First bear on the board

northgeorgiasportsman

Moderator
Staff member
Ccongrats! Well done! Can you share your rendering process for us? I'd like to try.

I've done bear and hog both, but the process I've found to be most efficient is this:

Take the clean, white fat and cut it into chunks. I prefer to run it through a grinder. It renders quicker and more thoroughly this way. I put it in a cast iron pot and turn the stove on low heat. You don't want to cook it, just melt it. It may take a few hours, but the fat will slowly turn to liquid. At first, it's very cloudy but as you continue to render, it will clear up. I take a slotted spoon and scoop out any solids that are floating. Other impurities will have settled on the bottom. Everything else is pure bear grease. I've used a large syringe (for injecting turkeys) and drawn out the clear liquid and then deposited it into clean jars. It will set up over night and make a pure white grease like Crisco.

We keep ours in the freezer until we need a new jar, and just keep it in the fridge to use as needed. It makes awesome biscuits. I used bear grease to season my Blackstone. It's light and clean, and if you did it right, it has no off-putting flavor or odor. You can put your nose in the jar and can't smell a thing.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Heck yeah! :cheers: I'm a fan of bear grease, too. Ate many a biscuit made with it growing up. I can remember grandpa curing bear hams in the smokehouse with the pork.
 
Never ate Bear . Congrats on a great hunt. He is a big boy.
 

Cwb19

Senior Member
Nice bear congrats especially on a stormy morning.plus the smaller bears are better eating
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
I really wish that we could shoot bears here in bow and ML season. I'd keep the freezer full. Our regulations make it almost impossible to bear hunt without dogs in western NC.
 

northgeorgiasportsman

Moderator
Staff member
I really wish that we could shoot bears here in bow and ML season. I'd keep the freezer full. Our regulations make it almost impossible to bear hunt without dogs in western NC.

That's one of the reasons I've never wanted bear dogs legal in north GA.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
That's one of the reasons I've never wanted bear dogs legal in north GA.

I have no problem with bear dogs being legal, as long as there was a season you could hunt them without dogs being legal. I see bears all the time during bow and ML season (before our bear season opens,) but after the first dog is turned loose opening morning, the bears pretty much go nocturnal and stay that way the rest of the season.
 

northgeorgiasportsman

Moderator
Staff member
but after the first dog is turned loose opening morning, the bears pretty much go nocturnal and stay that way the rest of the season.

That's my issue. It renders ground hunting for bears a fruitless exercise. In NC, if you don't hunt with dogs, you ain't killing many bears. If the seasons were separate, I might be more inclined to support it.
 

T-N-T

Senior Member
Thanks for the rendering process.
And CONGRATS!
 
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