Bear skinning, butchering advice

Sorry, been away for a few days. Breaking down the back feet is cutting through the "wrist" joints to free the feet from the carcass. That frees that area of hide and gives you something to hold on when applying pressure to skin.

I have hanging hooks in my garage for skinning deer, thats why i mentioned the pelvis. I used to be a pelvis splitter on deer, but I was shown this isnt necessary with a little extra attention to the back end. It was kind of a fluke that I discovered the hanging from the pelvis thing, but you could easily do this with a rope, chain or block and tackle, the bone is plenty strong. It really beats rolling it side to side on the ground.

Good luck to everyone! Hoping my day tomorrow is spent cutting!

would it be best to get ice in the chest cavity asap and start cooling it down, get it skinned and cut right away???? i go out west antelope hunting and everyone says the meat is horrible??? i love it and so does my family.. as soon as we kill it, we get ice in it right away and back to the farm to skin and cut it up. its in the freezer within 2 hours. everyone i talk to about bear meat says it is terrible, its probably the way they care for it. would it be best to do the same thing, get it cooled and cut up asap??? thanks and good luck to all

Always take the heart of my deer, unless I put an arrow/bullet through it. But I shoot for lungs just to save the heart... Liver, I stay away from because of flukes. Once you see one of them, it kinda turns your stomach for liver... Bear heart is probably pretty good, but never tried it. I will pull mine this year if I get one. Liver I would stay away from, can't imagine denning up for 5 months would be too easy on the liver, although it had all summer to clean it up...

For many years I've saved the heart and liver from my deer. I prefer venison liver over beef. How is the heart and liver of a bear?

A lot of good advice here on butchering bears. Get them skinned while still warm is key and makes life a lot easier. You can quarter them after skinning if you like, but better to let them hang overnight so it can go through the rigor mortis stage. If you cut the meat across the grain before this stage has completed it will be tough as hell, because the meat fibers will shrink up after cutting. If you wait until after rigor mortis they will be stretched out and more tender. Same goes for all meat.

One thing though. Bear is like pork meat, it will not benefit at all from aging, so better to get it butchered the next day. bear does not have the same enzymes as beef and venison to break down the collagen that makes meat tough.

I guarantee you you've never seen aged pork on a menu at a fine restaurant...

Also, trichinosis larvae will be taken care of at 145 degrees, so no need to over cook your bear loins... I usually eat them a bit rare because they are soooo good that way, but I also still eat raw oysters even after they almost killed me.... I wait until after 60 days in deep freeze to eat the loins to give me a little insurance from the worms though....

I forget which state in the south it is. Forgot to check with some friends today on it. If I recall correct at least one state requires the bear to be brought out intact. I know there are some states where it is legal to field dress. But they do not. They dont gut them until after they have gotten back to camp. Same thing for deer. Only reason I really have gotten is to keep the garbage(leaves, dirt, etc) from getting in the cavity. WHich is why I mentioned before some of them that will use a nylon fish stringer, and sew the cavity shut to prevent this.

But this is the kicker I believe. Along with the bears diet. Our more expedited, and attention to field care. Is why we also tend to have better meat. Never had any meat from a coastal bear, or a brown bear. But from what i have been told. Those fish eaters are horrible tasting. My general understanding is that our midwest bear. Tend to have a sweeter tasting meat. GEE, I wonder why!!

Learn a lot of interesting things when you have friends that hunt these things all over the world. PH friend of mine harvested a big brown this morning in Sweden. Got a Russian at my place training a West Siberian Lakia right now. Lots of things to try to recall.

hung by the pelvis bone...never thought of or heard of that- but I like it! Leaves the feet free- don't have to s-l-o-w-l-y skin out a back foot before hanging like if you hung by the hamstring. Obviously the pelvis isnt split when field dressing then, right? Thanks

BRT- Is right. I just take for granted the cooling of the hide before rolling it. Same thing with moisture, and bacteria. Another thing that I take for granted. Due to the speed at which we normally get a bear taken care of. The aging part of it. Not so much as most people myself included. Do not have the facilities to do this properly. One day I might have a walk in cooled/freezer. But no way I will let a bear hang in temps above say 40. Most I deal with are in the early afternoon. When it is still pretty warm out most of the time. Perhaps a cool evening, and night. But then I may need to be out again in the morning most days. No time to process the next morning before it gets warm again.

What we do here is odd to many. A lot of folks I know that hunt the mtn areas. have to pack it them out a long ways at times. They quarter, and into game bags. Roll the hide right away. All into packs and off they go. Will stop at a mtn stream if available to cool the meat in the water if possible. If not they just go.

I believe what he means by breaking down is just what you think. Open them up so you can hang by the hamstring/leg bones. I hang all mine head down by the pelvis bone. A large meat hook or snatch hook works great. The hook on my hoist works, but no that well. So I mostly use the larger S hook from my scale. Actually makes it easy for 2 people to work it on either side.

I cringe as well seeing them paraded around. As well as guys that leave the whole bear hanging over night.

Keeping it dry is very important as well. I am not sure people understand the spoiling of meat. Without bacteria, it is not going to happen. Bacteria like wet and darkness. Ice bags can cause it to spoil just as quickly if the water touches the meat and is allowed to pool. A dry inside cavity that can release heat is the way to go....You guys need to quit thinking 'how can I get it cold' but rather 'how do I get the heat out of here without condensation'. Once the meat is cooled down, you do not need to freeze it right away, let it age, especially on an older, bigger bear.

As far as the hide, you DO NOT WANT TO ROLL IT UP AND PUT IT IN THE FREEZER. You have to watch it, by placing it as open as possible in the freezer, until it starts to cool. Then you can roll it up, once it has dropped in its temperature. I flesh out all my bears in November when it is cooler. I also like the way the fat rolls off easier once it has been frozen. But when I remove a bear out of the freezer it takes a while to warm up and defrost from the hide and fat to begin with. Rolling up a bear warm and you will have hair slippage as it may take a couple of days or more for the interior of the roll to freeze.

dmr, can you please explain what you mean by "break down the back feet"? Are you saying you skin them out so you can use the hamstring to hang them by?

i agree with both Steve and ole. I've done both, stayed up late and wrapped them till the morn. Both have been ok for quality of meat. I cringe when i see guys driving around showing them off. The meat is spoiling fast.

I have learned to break down the back feet first, then use a gambrel to lift, makes removing the hide a lot easier with gravity.

2 hours can be done if its just quartering, 4 or more for a total cut and wrap, but thats me. Bear are just plain cumbersome. And the ribs are awesome, cook them just as you would pork ribs

I Canada when getting a bear back to camp late at night, we put the bear on a tarp, stuff the cavity with bags of ice, as well as the outside of the bear, under the arm pits, back and rump and rolled them up like a big burrito. They stay plenty cold and never had a problem with meat spoiling. Saves the hassle of skinning and cutting up a bear when it's already midnight. Can do a much better job skinning in the daylight when I'm wide awake anyway.

It will cool them down slightly, but really need to get in freezer.

I am going to be hunting my own land and I have a deep well with cold water. Any ideas on using well water to cool the bear?

BR- It was never mentioned so better tell you. When skinning them. Take the legs down just enough to get past the ankle joint. There you can cut the foot off. The taxidermist will deal with the paws. Same goes for the head. Take it down to the back of the skull, and cut it off. Once hid is off. Lay it down fur side down. Fold the legs over onto the main part. Then roll it up to the head, and place in a good garbage bag. Get into freezer right away.

I skin them all in my garage. Helps keep flies down. But the mess does require a bit of extra clean up. I use a mop with warm bleach water to clean it up well. Bear are a nasty greasy mess. Much like a coon.