toxins to work out of their system. Saskatchewan Fall bear was the best. The hams are like a slightly more fatty pork. The backstrap and tenderloins are very very good. Big boar are not as good as the younger boar or a sow. I have never eaten the heart or liver, the Cree I hunt with warned me off the organs, they did not elaborate except to say wasting disease could occur. Trim all the fat off the meat you can before cooking. When cooking make sure the meat can drain as it cooks. Make sure when processing the meat in the field to clean the blood off the meat thoroughly and as soon as possible. If you make jerky out of the meat it is very good but chewy. If you plan to keep the pelt flesh it thoroughly and keep it as cool as possible until it can be tanned.

Killed one in 73, ate it and never killed another. It seems like a lot of work to make it tasty.

If they haven't been on fish or carcasses they're not to bad. But with a freezer full of moose, bison and sheep I have a hard time convincing myself to shoot one.

It's been quite a few years but there was a case here in ID of a hunter shooting a bear and making a bunch of sausage or jerky or something out of it. He gave it to all of his friends and they all got trichinosis. He didn't get it hot enough.

I got one in pennsylvania last fall. Roasts were excellent. A beef tips over noodle type meal was very good and all.

Most of it was ground up for breakfast sausage and came out very tasty. Kids love breakfast sausage.


-Jake

I shot one in Maine years ago. The outfitter gave me a recipe for a marinade. Nothing complicated, just some olive oil, garlic, onion and soy sauce. Cooked it thoroughly and it was great.

smaller bears say up too maybe 200 lbs are fine,but the big old boars that weigh over 300 lbs are terrible.

Fall black bear gorging on blue berries is good eats!

I have shot about a dozen in my lifetime. All have been great eating. Rule number one is to cook it done.

Love bear meat !!

As said, all about what they eat & how you care for it, after the shot.

I hang & process all our meat.

One roast left from this years spring black bear, delicious. Roasts cook up like a beef roast. Most of the meat gets ground for sausage for me. Flavour, like any animal is dependant on what they eat.

Trichinoses; ANY animal that eats meat is at risk of carrying trichinella. It’s quite common in pork/rodents as well which is why it’s to be cooked through to kill the parasite.

Every bear I've killed was over bait. Put every one of them in the bait barrel after skinning. And they were subsequently eaten by the other bears visiting the bait.

I like bear meat very much. I miss hunting and eating them.

Very uncommon in pork now. Hog feed must be cooked which has virtually eliminated trich in hogs.