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

No got him with the bow. First bear with bow. Didn't go 50 yards.

I have cooked and eaten spring bear from AK. I thought it was great as did everyone else who tried it. The meat can be very mild and easily over-seasoned. I ate some fall bear from Newfoundland probably 35 years ago that was fantastic. My mother cooked a bear roast like a roast beef and made gravy. I have been told that fall bear can be disgusting especially if they eat fish.

I have a friend in AK that won't touch bear meat. Its kind of like the way some people in TX will shoot but not eat wild boar. Both make me scratch my head.

I was hoping I could talk my lovely wife into trying spring Black Bear this year, but, no luck. I'll try try again this coming spring.

My very favorite thing to do with bear meat is ground burger made into burritos.

I eat bear meat almost every morning. My processor made it into mild spicy sausage and maple/brown sugar sausage. Even my city slicker wife likes it.

Thanks, Dinny

Like any animal, their diet affects meat quality. Pennsylvania bears typically eat whatever they can find but will feast upon cornfields if they can. This meat is quite good. But a bear that consumes a diet of rotting road kill deer would not be my choice for table fare. But the question is, how does a hunter know what the bear in his sights has been eating?

Sherwood

my buddy would hunt spring bear somewhere in canada every year and swore it was awesome. gave me some burger and a roast. his definition of awesome and mine were obviously much different. i occasionally hunt bear here in PA but doubt i would ever shoot one. i would hate to have hundreds of pounds of that stuff. but i'm sure diet and processing matter a lot. just not gonna take a chance.

More likely he was cleaning out his freezer... bear does not keep long in the freezer. At 6 months it is best just toss it.

If you are shooting bears at the dump, you know they are probably going to have issues. Shoot them in a salmon stream, same thing. Shoot them in the spring or in an alpine blueberry patch and they will probably be great,

I shot an early spring bear once. Took the backstrap and brined it then hot smoked it to a safe internal temp. When it had cooled I sliced it about 1/4” thick and took it in for sandwich makings at a get together. There wasn’t a scrap left and probably half the people who partook refused to believe it was bear. It can be very good.

The black bears that live around farms in PENN are probably excellent eating. A friend of mines brother shot one near a garbage dump back in the 80s and after field dressing it, he cut open the stomach to see what it had been eating. He told us that he wished that he hadnt done that.......

Prepared right bear meat is pretty good. Loins, sausage, salami, burger etc. But the threat of trichnosis is real. I knew of a young guy who was pack hunting in one of the nearby Sierra wilderness areas, conversed with with him off another forum when he wanted to buy a tent I was sellin. I was astounded to learn later on the same forum he contracted trichnosis after another group of backcountry hunters invited him and his brother to eat fresh bear ribs cooked over the campfire at night. Obviously in the dark the ribs were not cooked well enough. The young hunter stated the trichnosis almost killed him and the after effects were going to be long lasting. Even the state Fish and Wildlife contacted him for details.

That said I pass on any bear salami that's offered to me nowadays. I would also avoid any bear meat cooked by others unless I knew it was cooked well. Bear meat cooked over a campfire should be avoided its just not worth the risk.

I have had a dozen great eating bears. But I did get one once that tasted very sweet much like it had been eating a lot of over ripe apples. I am sure what they reflects on the taste. No problem here. I do my own butchering and always do the frying pan test just to see how I want to process them. Sausage is your friend if the taste is off.

I have had a dozen great eating bears. But I did get one once that tasted very sweet much like it had been eating a lot of over ripe apples. I am sure what they eat reflects on the taste. No problem here. I do my own butchering and always do the frying pan test just to see how I want to process them. Sausage is your friend if the taste is off.

I have found bear meat to be a bit more greasy then other wild game. It's not bad, but because of that fact I like it in roasts, burger, and sausage. For me any steaks, strips, and cubes didn't make very good table fare

I abide by a couple axioms when it comes to which species to hunt. The first was proffered by my late BIL, and the second one is mine. #1) Don't hunt anything that can hunt you. #2) Don't hunt anything that could have trichinosis.

Has served me well so far. YMMV

Had some once, did not like it. As it was not my Bear not the choice cuts. For now they leave me alone I will not hunt them.

I've only eaten fall UP Michigan black bears. Most of them finished on a steady diet of day old donuts, fifteen miles from the nearest door knob. Some of the finest meat I've ever had has been loin chops cooked over maple coals from those bears. My brothers are always asking when there is going to be more of that. The trick here is to get them cooled down and inspected ASAP so you can get the hide off as quick as may be .They will have inches of fat all around them and will spoil sooner than you would think do to lack of heat transfer in the mild early Autumn temperatures they are typically taken in. I'll be honest, I never wanted to like bear as the thought of eating wild omnivores never really appealed to me. But in my experience its damned delicious

I've taken two in Quebec. Both boars over bait. One about 150 lbs dressed the other about 240 lbs dressed. IMO it's good for burger or sausage but I wasn't crazy about it in stew or on the grill.

I've only shot one. Colorado 2019

boar, 14 years old. it had been eating off two dead mule deer when I shot it. no clue what it had eaten the prior weeks or years.

meat was fair, but not great. definitely best as hamburger in spicy meals, but quite edible.

FWIW, I saved the fat and rendered it for boot wax and glad I did.

pro-tip: don't render the fat in the kitchen while the wife is home.