Quote:
Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
Even 300 pounds is getting on the big end of the eatin' range. That's still a pretty darn respectable black bear for the lower 48. The best ones are much smaller, like in the 150 lb class. Bear meat is certainly nothing if not "rich". I like it, but not many people do. The fat is the culprit, so that's why the little ones taste better. There is an enzyme in that fat that permeates all the meat around it.
I've found the key is to trim absolutely every visible piece of fat off before wrapping it. If you wait until you take it out of the freezer to cook it, it's too late. What makes it very difficult on the big ones is that the meat is so marbled you simply cannot get enough of the fat out. It can taste really nasty then.
My field dressing/skinning knife has a 4" blade. I had to take two cuts on his rump to get through the fat; it came more than half way up the handle. Six inches or more of fat, and this was the last week of September. He still had a couple of active months to fatten up even more. Not that Washington bears truly hibernate, but they sure eat like they are going to.
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I shot mine in the spring, up in the Beartooth range not too far from White Sulphur Springs, MT. He didn't have that much fat on him, but the one weird thing was, when I had him hung and finished skinning him out, other than that head, he looked way too human for comfort.
I had to shoot mine twice, but fired three shots. First, I shot him and the bullet hit a branch in between us, throwing it off. That shot was at about 30 yards. The boy ran about 50 yards along a creek bed and climbed a tree. I shot him and nothing happened. I shot again, and he dropped out of the tree. The two bullets had hit within an inch of each other, passing through completely. He just didn't know he was dead from the first round. The rifle was a .257 Roberts caliber with handloaded 117 grain Nosler partitioned bullets.
This was a long time ago, more than 30 years.