Keeping bear meat vs hide only... what do you do?

[MHWASH]

I'm always amazed by the "eat what you shoot" comments. These guys must not coyote hunt or shoot varmints. I don't think most guys have any idea that a coyote and a bear have the same diet.

If I'm backpacking and shoot a bear I leave the meat, where legal. This spring I shot a bear on a backcountry hunt and left the meat. This fall I killed another bear very close to a gate and brought it all out.

 

[DWinVA]

Have you ever killed an old boar? Small-medium bear have low recovery (meat vs live weight) but a big boar has really good recovery. If you take a 150# bear and a 300# bear, you won’t get twice the meat, it will be like 3-4x the meat. That’s one reason I don’t like killing bears unless they are big… first, I like hunting bear more than killing bear

Second, a BIG bear won’t be a sow (big deal to me in the spring)

Third, big bear have way more meat in general, and percentage recovery

Not yet. Most of what we kill are best guess 175-250 lbs. I’ve never weighed one and being a deer hunter vs real bear hunter I’m not sure how good of a guesser I am. We did kill one on permit this year that 3 of use could not pick up and load on my hitch haul. The biggest bear killed on our hunting property was a big dry female. I wasn’t present but based on pics I’d say she was well over 300 lbs. It was a damage permit kill & the guy didn’t take any of the bear. I was not happy to see that wasted. Spring bear aren’t an option here in VA.

God Bless.

 

[Ron.C]

I take the meat, leave the rest

 

[Yotekiller]

I want the meat more than anything else

 

[CC55]

Meat is pretty legit, I always take it out. Easy to quarter and even a bigger bear isn't a massive packout.

 

[MTtrout]

Bears are often nasty, parasite ridden, and sick.

This seems like a bold statement to make. Care to back it up with some data? We all get the dumper bears diet but was never taught as a biologist that when you see a bear in the woods theres a good likelihood it is nasty and sick

 

[JohnB]

What state are you hunting in?

Eastern Washington. Our berry season probably runs a bit longer than others.

 

[z987k]

This seems like a bold statement to make. Care to back it up with some data? We all get the dumper bears diet but was never taught as a biologist that when you see a bear in the woods theres a good likelihood it is nasty and sick

A large percentage of bears have trich. You have to just treat the meat as if they all have it.

The black bear I got last spring was really tough. The back straps were like eating shoe leather. He became 100% sausage.

 

[MTtrout]

I know that you treat bears as having trich. I used to collect tongue samples when hunters checked in their bears for MT FWP awhile back. I believe that have stopped doing that since. My family enjoys bear meat like everyone else above.

Sounds like the OP is new to bear meat and by someone making such broad strokes as bears are nasty and sick without providing more to that statement doesn’t really help the OP or other’s

 

[dirtytough]

I was taught to eat what I shoot. You wouldn’t catch me skinning an animal and leaving the rest.

I agree with this and disagree. I shoot a lot of coyotes. A lot are getting skinned and no human is eating the ones I shoot. I'm guessing most guys don't eat a wolf if they kill one either.

That being said I cringe when I see someone say to shoot a deer/elk in the shoulder on purpose to anchor it. Seems like intentionally ruining meat. Funny how certain animals people place on a pedestal and others are fine to run a dozer over.

OP AK is one of the strictest states when it comes to meat recovery. Even certain times in AK you aren't required to recover bear meat. If it's legal to leave it, it's your call. You should at least take some to try out though.

 

[Elkhntr08]

I’ve heard of bad bear meat, but never had it. Lucky I guess.
I’m bringing it all out. If the meat’s not good, I’ll throw it out.

 

[Redrice]

As this is your first bear hunting year, take it all you'll be glad you did, burger and sausages etc, cook it like pork

 

[MBN]

There is a reason the limit is five bears for residents and non residents in a lot of Alaska. I have ate quite a few, but not all of the bears I have shot. We corn a lot of it, make sausage, and render the fat. They are also very hard on blacktail fawns where there are deer. Controlling bear numbers with hunting would be difficult if the salvage requirements were the same for moose, caribou, ect. I also don't eat the predators I shoot except for a few lynx. I am not planning on taking up golf either.

 

[QuackAttack]

This seems like a bold statement to make. Care to back it up with some data? We all get the dumper bears diet but was never taught as a biologist that when you see a bear in the woods theres a good likelihood it is nasty and sick

Google bear tapeworm.

It’s disgusting…and normal for bears to have so many worms that they drag along behind the bear.

https://www.iflscience.com/alaskan-...meterslong-tapeworms-from-their-behinds-60677

 

[MTtrout]

@QuackAttack thanks for posting that. That is a weird thing to visualize, for sure. I guess you shouldn’t shoot a bear

 

[Laelkhunter]

You mentioned donating the meat. Here in Louisiana, we have a "Hunters for the hungry" program that accepts meat and distributes it to needy families. There are several similar organizations across the country. If you have it processed, and don't wish to keep it all consider donating to one of these programs. Some even have arrangements with local processors that will take the freshly killed game and process it to be donated to the needy. Again, check your area (or the area you will be hunting) for these type of programs.
It seems a waste to not attempt to recover and provide the meat to someone that wants or needs it. Good luck on your hunt and hopefully you will have to think about what to do with it.

 

[bigunit]

Here in sask you don't need to keep it. I shot one right at dark last fall during moose season. I gutted it and left it to be recovered the following morning. When I went back the next morning, there were large worms and parasites all over the gut pile so I didn't recover any of the meat. I also didn't take the hide or skull since I have lots of both. I just left it in the bush with the tags on it. It didn't really sit right with me and I don't believe I'll ever do that again. It felt wasteful even though I realize they can be harmful to the young of the year calves and fawns. There is also definitely no shortage of black bear here and you can get 2 tags in a lot of the province.

 

[Freewilly]

My last trip to Canada, outfitter said they don’t even consider eating bear.

 

[realunlucky]

My last trip to Canada, outfitter said they don’t even consider eating bear.

Yeah they want you to feel about them not messing with it.

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[KMW]

Black bear meat is my favorite of all wild game meat.