New thread-Bear Meat - Washington State

[memtb]

I wasn't suggesting that you and your compatriots were wrong, not at all. As I wrote, interesting. I've been aware of this taste dichotomy for a number of years especially when it comes from sources I trust (you). Some folks to whom I've recommended butchering their harvest and enjoying the meat have reported back their revulsion with the preparation of the meat and their meal, unfortunately.

Those hunters taking their harvest in the wild, in the field, don't have the benefit of the more controlled diet producing great flavor when the bears are foraging on berries and grasses as well as sweet bait such as pumpkins and apples. Sad.

I wasn't offended by your post and didn't mean for my post to sound as an attack on your comment.

I think that we're both on the same page that diet can affect the taste of the bear.

In fact, I know of an area in Western Wyoming where I and others have taken deer, elk, and moose over a period of years ……and the game had a bad odor when cooked and less than desirable taste. I'm just guessing than the vegetation and or the water may have a high sulfur content or perhaps high in alkalinity! memtb

 

[436]

Grizz in Washington State, ok.. how about first those morons drop in a few in Washington D.C, say a couple of their parks to start with, see how they like living with them. Just a thought. Cheers

 

[msauce1]

They are all what they eat. Fish eaters of any kind will make you decide not to eat before the hide is off.

Young berry fed are very good.

You'll likely never legally shoot a grizzly in Washington.

They've been the Cascades for decades, those denying that may have ulterior motives.

In the Anderson/Watson wilderness since the 80's when they were lying and saying there were none. I came across a culvert trap deer hunting by taking a different route out it had a half of a deer and two cameras watching it.

 

[M77Fan]

I wasn't offended by your post and didn't mean for my post to sound as an attack on your comment.

I think that we're both on the same page that diet can affect the taste of the bear.

In fact, I know of an area in Western Wyoming where I and others have taken deer, elk, and moose over a period of years ……and the game had a bad odor when cooked and less than desirable taste. I'm just guessing than the vegetation and or the water may have a high sulfur content or perhaps high in alkalinity! memtb

Eeew. Sure would like to know where that area is so I can avoid it!!

Have had moose that tastes sour (not rotten) to me, probably from eating mostly willow, so would be high in salicylic acid. Sort of like white vinegar added. I have never heard anyone comment on that, but seems true with meat from a couple moose from a given area.

Certainly whitetailed deer I have eaten from different places around the country sure taste different to me. Some very tasty, others edible but not preferred. Pretty sure it is what they are eating for vegetation or mast. One small area in SD produces my favorite flavored deer.

No first hand comparison on bear, but Alaskans I know may eat black bear, especially berry bears, but not fishy brown/grizzlies. Though one guy did choke down a whole brown because of the you-shoot-it-you-eat-it rule he was raised with. It took him years to get through that bear.

 

[memtb]

Eeew. Sure would like to know where that area is so I can avoid it!!

Have had moose that tastes sour (not rotten) to me, probably from eating mostly willow, so would be high in salicylic acid. Sort of like white vinegar added. I have never heard anyone comment on that, but seems true with meat from a couple moose from a given area.

Certainly whitetailed deer I have eaten from different places around the country sure taste different to me. Some very tasty, others edible but not preferred. Pretty sure it is what they are eating for vegetation or mast. One small area in SD produces my favorite flavored deer.

No first hand comparison on bear, but Alaskans I know may eat black bear, especially berry bears, but not fishy brown/grizzlies. Though one guy did choke down a whole brown because of the you-shoot-it-you-eat-it rule he was raised with. It took him years to get through that bear.

Deer and moose taken just north of Fossil Butte National Monument back in the 70's/'80's. memtb

 

[M77Fan]

Deer and moose taken just north of Fossil Butte National Monument back in the 70's/'80's. memtb

Interesting. That would be part of the ancient lake bed. I'm going to have to follow up by looking at soils and vegetation maps up there. That was a strange lake. Could well be alkalinity or other soil chemistry.

 

[Sealesniper]

I can't comment on Griz meat, as I have never had it. As for black bear, it can be excellent or horrible. The bears I take are still hunted, have been living off crops and are immediately butchered and meat cooled upon harvest. Black bears that are hunted with dogs are a different story. Many are run hard and have fought before they are shot. Then they are loaded int he back of a truck and driven around for the rest of the day. I tied dog hunted bear several times, and every time it was tough, very gamy tasting and not eatable to me.

 

[M77Fan]

This description is just too good not to add to this discussion. It came from an Alaskan who shot a big coastal boar. In case you wonder why coastal brown/grizzlies are not on the menu.

At first the bear didn't smell bad but when he cut into it the fat smelled like rotten fish. After being up to his elbows in bear grease for hours, the grease seemed to soak into his skin and his clothes were saturated. Even after using vinegar and every soap in the house to scrub himself, his wife wouldn't even go near him for a couple days. His dogs kept licking his arms and hands and wanted to roll in him.

 

[coyote wacker]

I was a Bear Guide for close to 50 years in Michigan....hunters who shot a bear baited by me got some of the best wild meat....many said it taste like beef sometimes a little tough some cuts....
Bears in Michigan as a hole really don't eat fish the salmon runs are in late September and bears are getting ready to hibernate and the only meat is venison mostly fawns in the spring....
But what I baited with was mostly sweets, donuts, grains, sugar items....a month of a steady diet of such items the only thing I ever heard from my hunters was how great bear meat is....
All of the bears were aged by the DNR and most were between 4-8 years old....out of a several hundred only one was a sow and it weighed 260 lbs dressed....

 

[M77Fan]

Deer and moose taken just north of Fossil Butte National Monument back in the 70's/'80's. memtb

So I followed up with mapping. That area is very folded up with many layers of sedimentary rocks making up the surficial geology, that in turn is what the soil is derived from. The soils map is so busy it is hard to even read. Even in a small area there are as many as 20 soil types! In running through the soil types and subtypes it was evident that while some are normal pHs, some are not. Descriptions of several units make a point of noting calcium content. While 0-10% is common, what caught my attention was so many that are up to 25% calcium! That equates out to very alkaline. Only certain plants are tolerant of high salinity or alkalinity, and those include saltbrush (several species) and greasewood, as well as a few sage species. Greasewood and sage both have chemicals that render them unpalatable to browsers, and greasewood even kills other plants surrounding them. If critters are forced to eat those groups, and shrubs would be included in the diet of both moose and deer, that could make the meat a little nasty. I didn't check on their winter ranges specifically, but I know there are some big game winter ranges in that vicinity.

So that is useful to know. Soils with high calcium percentages are likely highly alkaline soils. Plants tolerant to such growing conditions are not only spiny and nasty to encounter, but most are not particularly palatable to wildlife (or cattle), though they will eat them. If they consume much of those species, the animals may also be rendered unpalatable.

 

[memtb]

. If they consume much of those species, the animals may also be rendered unpalatable

Thanks! In attempting to digest (pun intended) your post, it seems that we may not have just been imagining things. memtb

 

[Alibiiv]

We black bear hunt over bait in the northern parts of Maine. So... for the most part the bear meat that we get has been fed an extremely fat diet of sweets of any kind, like donuts and cakes for at least a month before we shoot them. Of the past seven or eight bear that we have taken there only was one that was inedible. That bear stunk to high heavens for some reason. The outfitter stated that he has seen this in several bears over his many years of guiding bear hunters. My personal experience with bear meat has been that of making the entire bear meat ground into hamburger; everything. I am afraid of not cooking the meat thoroughly and getting trichinosis. I make regular hamburger, sweet Italian sausage and breakfast sausage patties out of it. I make a meatloaf or meatballs or a chili using a combination of the sweet Italian sausage and the regular hamburg. Also will make a meat sauce for spaghetti with it. What I was told by my meat processor was that all of the silver skin and bear fat has to be removed before it is processed, otherwise the meat will not be tasty at all.