Got a berry bear for the freezer.

Yukon Mike

Yukon Mike

Well-known member
My friends that have a farm near town here have been having trouble with a black bear this summer so I've been trying to help them with it. Last evening I was waiting in their berry patch when he came along about 9:00. I had pictures of him from over the last couple of weeks so I knew right away it was the one, had time to make a steady shot and he died only 32 yards from where I hit him. Farmer Steve brought a forklift down and we rolled him onto a pallet because he was too heavy to lift. The people who live there will be relieved to know he's out of the picture.

He's a pretty standard sized mature black bear for here, 6' long, 308 lbs, really fat from all the berries. He is full from one end to the other of black currants and soap berries. I got him all butchered up this morning and he'll be yummy.

His hide isn't good enough to spend money to tan, but a friend of mine wants to try her own home tanning so this will be a good one for her to experiment on.

Not really a hunt, but meat for the freezer nonetheless.

Mike

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Really neat. Shot one a few years back that had that reddish color. It was a bad year for blueberries and he was full of mountain ash fruit.

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Now that's my kind of "suburban" hunt!!

I've always heard that the fall bear taste much better than spring. What does their meat compare to?

-D
 
That looks like a pretty good sized bear. I'd dare to bet that most 300lb bears don't get weighed. :)
Happy eating.

Tim
 
Aww you shot Yogi as he was filling his picnic basket. Should be some good meals in your future. Bear stew, pulled bear sandwiches, plus bear grease for your patched round balls of your smokepole, bear claws and teeth for a fine necklace, yep your all set up with plenty trade goods now! :>) :>)
 
I hear ya Dave, and I've already given away a front shoulder to a kid I know who goes bison hunting a lot, so I figure a leg for a leg. : ) I'm planning to try that corned goose recipe from here, the duck ham I did last fall, some bear pepperonis, souvlaki, bear fat fondue, maybe some bacon or pancetta.

The best thing I remember from the last fall bear I got a few years ago was the beautiful white lard. We ate so many home fried taters that winter!


"Now that's my kind of "suburban" hunt!! "

I guess that's the northern version of shooting golf course geese, which would probably be a hoot!

The fall bears I've eaten didn't have any different taste than the spring ones, although the fat is whiter on the fall ones I'd say. I only ate raccoon once, but the smell of it cooking struck me as being similar to a bear. Makes sense.

This one had quite a few filarial worms in spots, and although they aren't harmful to eat, they still gross me out, so trimming was slow and methodical with a bright headlamp on the meat. I find the worms are concentrated in the connective tissue and easy to spot. I didn't find any actually in the meat, so that's good. I'm sure anyone who eats wild food has consumed their share of icky parasites. Of the all the chemicals, treatments, and medications that this body has been host to, a couple of see through worms is small beans.

Someone remind me of this bold statement when my nads fall off after eating this thing.

Mike
 
Brown fat is the myoglobin enriched "stuff" necessary for hibernation.

Parasite content is what finally put an end to my bear hunting days. My wife was helping me haul bait to a stand site. This particular bear loved apples after they had started to rot. We came accross a pile of scat. She was looking at it and remarked about a long tube like "thing" that was moving. I told her it was Ascaris sp. End of story for "our" consumption of bear meat.

Cook it via use of a good meat thermometer. The protein content of its background parasite load is likely higher than the bear meat's.
 
Good for you, Mike. That looks to be a dandy bear. How much longer do the black bears stay out. I know that is a variable but normally when do they begin their hibernating in your neck of the woods?
Al
 
Damn it Mike!

I have a bear tag this year and had convinced myself I was going to be to busy to put the effort into starting a bait station and trying for one. Then you go and post this and get me thinking about it again. I have to admit the bear lard has me intrigued.

Oh congrats!
 
"[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] I know that is a variable but normally when do they begin their hibernating in your neck of the woods?
Al"

Black bears seem to disappear in the last half of October, but grizzlies are out until mid Nov or so. Once the ground freezes there's really not much for them to eat unless there's a salmon run or something.

I'm going to try for a late grizzly again this fall. We can't use baits here so its all spot and stalk, or calling.

Mike
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Very cool Mike,
I'm a recurve shooter and have been all my life and have always wanted to take a bear with a bow & arrow. The older I get, the less I want to take that chance. ;)
Lou
 
I hear ya Lou. Originally I was very excited about trying for this bear with Mac's compound. The set up was good for a tree stand, back to the river, 20 -30 shot if he came down the trail like the camera showed, but Mac and I talked about it the first night I went out to look and I decided to go rifle for a couple of reasons.

If it was past their berry picking season it would have been a better plan, because if I hit the bear and didn't find it right away, I would have shut down their picking until he was located and pronounced dead. Even if that was the next morning it still would have been an unnecessary inconvenience for them.

I have confidence Jenny and The Buns would have located that bear, but the thought of the old dog beaten up by a wounded bear because she's so slow these days seemed irresponsible.

So in the end, I went with the setup that would make the bear problem go away with the least amount of complications.

Next time.
 
Very neat! You know, next time they have a problem bear like that you could feed it some de-wormer in July/August and then harvest in Sept :).
 
Mike,

I was thinking of you when I read this today. A honey farm sounds like a great place to hunt bears. LOL

"A black bear has been seen wandering in High River, and RCMP are urging residents to use caution.

The bear, which was not acting aggressively, was seen on a rural driveway in the area of 530 Avenue and 53 Street E. The bear was likely lured to the area by a nearby honey-producing farm."
 
A taxidermist told me that bear skin leather is something that taxidermists keep for themselves. Softer than deer & great for clothing.
 
Awesome Mike!

Gotta love having friends/neighbors that make that sort of thing easier....like moving around a 308 lb bear with a forklift :)
 
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