Bear meat?

[robert richer]

I know I'am way ahead of myself, but any ideas on what or how to process bear meat?

Do you treat the bear meat like deer and locate your favorite processor?

[dan]

Bear meat is Delicious if the bear is properly handled in the field... I treat it more like beef than venison. However, its very important to trim all fat off bear meat prior to cooking.

[djl]

What Dan said in regards to getting all the fat off. A little fat/tallow left on the meat will ruin it fast.
Get that hide off a soon as possible and cool that meat down.

[Darin]

Bear meat is Delicious if the bear is properly handled in the field... I treat it more like beef than venison. However, its very important to trim all fat off bear meat prior to cooking.

X2. I love bear meat but it has to be done properly. The guys i know process their own. They have also been doing it for years including beef and venison

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[PLB]

I will take bear burger over just about anything!! Yum Yum!! Bear roasts and steaks are awesome too!!

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[Uncle Lou]

I have only cut up one bear. It was shot in the evening, and we cooled it right away, put ~20lbs of ice inside and outside and wrapped in a tarp. Had a taxidermist skin it in the morning. After that it went back to hunting camp and I quartered it and put it in a cooler with ice.

A day or so later I got home and finished cutting it up and processing. I dont remember doing anything special, but do remember it being much more difficult than a deer, maybe I just wasn't used to cutting up an animal that looks like a human when skinned. Also, I am pretty meticulus in handling deer, and used the same precautions. I always have a dog bag going, anything questionable goes to the dogs or coyotes. So maybe I trimmed it better than I first admitted to.

It was one of the best tasting animals I have ever brought home. Makes me want to start planning another one, I think I got 4 pref points.

[Dewey]

I think bear meat is among the best tasting wild game and even better than beef.

Not sure if it was just me or not but I swear my bear almost had a sweet taste to the meat! Must have been all of the goodies he was eating at the bait site!

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[gogebicbuckslayer]

A buddy of mine brought some bear chops on a bowhunt to Ohio and I was skeptical at first?? But they were delicious, I ate a ton of it. Better than beef if you ask me. I'm hoping to try some of my own sooner than later. I have 6 preference points but the Baldwin unit, which I wanna hunt requires at least 10 points. So I have a few years to wait but I think it will be worth it seeing some of the trophy bears coming out of lower Michigan.

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[lungbuster]

The only noticeable difference I have seen in Bear meat verses venison is the amount of interlaced fat in the meat. If you take a deer backstrap and bear backstrap and lay them side by side you will see alot of noticeable striations of fat and sinew in the bear as opposed to the venison. I think bear takes more tedious trimming than venison, but like everyone else has said if you cool it properly and kept it clean it is delicious table fare.