Interesting First Bear of Season

[bj139]

Are deer and bear seasons at the same time where you are?

[Keef]

An expensive trigger pull!

Only if I want it to be, but hunting on my private property means I don't need a license or tags, so I guess it all evens out

[Keef]

Are deer and bear seasons at the same time where you are?

Bear season starts about a month before deer and ends the same day as deer season.

I pressure canned a batch last night, ready for the shelf, then to get dumped in chili or stew. First time I've tried bear in it, but I love what the caner does to deer meat....

[bj139]

V. Stefansson in his book, "My Life with the Eskimo", said polar bear and wolf were the best eating of all.

[Keef]

I finally got the age of my bear from the vdigf. 14yrs old! The oldest one killed in VA last year was 17. The vast majority were 0-4yrs old with not many cracking into the double digits. I knew he was old looking, pretty cool. Still eating on him and I think bear is my favorite meat now.

[Gusmeister]

Well done! That is one heck of a lot of bear. Awesome!

[1Shot]

Pressure canning is the way to go. You can take a tuff old buck cut the meat up into one inch cubes stuff it in a jar cap it and give it 10 lbs pressure the pints 70 min. quarts 90 minutes where I live and the meat comes out nice and tender. If you don't eat it up before it will last years. I canned two canners full with 1 1/2 pint jars the other week and I could not believer how much meat it took to fill those jars. My wife and I did not eat as much deer meat this past year as normal for some reason. So to clear out the freezer getting ready for this years deer, I normally put 6 in the freezer each year, and to keep last years meat from freezer burning I canned it. Mixed a jar or it with a quart of potatoes that I had canned a while back together and heated it up for supper the other night and man was it tasty. It has been a long time since I ate any bear. Bear fat is good for water proofing boots as well as for cooking with.

[Frontier Gear]

Still eating on him and I think bear is my favorite meat now.

My 15 year old son just shot one that weighed 342 pounds. Mine was only 125 pounds this year. We ended up with the meat from two of our neighbors bears this year as well since they only wanted the hides (100 pounds and 150 pounds). Good thing bear meat is my favorite too.

[Mad Charlie]

If you do render that fat into lard or oil I will cheerfully buy some from you. I like to hunt with my traditional muzzleloaders too, and bear oil/lard is a great traditional patch lube.

[Frontier Gear]

Froze 30 pounds of fat, rendered down 20 pound into canning jars and threw the rest away. I can only store so much.

[Goochylogic]

Keef, nice old bear. What part of Va do you hunt?

[65Whelen]

Very nice, great story, thanks for sharing.

[s3silver]

What a bruin. Congrat!