Bear Meat

[S.B.]

Cariboo, Elk, Bear, Birds, Rabbit, and Whitetail in that order for me. Bear in my experience is a fine replacement for beef, way better than venison. Though I am sure that diet is very important factor in flavor.

You should taste the difference between Wisconsin(pine cone fed) and Illinois(corn fed) whitetail deer. Diet makes all the difference in the world, in my opinion, anyway.
Steve

[billythekidrock]

It is some of the best game meat there is.
Roasts, sausage, canned. Love it all.
I have not had a bad one out of the 20 or so that we have killed in Washington state. Spring/fall, young/old, male/female, meat/berries. As long as you field dress and prepare properly they are great.

[Cabin4]

I agree. I like bear meat and think its one of the best. Better than venison.

I still have plenty from last spring. My son and I each took a bear. Great susage!

[billythekidrock]

I got two in 2006 and made roasts and sausage and they went quick. I did can some and just finished it a month agon. I got two in 2008 and canned 90% of them.
I also canned some venison and elk and that will probably last me a few years.

[scott johnson]

This last year I had enough points in wisconson to get  a bear tag,  and was forunate  enough  to get a bearIheard  all kinds of stories well AllIcan say is my bear meat was the best tasteing  game thatIever had My wife couldnt  tell the differnce at all when Iprepared  some steaks on the grill, Iwas told by someone it depens on what and where they feed most of the time Iguess one guy told me that bears that feed in dumps  dont  taste as good as s ome others That dont Idont know if that is true or not AllIcan say was mine was excellent  tender and sweet Ithink alot may have to do with how youtake care of it as  soon as it is killed Ihad mine packed in ice and at the meat market within 8 hours ,Im just speaking  from my own experience I buy far am no joe pro hunter that  thinks he knows it all  good luck. scott

[Cabin4]

Scott,

Can you tell us where in Wis you shot the bear?

[scott johnson]

I shot  my bear about 20 miles from Hayward  in the National forest

[Cabin4]

So that would be the Chequamegon there if I'm not mistaken. Me and a partner owned a hunting & fishing camp just east of there in the Mercer area for a number of years. Our bear hunts were done on private land mostly around the Turtle Flambeau Flowage area. The bear are really good eating up there so I'm not surprised how good yours taist. There mostly eating mast and berry so the meat is very good. And your right, you need to take of the meat, gut it, air it cold quickly and then freeze it if needed. We had to convise many hunters to keep the meat and give it a try. Most were under the impression that bear meat is no good but they were surprised just how good it really is.

Congratulations!

[bhod1]

Bear meat is tops in our house. Over moose and deer. Spring bear is far better than fall bear. 

Get ALL the fat off. Our favorite is a big pot roast. Cream of celery soup, carrots, potatoes, celery...........

I'm going to New Brunswick in a couple months for another one.