doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: Had bear for 1st time the other night.

George Herter of catalog fame said that bear lard was the best for baking pastry.

I've had bear three times, the first time was a little one that was roasted whole on a spit and it was great tasting.

I shot one with my longbow in '95 in the boondocks of Northern Wisconsin. I had to force it down and will never kill another one. Still have a jar of the lard in the basement fridge and use it for patch lube in my front-stuffers.

The third time last winter at a game feed and it was a bad as the one I killed. I'm done with eating bear.

I ate locally killed bear sausage once. I won't do that again...Geo

You have to wonder why some are good and some are awful? I had certainly heard many-more of the horror stories before I tried this one. I'd have to think that it's what they were eating and possibly how they might have been handled, both pre and post-mortem. I'm also guessing age might be a factor? I know for a fact that some elk eat better than others, and probably for similar reasons.

I have had bear that was taken in MN and grilled several times and enjoyed it. I shot a big boar last Spring in AK and was very careful with the meat. The best thing I can say about the one I shot is my dogs love it.

A friend shot a record B&C book black bear many years ago. It wasn�t bad tasting. When I got tired of chewing, I spit it out.

Bear is like a lot of game in that their diet made a lot of difference how they taste. Had the same experience with Brant years ago. If they were coming from the ocean side they were decent fare but if they had been feeding in the bay they were so vile even they dog would not come near one. They reeked of rotting sea cabbage. Only shot them a few times before deciding not to risk it and having game no one could stand.

Had a blind on a small pond one year when early rains caused about three acres of soybeans to be flooded before harvest. What a great year we had out of that blind. Every duck was prime with a layer of fat 3/8"-1/2" thick. We released 30 ducks raised by the state and in a week had 100+ living on our pond. You could take a limit anytime of the day but we only shot it three times a week. Had those tasty birds there all year long.

We see the same difference in taste and quality in pretty much any meat we consume. I worked with a guy during college who also raised high quality beef for very high priced New York City restaurants. The ribeye steaks he brought to work to cook for us were out of this world. He told us how he raised his ultra-prime beef. He was raising Red Angus cattle, and at 6 months, they were penned so they had minimal exercise. He said he initially fed them all the corn they would eat, but he gradually switched to barley before slaughtering. He claimed that the method of slaughter was very important, and he said he fed them several bottles of beer so they would be very relaxed when he killed them. He was adamant that they should never be in any way alarmed or distressed because adrenaline would affect the taste and tenderness of the meat. Then he went on about properly bleeding, butchering, and aging for the best quality.

It makes sense then, that our game will probably taste better if we hunt where the feed quality is best, and if we make a clean quick kill on an un-alarmed animal. It isn't often that we get the perfect day and night-time temperatures where I can hang and age my deer for a week without either spoiling or freezing solid. But I think it makes a difference when I can. When someone tells you that the steak they are about to serve came from an animal that was gut shot and tracked for a mile before finishing, don't expect a great tasting piece of meat. There are too many variables to make a blanket judgement about the taste of any game animal based upon one or two tastings. The final quality starts before you pull the trigger.

You hear all kinds of reasons for the taste to be off / unpleasant in game animals and I agree that proper care and handling of the critter is important. Also the fact that the animal is not stressed pretty much goes along with proper handling.

I happen to like the taste of Pronghorn Antelope, think it's some of the best tasting game out there. Lots of folks don't. When you see a herd of pronghorns being chased from one ridge to another in 80 degree weather before they are shot,then carted around in the back of a pickup for a couple of hours, you can bet they are going to be pretty foul tasting.

The bear I killed, walked off about 30 yards and died after a pass-thru with a sharp broadhead. He was field dressed, then skinned and in a cooler within an hour of death. Still could hardly choke it down.

Does sex of the bear affect the taste?

I had a friend in AK who was extolling the virtues of grizzly bear meat. He did add the caveat that only the bears that had been fattening up on berries were good, those that had been feeding on salmon were inedible.