Bear Meat - Is is good?

Heard different stories, what's it like?

Never had it........and wondering

I ate some last year that a friend killed, it was black bear.

It wasn't bad at all, he had it made like pulled BBQ. It tasted sweet to me but it may have just been the sauce.

cpowel10 said:

I ate some last year that a friend killed, it was black bear.

It wasn't bad at all, he had it made like pulled BBQ. It tasted sweet to me but it may have just been the sauce.

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It was the sauce

It's OK I guess. I wouldn;t give up one venison backstrap for 100#s of it though. If you boil it and drain it and cube it in to a stew it absorbs flavors from the stew and spices better than any meat I've ever tasted. But you have to learn to cook it to where it simply can NOT sit or cook in it's own grease. And yes there's alot of grease and oil in it. Even after you cut the fat off it.

One of the old timers we hunt with told me this and it works.... Take the roast or tenderloin you plan to eat and boil it, some brown frothy stuff comes to top. Drain off the top, boil again and again (4-5 times) until boils clear. Then cook like deer meat roast or tenderloin, tastes very much like deer at that point.

bear meat

My experience.I`ve killed two,let others walk.Ain`t worth the trouble.The meat is greasy but tasty.I`ve had good sausage made out of it.I`ve grilled steaks,fried steaks,made roasts,used it ground.All of it was ok.I never soaked any of it or boiled it.Here`s my take.If you cook it inside the house,the odor is that of a wet dog.It doesn`t taste that way ,but it does smell that way.Freezer life of a young bear is about a year.A big bear is 6 months,then it starts getting strong.If I ever decide to kill another one,I`ll probably see what soaking in vinegar or buttermilk does for the taste.Not that you have to,as it really ain`t bad,just stinks up the house.We ended up cooking the meat on the porch on a Coleman stove.

Bear meat is one of the better wild meats to me. I've eaten a lot of bear in my life, and I've never experienced any of this wet dog smell or any of the other stuff that people say about it. If you tried to cook a filet mignon the way most people try to cook bear meat, it would taste like crap too. It is greasy, but not as greasy as pork. I honestly can't tell the difference between a bear roast and a beef roast if they're cooked the same way. I will say that there is a difference from bear to bear, just like any other meat. An old rooster doesn't taste as good as a young fryer hen; a gray-faced, rutted out buck that smells like a goat doesn't taste as good as a young doe, and an old boar bear doesn't taste as good as a young tender one. Bears that have been run all day with dogs don't taste as good as one that never knew what hit him because of the build-up of lactic acid in the meat. I also think that bear meat is more apt to pick up odd flavors from what the bear is eating than most other animals. And bears will eat anything. I think that is the reason for a lot of bad experiences with the taste of bear. Around here, the bears are mostly eating mast during hunting season, and taste good. I've had friends who bear hunted up north and out west tell me that bears that have been feeding at garbage dumps or eating fish aren't fit to eat, and these are people who were raised on bear meat and love it.

NC Hillbilly,

You make a very valid point. We ate meat off one bear that had a gut full of sourwood berries and acorns at is was "OK" as far as bear meat goes. We ate meat from another that had a gut full of trash and had been tipping trash cans for the 2 months before it's demise and it wasn't worth the effort it took to clean the darn thing.

I have never had the wet dog problem either. My wife and kids love the stuff. We just cook it like pork or beef. I have never heard of having to boil it before cooking it either.

You may not of heard of boiling it but I promise you it will make it quite a bit better to you!!!!!

bear "meet" would be when two bears get together and raid a garbage can together...

but bear meat is awesome... prob like a hog. the smaller the animal... the better the meet... uh, i mean meat...

hunting bear is awesome as is eating bear... i'm glad that few people do it... when i go to the mtns, i find some food and find the bears...

Bear meat is great.

Problem with this part of the country is how it is handled after down on the ground. Most call their buddies, get help dragging it out. Then lots of photographs. All without ever field dressing it.

Treat your harvest like this, and yes, it will taste oily.

To me bear meat is ok - it's not my favorite. But I've had it fixed as BBQ and stew that was really good. Something to remember about it is that it is greasy; a bear stores fat for the winter and eats a lot of the same things as squirrels, which are also greasy. I would compare bear meat to a squirrel as far as the fat in it. The fat will hold the flavor of whatever the bear has been eating; try grain fed beef vs. free range and you will see a big difference. Also, atleast in WNC, most bears are run and treed with dogs. I would dare to say that any animal that has fought a pack of hounds for hours, has the tendency to have a strong smell and/or flavor to it. Also, like someone else said, if you don't properly take care of the meat, asap, expect it to not be good to eat.

I debone and boil mine in large peanut pots over a fire and change the water after 2 hrs boil another two hrs then package..freeze.....and cook like deer

It makes good jerky.

I tried it at a wild game supper and it was good.

Makes swell sausage!!!

My kids loved it cooked just like we usually do deer meat, rolled in flour and fried in an iron skillet. It was a young sow, quite tender. I have some friends from White Co. that grind it together with deer meat. Makes a good burger, the bear adds enough fat so it holds together during grilling.

Bear meat

A guy at work brought some in for me to try. I loved it. Tasted like a beef pot roast. I guess it's all in the cooking. I would imagine that the span of time between the kill and it's in the cooler would figure in here. I've heard a lot of stories about it taking several hours to get one out. Still looking for my first one.

Hawkeye7 said:

Still looking for my first one.

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Join us for Primitive Weapons or Gun opener and you just might find the one your looking for.

Slow cook the roast on a rotissary. The grease rolls right off. I prefer par boiling it 1st also.