It's mine and my Wifes favorite meat

like Osky said taste is between beef and pork.

My family and I have eaten enough of them to say they taste like the best pork we have ever eaten. We take very good care of our bear starting as soon as they hit the ground. If you can skin and quarter them and get them in a hanging cooler as quick as possible they will be great. We go so far as to pack them with ice on the way to camp from the woods. I think a lot of folks that think bear is not good have not truly taken good care of the meat. Even save the ribs and throw them on the grill for a real treat!

Moosetrot

We killed a small bear last week. I got the heart, fillets, and a couple of slabs of fat. I pickled the heart with onions and turned out good. I butterflied the fillets. Sprinkled salt and pepper on them. Left them in fridge for a day. Coated with flour and pan fried. Pretty darn good. I cubed the fat and rendered into grease/lard. The left over cracklings were a good treat. I bet you could take the belly slab and make a good bacon? Bear is like any other meat. It's all in how you prepare it.

I've eaten 100± bear and I've never seen ANY resemblance of anything pork?

Maybe i should correct myself and when someone asks me what bear tastes like I should say "bear".

Moosetrot

Chicken?

I've eaten in excess of 100 black bears; never had a bad one. Young ones, old ones, ancient ones. Males, females. Spring, fall. Look into rendering the fat; makes the finest pastries imaginable. Bear meat should be cooked pretty well-done to avoid trichinosis. Breakfast patty sausage...

Jack

Pickled bear heart w/onions.


Fried bear fillets.

All the bear around here are grain fed and eat the wild mast. This year wild mast has been slim. Looks like I'm getting a bear tag. Thanks for the feedback, really appreciate it.

This is the best time to kill a bear IMO. They’ve been gorging on all the wild fruit since the berries got ripe last summer. Then they moved on to apples, hawthorns, pears and apricots. Thats how it works in my neck of the woods, the meat is great

Any time is good to eat a black bear

Alaskan Brown now.....Never again -right Waggler?

I prefer it not as dry as deer.

good eating

Go get him, excellent eating. Take care of the meat properly.

Really good eating and we enjoy it- this was the first year I took a bear in for processing, first time I case skinned a bear for taxidermy and I was tired by the end of the day. I asked the guy what his specialty was and he said Bear Bacon, I had the whole bear turned into Stixs, Bacon, saved the backstraps and gave it away to anyone that saved bait or helped bait. Numerous comments on the best bacon I've ever had... definitely will do that again.

I eat a lot of bears and I have never found one that was anything like pork at all. It's good meat, just make sure it is always cooked to at least 145 degrees to kill any potential for trichinella, there should never be any rare or medium rare in bear meat. I have quite a few videos on my YouTube channel about processing bears and bear cooking.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLji1C9fBDe5M2RgcLC3tqiA_55J083lNd

I have taken a bear on a bait site containing fish and beaver. Tasted horrible. My last bear taken over doughnuts, fruit and granola was terrific. Next time I will not hunt over meat bait sites.

Bear meat that was taken care of properly and cooked respectfully is some of the best meat we've ever eaten. We've had bears from New Brunswick, CA and NJ, and all of them were delicious. We use ground to cut some fat into our venison if I'm making a meatloaf, meatballs or something like that since we do not add fat into venison. It's my husbands favorite game meat. Makes great sausage, good roasts, pulled bear meat and on and on. I usually do a bear sloppy joe for mentored hunts or field to fork events that is always well received.

Good stuff . I compare it to beef , dark red and a little grainier but always tender . Much better than venison

Taking care of it properly is important as any meat is,it's excellent if you haven't tried bear ribs you don't know what your missing.