2 bear in two days

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a buddy who guides bear hunters. The wife bought me one of those cameras that send pictures to your computer. Two days in a row ive had big bear into my deer blind. Quick call to the buddy and he took his dogs in and in two days shot them both. One a 305 lb boar and the other 365lb boar. Two real nice big bears. He was real glad especially to get the bigger one. It had a big white patch on its neck and he chased it last year and it killed one of his dogs before getting away. That bear destroyed two of my game feeders and i was glad to see it dead too.

[Land_Owner]

No Joy here as the bears are protected.  They are equally bad about running off the prevailing wildlife.  Some (3X) even wander onto the highway where they get killed and endanger the traveling public.  A black bear after dark is an unseen obstacle on a 70+mph (15 mph over the limit) two-lane highway that will ruin a vehicle, put people in the hospital or morgue, and does nothing good for the bear either.

[Lloyd Smale]

the hunting season for them is more strict then deer hunting. The dnr puts more money into them then they do our deer herd. Licenses are on a lottery. You might get one every three to four years. But killing one is much easier then tagging a decent buck. Put corn down and they will come. I could fill a bear tag off my back porch every year if i wanted. At one time before the dnr found it was such a money maker you could shoot one a year with your deer license. Now penalties for shooting one illegally are twice as bad as poaching a deer. Another sad thing with the bear is out of state hunters have the same draw percentage as locals. Why? because the dnr makes more off there licenses. Bear population up here has exploded compared to when i was a young man. As far as im conserned they could wipe the whole bunch out along with the wolves. 

No Joy here as the bears are protected.  They are equally bad about running off the prevailing wildlife.  Some (3X) even wander onto the highway where they get killed and endanger the traveling public.  A black bear after dark is an unseen obstacle on a 70+mph (15 mph over the limit) two-lane highway that will ruin a vehicle, put people in the hospital or morgue, and does nothing good for the bear either.

[Drilling Man]

  I don't have a problem with blk. bears at all, but wolves, kill them on sight anyway you can!

  Our ancestors got it right the first time!!

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

bear tear up trash all over the neighborhood. They also destroy bird feeders and my deer feeders. They dont really scare me as ive been living with them about all my life and even remember ma chasing them off the porch with a broom on a couple of occasions. Only thing that scares me about them is if my dog gets to nosy id be afraid one (especially with cubs) would kill him. I never carried a gun in the woods because of bears being there. But i do now because of wolves. They are a hell of alot meaner then a black bear. Most of the time you see a bear in the wild its his ass running away from you. Town bears are a bit different and people dont seem to scare them. Wolves arent near as afraid of humans and even consider them food in some circumstances. They are much worse with dogs too. There's been a number of dogs killed by wolves around here in the last couple years. Dont recall a bear killing one but i know a farmer thats lost two calves to black bear.

[Buckskin]

Those are good bear! You should get a tag, Lloyd. IMO their meat is better than venison and we have crop fed venison.  Just had a bear stew last night and it was fabulous, my daughter who loves venison said it was by far better.  Bear has lots of fat and marbling in it so much more like beef.  I made almost a gallon of bear lard a couple weeks ago, now my favorite cooking oil.  From now on I'm going to go up north every bear season just to get unwanted fat, it's that good.  The cracklings were excellent as well.  I have about 20 more pounds of fat in the freezer, so should get almost 3 more gallons.

Not afraid of them, but a friend of a friend got his leg chewed up pretty good this season.  He wounded one with an arrow and while they were tracking it, the bear ran out of a cornfield at the guy and attacked him, shot it 3 times in the head with a 9mm while it was biting his thigh.  Makes me think twice about the times I've tracked them in the dark.  Had one snap it's teeth at me when we were literally crawling through brush on hands and knees.  We promptly turned around and went back in morning, it was only a 125 lber, but still could have done damage.

[neckisred]

Those are good bear! You should get a tag, Lloyd. IMO their meat is better than venison and we have crop fed venison.  Just had a bear stew last night and it was fabulous, my daughter who loves venison said it was by far better.  Bear has lots of fat and marbling in it so much more like beef.  I made almost a gallon of bear lard a couple weeks ago, now my favorite cooking oil.  From now on I'm going to go up north every bear season just to get unwanted fat, it's that good.  The cracklings were excellent as well.  I have about 20 more pounds of fat in the freezer, so should get almost 3 more gallons.

Not afraid of them, but a friend of a friend got his leg chewed up pretty good this season.  He wounded one with an arrow and while they were tracking it, the bear ran out of a cornfield at the guy and attacked him, shot it 3 times in the head with a 9mm while it was biting his thigh.  Makes me think twice about the times I've tracked them in the dark.  Had one snap it's teeth at me when we were literally crawling through brush on hands and knees.  We promptly turned around and went back in morning, it was only a 125 lber, but still could have done damage.

I appreciate you sharing! Never had much desire to take a bear, but had no idea the meat was that good! Bear season runs concurrent with deer season at my camp. Should the bear population get bigger around my camp I may consider trying to take one.

[Lloyd Smale]

i wont argue that the meat isnt good. I have friends that would gladly trade two deer for a bear. Ill eat it but honestly if i shot another one it would be made into sausage. I still picture being a kid when they had an open dump here. We used to go and shoot critters there when we were teenagers and so many times i saw bear eating magot incrusted garbage. Today it still gives me pause when I eat it. Deer, antelope, elk, moose and cows eat plants. You dont know what that bear you shot ate yesterday. To me its about like eating a coyote or wolf. Maybe that stretching it a little and i will eat it at camp if its cooked but have to need for a freezer full of it. Some say sushi tastes good too. Some even eat the brains of animals. Give me some venison back straps or a ribeye. You can have the bear. Ive probably killed around 20 myself and always gave the meat to dad or someone else. Even skinning and butchering one isnt a pleasant task.

[Buckskin]

Once you get the fat off it's just like any other animal to butcher.  This was the bulk of the fat that I got off of mine this year, easily over 100 lbs.  I sure wish I would have saved more of it after rendering it out...

Everyone thinks that if you get a 380 lb bear you would get lots of meat, well after an estimated 40 lbs of guts, 100 lb for hide and head, 80 lbs of fat and another 40 for bones you get about 100 lbs of meat.  If cattle dressed out like that, most wouldn't be able to afford it raise it or buy it.  The bear that I shot this fall was a sow, boars seem to dress out better than sows, I would imagine because they don't have cubs stealing their nutrients all winter/spring.

Notice the large coffee mug to the (should be) left of picture, (I have no idea why this site posts some pics upside-down).  This bear ate cookies all summer so very yummy and slightly sweet flavor, believe it or not.

[Drilling Man]

  I'm in the same camp as Lloyd, I've eaten black bear and brown bear, but I don't care to anymore and wouldn't take any, if offered to me for FREE.  I like bears, but when it comes to what they eat, they are closer to a buzzard!  lol

  I wouldn't take FREE swamp donkey....eeer moose meat anymore either, just the smell makes me turn away.  I got to the point where I wouldn't even shoot a bull moose, standing right in front of me!

  I guess as we get older our taste change, heck I give away venison, and now these days, I even buy a little beef!

  I would truly have to be starving before I'd eat fox, coyote or wolf!

  DM

[Buckskin]

Wow, having leftover bear roast wild hen of the woods and puffball mushroom gravy over wild rice for lunch right now, delicious....   The days of open dumps are a thing of the past and most bear are not breaking into dumpsters...  Wait until I post a picture of a nice, rare bear loin! Looking forward to that. 

You guys must have never grown up on a farm and seen what chickens and hogs eat...

[Lloyd Smale]

well they may not eat out of dumps or dumpters in most place but they sure arent shy about eating some maggot incrusted deer meat. Ive shot them with parasites in there livers. To each his own i guess. I will eat it if im somewhre like camp or at someones house to be polite (but NEVER rare) and would turn some into summer sausage with curing salts and getting the meat up to 200 degrees but its not like i said that id want a freezer full of. I will agree on the hogs and especialy the chickens that some raise but most of them are fed with grain anymore unless some idiot is doing it himself and tosses anything in for them to eat. People raising hogs and chickens to sell want them fat and fat fast. They grain them to do it. Now my grandad probably through trash in the pen and rancid meat ect but i dont know a farmer today that does that.

Wow, having leftover bear roast wild hen of the woods and puffball mushroom gravy over wild rice for lunch right now, delicious....   The days of open dumps are a thing of the past and most bear are not breaking into dumpsters...  Wait until I post a picture of a nice, rare bear loin! Looking forward to that. 

You guys must have never grown up on a farm and seen what chickens and hogs eat...

[billy_56081]

The best tasting hogs we ever raised were fed leftovers from the A&W.

[Buckskin]

Deer have parasites in their livers as well, you've must have seen liver flukes up by you.   

[Drilling Man]

Wow, having leftover bear roast wild hen of the woods and puffball mushroom gravy over wild rice for lunch right now, delicious....   The days of open dumps are a thing of the past and most bear are not breaking into dumpsters...  Wait until I post a picture of a nice, rare bear loin! Looking forward to that. 

You guys must have never grown up on a farm and seen what chickens and hogs eat...

  HUH?  I still live on the farm that I grew up on!  When I was a kid, this was a dairy farm and we practically lived off the land!

  DM

[Ranger99]

I've knowingly had black bear
meat once. It was ok, but nothing
spectacular. I worry more over
the damage they do. They're starting
to move back here from other
states. One dug a big hole in the
south neighbor's yard to get to a
burrow. You could have dropped
a washing machine in without
touching the sides of the hole.
Ive also seen news reports where
they tried to get inside vehicles
because of the food smell