Hunting And Eating Black Bear

Bear meat was a frequent delicacy in our family throughout my childhood within the countryside. Grandpa had a keenness for searching black bears, contemplating them the prime goal amongst huge recreation animals. Grandma persistently lauded bear meat because the epitome of culinary delight amongst recreation meats. With Grandma’s repertoire of mouthwatering recipes, she effortlessly substantiated her assertion.

There’s nothing fairly as satisfying as having a provide of naturally sourced, natural meat within the freezer. Following in Grandma’s footsteps, I derive immense satisfaction from showcasing it in gourmand model on the dinner desk.

Looking the black bear

Bear searching is an endeavor of measurement and technique. Absolutely grown male bears usually weigh round 300 kilos, with trophy specimens tipping the scales at over 500 kilos. Distinguishing traits embrace the hefty, block-shaped heads of mature bears, in distinction to the extra pointed and slim heads of juveniles. Feminine bears, often known as sows, are roughly half the dimensions of males and are sometimes present in shut proximity to their cubs, significantly within the spring. It’s essential to train warning to keep away from inadvertently concentrating on a mom together with her younger.

Bears possess average eyesight, however their acute sense of odor and sharp listening to make them formidable quarry. Stalking is my most popular methodology for bear searching, though some hunters go for the patience-testing method of “nonetheless” searching from a tree stand. Whatever the approach employed, success calls for a mix of endurance and talent, given the animal’s exceptional intelligence.

Bear searching seasons range by area, with some areas providing each spring and autumn hunts whereas others solely present fall alternatives. Earlier than embarking on a bear searching expedition, it’s important to totally familiarize oneself with the pertinent searching laws governing the particular area, together with guidelines, dates, and necessities reminiscent of licenses, tags, and firearm restrictions.

Whereas my searching grounds supply alternatives in each seasons, I favor the autumn hunt because of the availability of leisure time and the attract of using bear lard for culinary endeavors. Bears fattened on fruits and berries in the course of the fall yield sweeter and extra ample fats in comparison with these rising from hibernation within the spring. Nevertheless, aficionados of bear meat assert that lean spring bears supply superior taste, making certain a satisfying culinary expertise whatever the season.

Throughout autumn hunts, it’s advisable to keep away from bears feasting on fish in salmon-spawning rivers and creeks, as their meat could purchase a fishy style. Pre-season scouting in summer season is invaluable for figuring out potential searching grounds, with favored feeding areas together with fields, meadows, fruit-bearing woods, and orchards. Indicators reminiscent of tracks, scat, claw marks, and pawed-over logs function indicators of bear exercise, guiding hunters to promising areas for the season forward.

For spring bear searching, optimum areas embrace sunny forest edges the place bears could emerge from winter dens seeking recent vegetation. Grassy meadows and moist woodlands teeming with edible crops present prime feeding grounds for bears throughout this season.

Subject dressing

After efficiently taking down a black bear, your preliminary consideration must be whether or not you propose to protect the top as a trophy or have the cover tanned or common right into a rug. Some hunters swiftly resolve on this matter upon bagging a trophy animal. If preservation is your aim, utmost care should be taken in the course of the discipline dressing and skinning course of to reduce harm to the cover and to retain the top, tail, and paws intact for mounting functions.

The important thing to preserving good meat lies in promptly discipline dressing the animal after the shot. Warmth retention poses the best risk to meat high quality. Some hunters decide to pores and skin the animal and detach the 4 legs, leaving the rest behind within the discipline, generally with the abdomen unopened and the entrails intact if they don’t seem to be desired for consumption.

Subject dressing a bear follows the identical process as with every different massive recreation animal. Start by making a round incision across the vent after which proceed up the stomach to the chest, taking care to keep away from piercing the abdomen or intestines to forestall contamination of the meat. Afterward, roll the animal onto its facet and take away the entrails from the cavity. To entry the center and lungs, reduce the diaphragm near the ribs within the chest. Soak up as a lot extra blood from the cavity as doable utilizing paper towels out of your pack or out there foliage like ferns.

The following step includes skinning the animal. As a result of thick fur of bears, it’s advisable to take away the cover promptly to provoke the cooling course of. Lay the bear on its again and prolong the preliminary incision down your entire size of every leg. If preserving the cover, guarantee these cuts are straight and neat all the way down to the pads of the toes, leaving them intact. Alternatively, if the cover is just not a priority, you may pores and skin all the way down to the ankle and disjoint the toes for elimination.

As you proceed with skinning, use your knife to separate the cover from the physique. If the cover is destined for a taxidermist, immediate supply is important, significantly in hotter climate. Salting down the cover and rolling it up will help forestall spoilage throughout transportation.

Processing

When dealing with a spring bear in hotter climate with much less fats content material, it’s important to butcher and chill the meat swiftly. Conversely, for an autumn bear harvested in cooler temperatures, I want to hold it for a day or two to permit for bleeding out and stiffening of the meat, in addition to for the fats to agency up barely, facilitating simpler butchering. As I deal with my very own meat, this methodology fits me finest. Nevertheless, should you go for skilled processing, it will likely be achieved in accordance with the requirements of the store and your private preferences.

The preliminary step includes eradicating the fats layer from the meat. A well-fed autumn bear could possess as much as three inches of fats, necessitating a big container to retailer the fats should you intend to render it down into lard for culinary or leather-based preservation functions. Alternatively, you may hold it in bushes in your yard for birds or eliminate it, though this could entail important waste. Eradicating bear fats mirrors the method of trimming fats from a pig—merely slice it off in strips till you attain the meat layer.

Regardless of its scrumptious taste when rendered into lard, leaving fats on the meat may end up in an undesirable style, significantly after freezing. When grinding bear meat into burger, I take away all extra fats and substitute it with pork fats, enhancing taste, binding, and suitability for long-term storage.

Rendering down bear lard

There are two approaches to rendering bear lard: one includes melting the fats with out water, whereas the opposite makes use of water. Personally, I want to render my bear lard outdoor in a pot suspended over a hearth pit within the yard, nevertheless it will also be achieved indoors on the range. It’s essential to work in small batches and keep away from overcrowding the pan to forestall grease spillage. Maintain kids and pets away from the melting pot for security.

Rendering with out water: Lower the fats into small cubes and place them in a big, deep, heavy-bottomed pot. Dangle the pot over the hearth or set the range burner to medium-high warmth. Because the fats melts, it’s going to accumulate on the backside of the pot and progressively fry itself out. When the strong fats items remodel into crispy bits floating on the floor, the lard is prepared. Use a ladle to switch the cracklings right into a steel sieve positioned over the pot of rendered grease, then press any remaining fats out of the cracklings utilizing the again of a picket spoon. Unfold the cracklings on absorbent paper, sprinkle with salt, and revel in whereas ready for the lard to chill. As soon as cooled, switch the lard to a clay container, cowl, and retailer within the fridge or a cool space.

Rendering with water: Comply with the identical course of for chopping the fats into cubes and inserting them in a big kettle. Cowl the fats with chilly water and convey it to a boil. Scale back the warmth and simmer gently for 4 to five hours, skimming off any impurities that rise to the floor. This methodology is well-suited to be used with a woodstove that is still lit within the kitchen. Proceed simmering till the water evaporates and the fats is totally rendered. Take care to keep away from burning the fats because it boils all the way down to the frying level.

Butchering

The method of butchering a bear carefully resembles that of butchering a hog. Personally, I want to order one leg for making ham after which bone out the remaining parts, because it’s simpler than sawing by means of bones.

I divide the meat into steaks, roasts, stewing meat, and trimmings for burger. Meat from the neck and ribs, if not meant for barbecue, is ideal for grinding. The center might be roasted and loved in a fashion much like venison coronary heart. Whereas some people admire the liver, I discover it to have a barely stronger style than venison liver. Nevertheless, soaking it in milk earlier than cooking will help mellow its taste.

Packaging the meat

I used to depend on freezer paper, however no matter how securely I wrapped it, the meat would inevitably endure from freezer burn after a couple of months in storage. A number of years in the past, I invested in a vacuum sealer, and since then, I haven’t encountered any situations of freezer burn—even with packages which have surpassed their really useful one-year shelf life within the freezer. Nevertheless, I nonetheless take the additional step of wrapping my vacuum-sealed meat in brown freezer paper to protect its colour, particularly throughout prolonged storage intervals.

For floor meat and stewing meat, I discover that sealing them in ziplock baggage suffices. Nevertheless, for bigger cuts the place air circulation is essential, vacuum sealing really prolongs their shelf life.

A phrase about trichinosis

Train the identical warning with bear meat as you’ll with pork to mitigate the chance of trichinosis—a illness brought on by parasites that may inhabit the intestines of varied animals. Trichinosis is mostly related to pork in home settings and bear within the wilderness. Since trichinae larvae should not seen to the bare eye, there isn’t any dependable methodology to establish their presence or absence, emphasizing the significance of cautious dealing with for secure consumption.

Human transmission of trichinosis usually happens by means of the consumption of undercooked flesh from contaminated animals, with most instances stemming from undercooked pork consumption. On condition that bear, like pork, could harbor these parasites within the meat, it must be handled with the identical precautions and cooked to the suitable stage of doneness.

Bear meat must be cooked till it reaches an inside temperature of 185°F as measured by a meat thermometer inserted into the middle of the meat. It must be fork-tender, with no traces of bloody juices current. Freezing can be recognized to assist eradicate trichinae, so permitting the meat to bear an prolonged interval within the freezer earlier than use is advisable, significantly for ham and sausage making.

Listed below are a few of my favourite black bear recipes:

1. Bear steaks with recent spring morels:

This dish is a spring bear hunter’s delight. When you can’t discover morels, store-bought mushrooms will just do effective. When morels are ample, I prefer to dry them for later use, permitting me to take pleasure in this recipe with steaks from an autumn bear as effectively. Serves 4.

Substances:

4 bear steaks
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
4 sprigs of rosemary
1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 tablespoon of olive oil
½ cup of sherry
3 tablespoons of butter
1 cup of beef inventory or water
2 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 cup of recent morels (or rehydrated dried morels)
¼ cup of heavy cream
Salt and pepper to style

Directions:

Place the steaks in a flat dish and high them with garlic, rosemary, and peppercorns.
Combine olive oil and sherry, then pour over the meat. Marinate within the fridge for a number of hours or in a single day.
Take away steaks from marinade and put aside. Warmth butter in a skillet and sauté steaks till golden on all sides.
Pour within the inventory and reserved marinade. Cowl and simmer till meat is totally cooked and liquid is absorbed.
Take away meat from pan and preserve heat. Add shallots and morels to the drippings and cook dinner till shallots are tender.
Stir within the cream and seasonings. Prepare dinner till thickened. Ladle mushrooms over the steaks and garnish with recent parsley. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

2. Grandma’s old school bear stew:

Nothing beats a hearty bear stew stuffed with herbs, colourful root greens, and tender meat in wealthy gravy. Pair it with a biscuit constituted of bear lard or crusty bread for sopping up the gravy. Serves six.

Substances:

1½ kilos of stewing bear
2 tablespoons of cooking fats (lard, butter, or vegetable oil)
1 massive onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup of diced celery
1 candy purple pepper, diced
1½ tablespoons of paprika
1 teaspoon of floor black pepper
1½ teaspoons of salt (regulate to style)
Recent herbs of alternative (rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme)
3½ cups (or extra) of water
2 cups of cubed potatoes
1 cup of diced turnip
1 chopped parsnip
2 cups of chopped carrots
1 cup of frozen peas
½ cup of purple wine (or water)
2 tablespoons of flour blended into ¼ cup of water (or use immediate beef gravy combine)

Directions:

Warmth fats in a Dutch oven and sauté meat till it loses its colour.
Add onions, garlic, celery, and pepper, and cook dinner till onion is tender.
Stir in spices and cook dinner till absorbed. Add water, deliver to a boil, then scale back warmth, cowl, and simmer for 1½ hours or till meat is tender, including extra water if wanted.
Add greens and wine. Simmer for half-hour or till greens are cooked.
Stir in flour/water combination and cook dinner till thickened. Regulate seasonings to style.

3. Spicy bear breakfast sausage:

This recipe is ideal for rookies because the sausages are shaped into patties quite than being cased. Makes about 3 kilos.

Substances:

2 kilos of floor bear meat
1 pound of floor fatty pork (reminiscent of pork butt)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of floor marjoram
½ teaspoon of crushed sage
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of onion powder
1 teaspoon of candy purple paprika
2 teaspoons of entire coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of crushed dried chili flakes

Directions:

Combine floor meats collectively in a big bowl, then add spices. Utilizing your fingers, work the spices into the meats.
Form the meat into two rolls, concerning the measurement of an English muffin. Cowl and refrigerate in a single day.
The subsequent morning, slice the rolls into patties and fry in scorching oil over medium warmth till browned on either side and cooked by means of. Drain on absorbent paper earlier than serving. Take pleasure in!

Concluding

Bear meat presents a novel and flavorful culinary expertise for these keen to discover past typical meats. Whether or not harvested in spring or autumn, black bear meat presents a chance to attach with nature’s bounty and savor the fruits of the hunt. These recipes present a glimpse into the wealthy culinary heritage surrounding bear meat, inviting cooks to experiment and create memorable dishes to be loved with family members.

Beneficial sources:

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The perfect DIY Initiatives to your family to change into self-sufficient

How To Make Bannock or Indian Bread, the meals of the mountain males

The very important self-sufficiency classes our nice grand-fathers left us