Bear meat

[Allyn T]

I recently learned that in Daniel Boone's time they shot deer for skins and bear for meat. They preferred black bear over venison which is interesting.

[Buckskinner]

Black bear is delicious and I am one of the risk takers I guess, because I cook the loins to medium and they are excellent.  Burger is excellent as well, I add about 20% fat to it.
I have a tag for this fall and if successful I plan on cooking a lot of it sous vide so I think that will take care of the issue.  After I shot my first bear  I made a roast for dinner and my wife without knowing what it was said that it was the best roast she'd ever had, even after I told her what it was!   

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, dang, guess I'll swear off the rare walrus steaks and raw ground squirrel jerky.  I am going to try and perforate a bear this spring, though.  Helped my buddy get his bait in Saturday, and he's going to pay me back by helping to get me on one after he gets his.  Never had much interest in hunting over bait, but I'm always up for trying something new, and if it gets me a nice fur rug, helps fill the freezer, and scores me a bunch of bear lard to work with, I'm in.  We hauled four 5g buckets of bait about 2.5 miles into the mountains each way, so at least I can feel good about putting in the work.

This friend of mine makes excellent green chili with bear meat.  I hear it's good in just about any pork recipe.  I really want to try slow-smoking a shoulder roast just like I'd do a boston butt, for some pulled bear sandwiches.  mmmmmmmm

That bear lard-beeswax-pine pitch combo is my favorite bow finish, too.  Warm it up, spread it on, and gently melt it in with a low heat gun or hair dryer until the wood won't absorb any more.  Re-apply a couple times a year.  Beads up water better than commercial paste wax and in my limited experience keeps a hickory self-bow from turning into a limp noodle in a rainstorm.  Lard works too, but bear fat is a lot more fun to work with.

[Buckskinner]

It's more like beef than pork but the smoked shoulder would be excellent, I think I will do the same.  Smoking is the only way I deal with venison shoulders these days as well.

[WhistlingBadger]

It's more like beef than pork but the smoked shoulder would be excellent, I think I will do the same.  Smoking is the only way I deal with venison shoulders these days as well.

See, I'd be afraid to smoke venison low and slow, since it doesn't have any fat.  How do you keep it from drying out?

[Buckskinner]

That's what I thought too, but I put my rub on then layer with thick cut bacon, smoke for 3-4 hours at 250 then wrap tight with foil until tender and the bone pulls out usually about 3 more hours.  You can tell when it's done just by twisting the roast, can feel it kind of falling apart. Then shred it all up and add a little more rub, it stays moist and the bacon adds nice flavor a a little bit of fat. 

It is fabulous and I will never debone another deer shoulder again.