Bear meat
 

So I got my first bear on Sunday evening. After getting it skinned, I quartered the bear and removed the back straps and tenderloins. Got the fur in the freezer, and put the meat in a cooler with a half dozen bottles of frozen water. I changed the frozen bottles every 12 hours till I got home from work today and had time to cut up the meat. It’s really quite stinky and I think I may have mishandled it. Does bear meat spoil fast? I’ve done the same thing with deer and no issue ever. I’ve got about 40 pounds of nice clean meat in ziploc bags but don’t really want to send it for pepperoni if it’s no good. It looked like the one rear quarter had a touch of green on the hip bone. Chucked that one. Any input is appreciated. Thanks

Cook some and eat it.

I have had bear meat that was smelly and once the fat was trimmed off it was fine. The fat is what stinks on them I find
The 3 bears my group got this year were butchered the next day and all were great. Get the fat off quickly and you will have better results in my experience

This was my 4th year hunting spring bears and I do the same thing you did with the frozen pop bottle to keep the meat cool. I never swapped them out though,my meat sat in the cooler for 4 days and it never stank or had any coloration difference. For what Phil was stating I have yet to find a spring bear with any ounce of fat on it. Did yours have much fat? Maybe he’s on to something with that point.

There was and inch and a half of fat across the back and hind quarters. I’ll fry up a piece and see what it tastes and smells like while cooking.

My buddy render 4 pints of fat of his bear this year and could have done a bunch more.

The biggest one we got in the group was covered in fat. all 3 were very healthy this spring. The 2 we got in 2017 were a bit leaner but still had enough fat on them to cause problems after being frozen for a month or so.

After listening to a few podcasts about bear hunting, the general rule it seems is to trim them right away, which is why this year we butchered the next day and we had really good results. I wont let bear fat linger on my meat any more than I have to from now on.

green doesnt sound good to me

That’s really good info,if I get a bear with much on it I’ll be sure to trim it up before throwing them in the cooler for now on. Thanks for the tip!