Is bear meat good eating?

[blind ear]

Over the years I have heard more bad than good about eating bear meat.

I am hopeing to get the word frim someone that actually hunts and possibly eats them.

 If they are in the swine evolutionary family I was hopeing they would be good to eat.

ear

[Frankn4]

I guess what taste good, or not, is a personal opinion. My personal opinion is that bear meat properly prepared(as ncecessary for anything) is very good, actually excellent.

I am not a bear hunter. I have met bear in the woods, usually when putting up/taking down a blind/stand, and usually armed with a 22 rimfire handgun.

From 1991 to 2004, I belonged to a hunting club. Every year in February we would have a game dinner and invite the community, free of charge. Everyone brought their favorite wild game dish/dishes. One gent brought bear every year so I did get to eat some prepared several ways.

It did not have the greasy taste I was always told that it had and it did not have the strong taste. My favorite bear dish is one he made by placeing a large bear roast, quarter cut skin on potatoes, half cut boiler onions, carrots cut large(about 4 pieces per carrot) and a couple garlic cloves, into one of those bags like you use for a whole turkey, then over bake.  With homemade sour dough bread and blackberry wine, this was very good.

[blind ear]

Frankn4, Thank you, ear

[billy_56081]

Most I know like it better than deer. It is very bland and takes on the flavor of the seasoning very well.

[chefjeff]

Last three years,I've processed and eaten three black bears. IMHO,the sows are a little better. It's like a coarse grain beef. The fat is somewhat like beef fat and was prized in olden days for many uses.I've found that the burgers should be cooked slower on the grill,as they will turn dark on the outside before they are done in the middle. I believe they harbor trichinosis and should be cooked fairly done. Bearburgers and bearBQ are pretty stinkin' tasty.

[GeneRector]

  Howdy! Black bear meat is really good! I made some chili out of bear meat once and took it to a covered dish supper. It was all gone in no time. I prefer black bear meat over venison, but I like both. Always, Gene

[jlchucker]

I have two nieces that are Vets.  The older one specializes in both large animals and small.  Every year that her husband, her father, and I get ready to go to my club's game supper, she for some reason admonishes us all not to eat the bear meat.  Every year, her Dad and I both ignore her had scarf down delicious bear meat (among other entrees) and wash it all down with cold beer.  After all, what does my niece know?  In the minds of her uncle and her dad, she's still a little girl--except for that bit about graduating at the top of her vet school class. I never paid attention but I think her husband doesn't try the bear meat though. Too bad.  It's pretty tasty in all forms that they cook it.

[blind ear]

Thanks everybody. Makes me hope I get a chance to go bear hunting. ear

[223fan]

Well I know a lot of folks say that it's not all that good,but I have ate a bunch of it and I would say  I think it is as good as deer.I am lucky to have a wife that can make about anything I can kill taste good.

[bigswede]

+1 for bear meat.  Also, I think somebody mentioned it earlier but bear fat is incredible, awesome, the best, you get the picture, any way it's really good to bake with.  It needs to be rendered down first.  My wife got a hold of some from some friends last year, made her banana bread taste even better.  She also made a batch of the hands down best cookies I have ever eaten, they were oatmeal-huckleberry made with bear lard.  Bear meat is also really tasty to make into sausage.  Good luck finding one to chew on.

[30-30man]

I never liked it.  I don't like the grainy texture it has not to mention thinking of a teddy bear the whole time I chewed it..Too much like eating a dog to me...I know they are nothing like a dog, but the teddy bear thing got me everytime I tried it.

[Cabin4]

Without question yes. I have been killing and eating black bear for years. My family loves it.

[Horsefeathers]

In Canada (N.S.} where my folks were from,no one ate bear meat. Bear were considered varmints and could be taken allyear round. Iguess they favored deer or Moose. Horsefeathers.

[Cabin4]

All depends on what bears are feeding on. In areas that have excellant Mast Crop, the bear meat is usually going to be excellant. If they are eating downed carcasus, then yes, that will dramaticlaly reduce the quality of the meat.

[thejanitor]

2 of the 3 black bears my family has had were very good eating. One was a resort dumpster bear and it really wasn't very good. The two that came from more remote wild feeding areas were by far better tasting.  thejanitor