So you shoot a bear, then what?

I've never seen a bear in the wild, and don't know what I'd do if i saw one while hunting. I would want to harvest it if an ethical shot presented itself. However, I'm looking for advise on the "what now" that follows a kill. I don't know anybody who has eaten it, but have heard rumors its great, and rumors its full of gristle and tastes horrible. I'd like to stuff one, or at least do as rug, but if that would take the kids Christmas fund away since killing a bear would take place in fall, I'm not sure that would be the best course of action at this time.

So, pardon the naive question, but how does bear taste? What does the taxidermy cost for a rug/stuffed head, or a full mount? Do you do anything else with them other than what i mentioned above?

On one hand I don't want the opportunity to shoot one pass me by if it comes along this deer season, but on the other hand i don't want to waste a beautiful animal if i get the chance to kill it, but didn't budget to stuff it, and don't plan to eat it.

They taste great to me. My kids liked it better than deer when they were little. Getting one out before it spoils can be a challenge though depending on the weight. Try to line you up some help before you take the shot. If youre alone with no prospects for help and you kill a big one better plan on butchering it in the woods to cut down on weight. They are very hard to field judge as far as weight goes. If you have any doubt that it weighs 75 lbs. dont gut it till its been checked out or at least save the gut pile. I think the reason people dont like the taste is that the meat wasnt properly cared for. People like to ride them around and show them off half a day then they wonder why it tastes funny. A deer treated the same way wouldnt taste right either.

Bear is delicious. Anybody who says otherwise has never tried it, or had meat that was handled wrong, or they don't know how to cook. It is like a cross of beef and pork, and can be cooked any way you would cook either of them. Grilled bear steaks are delicious. Bear fat can be rendered like pork lard, and is good to cook with.

Good advice given about caring for the meat. Talked to a lot of people that say bear is awful. I've never had awful or even OK bear meat. Its all been good. I get them out quick, skinned, quartered and on ice. Don't wait around on your help. You should be able to get a 200 lb bear out by yourself unless its straight uphill. Be prepared with a pack, meat bags, good knives. Its real similar to working up a deer. In my opinion if your going to bear hunt you need to be able to quarter one up yourself especially early season when its hot. To much time is wasted to get a whole bear out of the woods and to the processer in big bear country. A lot of places it will take close to a hour just to get back to a paved road. I like to have my meat cooling asap.

tree cutter 08 said:

Good advice given about caring for the meat. Talked to a lot of people that say bear is awful. I've never had awful or even OK bear meat. Its all been good. I get them out quick, skinned, quartered and on ice. Don't wait around on your help. You should be able to get a 200 lb bear out by yourself unless its straight uphill. Be prepared with a pack, meat bags, good knives. Its real similar to working up a deer. In my opinion if your going to bear hunt you need to be able to quarter one up yourself especially early season when its hot. To much time is wasted to get a whole bear out of the woods and to the processer in big bear country. A lot of places it will take close to a hour just to get back to a paved road. I like to have my meat cooling asap.

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Been thinking about this myself. Can I pack out meat only as long as it's at least 75lbs? Am I required to pack out some of the hide to prove the sex? If it is a sow do I need to be able to prove it is non lactating? I will likely be hunting solo so I want to make sure I am prepared.

Suspose to have head and hide minimum I think. Last one I had checked they just asked what I thought the weight was. They have a good idea of what one weighs. A 80 or 100 lb bear will be no problem to drag if its gutted. A rope around the neck, and a hitch around the nose, front legs tied back to the belly and it will drag fine. Also it will take a decent size bear to have 75 lb of meat.

My wife's bear-b-q will make you slap yo momma. We keep a freezer full of bear meat at my house.

Thanks for the input. I thought I had to check it whole with dnr, if I get one, so I didn't think field butchering would have been an option. I process all my deer myself, so that wouldn't be an issue for me. I should probably YouTube how to cut the hide so it would look nice as a rug.

All the Bears I have encountered dead have been on private property and were relatively easy to get out with a short drag. This included dragging one that weighed 326 field dressed up a pretty steep ridge a few feet at a time until a road and four wheeler could get to it. With that said if I went into the NF looking to kill one I would invest in game bags, good knifes and a good backpack made for carrying meat loads. I would consider it a short distance low elevation elk hunt. A 200-300 pound bear could just about come out in one load with the head and hide if deboned and taking care of right. At least you could make a light load for whatever help actually showed up.