Bear meat gets a bad rap. In my experience, this happens because hunters don’t realize how vitally important it is to get a downed bear field dressed, skinned and cooling in a timely fashion. I believe most hunters learn about field care early in their hunting career as deer hunters. And while the basic field care and dressing methods are similar for cervids – bears are a completely different animal when it comes to after-the-shot actions.
Why it is important
Black bear hunting in Maine is the first big game season of the calendar year, typically starting on the last Monday of August. Temperatures can easily reach the high eighties when a bear hunter takes the stand. A bear’s coat is a dense, black fur wrapped around a thick layer of fat. This means every element of why we field dress big game, such as preventing spoilage, ensuring quality of meat and stopping bacterial contamination, is working against you as soon as you take your shot. The ambient temperature during the November firearm deer season is markedly different, giving us a little more leeway as the buck hangs on the game pole.
Heat is the biggest enemy of quality game meat. It causes bacteria to form inside improperly dressed cavities. It promotes spoilage from damaged organs and causes fat to start its inevitable march to turn rancid. Last bear season, I could not believe how many bears I saw at the local tagging station not field dressed. Our station closes at 8p.m. so it sees a lot of activity the first few hours after they open in the morning with hunters and guides pulling in to get their bear registered and tagged. Most bears are taken during the golden hour before sunset. That means the bears I saw had the internals intact and stewing for up to 12 hours!
Later in the season, I was delivering a client’s bear to the local processor and saw a nice bear on the skinning pole, fully intact. I asked him about it. He shook his head and told me that a crew of guides from another outfit in my area just dropped it off. I couldn’t believe my eyes; the temperature was nearing 70 degrees. He looked at the bear in my truck, pointing to the spreading stick keeping the chest cavity open for cooling and air circulation and said I was the only one who did that. “All the old-timers did”, he added and quipped that “no wonder some people have a bad opinion of bear meat.”
Do it right
Whether you elect to use a processor for your bear or do it yourself, the keys to field care and processing are the same. Get the bear out of the woods as soon as you can; forget that ‘We’ll get it in the morning’ nonsense. Field dress it quickly and remove the hide as soon as possible. If you don’t have access to a cooler, pack the chest cavity with bags of ice. When processing, remove all fat. A nice marbling on a beef rib eye tastes great; however it will not taste the same with bear meat.
Our process here at Tucker Ridge is to remove the bear from the field immediately and bring it back to camp. It goes on the game pole and I go to work dressing it with help from the hunter. After the initial organ and viscera removal, I trim any excess fat and diaphragm material left over inside the cavity. This is important. Then we rinse the body cavity out with the hose and pat dry the inside of the cavity. Excess water left inside can stimulate bacterial growth. We then pat down the hide of excess blood and insert a spreading stick to keep the chest cavity open to promote cooling. The bear is lowered into the truck and we set off to register it. If it is after hours, my processor is on call to open the freezer to get the bear cooled down until the tagging station opens in the morning.
Our clients request bear dishes every season and we oblige. Bear meat favors a slow cooking style so our most popular dishes are bear chili, bear stew, bear roasts and the overall camp favorite – bear meatloaf.