Bear meat

[Bearcarver]

WARNING---"Another Bear Story":
I've had Bear Meat from 4 different Bears taken in PA:
None were exceptionally big, but here they are:
One was from near Marshalls Creek, PA, and was about 350 lbs. It was a little greasy, but not that bad. It had been eating a lot of corn, because it lived near a State Feed plot. That's where the State pays a farmer to grow corn, and leave it stand to feed the animals. In fact I think it was this bear that scared the Hell out of me when we were Small Game hunting in that area. I was taking a short cut through one of the corn food plots, when I saw a 50 gallon drum up ahead of me. I was wondering what a steel drum was doing in a standing corn field, when the Black Drum got up on all 4 feet. I stopped thinking about drums & made an immediate exit stage left, as fast as I could go, ears of corn bouncing off my chest on the way out. I stayed closer to my brother & my Dad, after that, because they were both carrying Pump 12 gage Shotguns, and I had only brought my Savage 24 DL over & under that day. One 20 gage #6 shot & one 22 cal shot would not have helped me much against that size bear, or any size Black Bear.

Two of the other 3 Bears were about 120 lbs and 180 lbs taken from Elbow Swamp, in Pike County PA. They were a bit more Lean, IMO, But Very Tasty.

And the other one was about 200 lbs taken from near Coudersport, in Potter County, PA. I only had a couple burgers from this one, and they were awesome, but they had Beef mixed in with it.

I find Bear Meat from PA Black Bears to be 10 times better tasting than PA Whitetail Deer Meat, due in part to the Tallow in the Deer Meat.

Bear

 

[agaffer]

My processor gave me quite a bit of ground meat. I like my hamburgers medium rare and the bear meat has to be well done. Because of this, I have not tasted it. But, I am sure that it is like the ribs and the roast. Tastes fine just not special.

 

[Fueling Around]

I've had some deer that were darn near inedible. Back to that diet influence, plus the older the deer the less enjoyable the meat versus the trophy you just collected.

I've whacked about a dozen bucks and over seventy wild hogs in my hunting career, seen a dozen bears at least that I just let go. I've eaten bear meat twice, greasy and pissy. I made some bear sausage for a friend that turned out fair, cut it with 2/3's pork butt. For all it takes after you pull the trigger that ain't worth the time and effort, especially if it's a big one that has to be dragged out of a canyon. They don't bother me, I won't bother them. RAY

A lot of … hunters will collect the hide and leave the carcass for the scavengers.
A fall bear has a lot of (greasy) fat that must be removed and discarded. Many make the mistake thinking it is similar to beef and hog fat that can be added into the grind. The meat itself is very lean.

 

[Fueling Around]

I am surprised by the posts describing bear as "greasy". All the cuts I got back from the processor are very, very lean. That is why I likened it to buffalo. In fact, more like horse meat it is so lean. And yes, I have eaten horse.

See post above. A fall bear has some of the nastiest fat, that luckily isn't marbling. Same as that nasty tallow one finds on a deer.
Horse is pretty tasty

 

[1MoreFord]

An old friend of mine always wanted to try some bear and a friend(?) of his gifted him some ground bear.

He brought it to deer camp to share with us and that was the nastiest smelling meat, when cooking, I've had the misfortune to be around. He didn't even finish cooking it before throwing it away. After reading info on bears I'm betting the "butcher" who ground this bear used bear fat and it went rancid but that's only a guess.

 

[GATOR240]

Thanks for the like Warren.

 

[mike243]

Meat flavor has every thing to do about diet, on any animal imo. corn fed beef tastes a lot better than grass fed to me, farmers like to sell grass fed because its cheaper to bring to market.