I went on my annual mountain huckleberry expedition yesterday and found yet another effect of our very cool and wet onset of summer. The ripe berries that I found were bigger than normal, but there were very few of them. Lots of tiny green berries on the bushes and given that we have already had freezing temps at 6000 feet, I am not optimistic. Since this food is a prime fall food for the bears, I predict that we will see more reports of bear interaction with homeowners as the bears look to supplement their diets.

It was 37 degrees last night where we were camping, at 4800 feet. Pretty chilly!

In Idaho the deer have already started to dawn their winter furs. It has been getting chilly. I went out pucking berries today and could not find a single ripe bluberry or huckleberry. Headed back to the house and picked blackberries with the wife and kids. Got four freezer bags, 1 gallon, in about half an hour.

About a month ago the huckleberries were so thick that I could've picked gallons of them near my home. They seemed to come in early to me but I am no expert.

Usually see the huckleberries mid Aug to mid Sept when scouting/grouse hunting. I couldn't believe all the ripe berries end of July when doing some trail maintenance/hiking with the kids.

What does one do, after shooting a Bear? I've always heard that they are not good to eat? Would like to hear from some of you Bear hunters, are they good to eat...How do you prepare them? Are Black bear better eating than Brown. As you can tell I have know clue about Bear hunting!

Please inform me. Thanks !

After shooting your bear you make sure it is dead, then tag it. If you don't make sure it is dead, it may tag you.

We took our bears home and skinned them, and got the hides off to the taxidermist to be tanned, as both were in excellent condition. Bears look like humans when hanging, so it is a bit wierd. 45 minutes later they were boned out and chilling in the beer fridge.

My first bear I donated half of the meat to the McCleary Bear Festival for bear stew. Now the meat has to be processed by a licensed butcher, so that was out with this year's two bears.

All of our meat was made into sausage. I'll bring some to the SRC, if I can steal some time away from the house project to share. There is no difference in taste there.

As far as steaks are concerned, I'll stick with deer & elk. You need to cook it well done, as bears deal with the same parasites pigs deal with, which is why you have to cook pork well done. I tried it once, then made the rest into sausage, which we eat and share a lot of with friends.

Dunno about brown bears, but black bears eat just fine.

Our bears.



Taken with an "assault weapon", no less. Actually it is a highly custom semi auto .458 caliber gas operated rifle with a 7 round magazine.

bear meat is like any other game meat it must be taken care of right . my favorite way to eat bear meat is to have the hams cured like pork. the rest i make sausage made from.

My neighborhood bear has it's own video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdAPKHWQztQ

Haven't seen him in a few weeks, but this morning I had 3 does walk across the back yard.

Leave your garbage out and put me on speed dial Snake! That is a nice looking bear. I could be there in about 40 minutes.

You got it Seastrike. What's your guess on it's weight? When I first saw him, I heard him first. Branches snapping, twigs breaking, and as I looked down in the ravine and saw the thick underbrush and saplings swaying, I thought "Bigfoot"? Then he stepped out, nice bear.

Got me. 250 lbs? His coat looked great. I've never shot a bear. Used to be I didn't want to. I've eaten two bears (just some steaks off each) since and would love another.
The tried and true method for "shooter" or "not a shooter" is look at the ears. If the ears look small it's a shooter.
That bear looked healthy to me. Not huge but not small.
His brown snout juxtaposed with his black coat looked great.
On Sol Duc's post on bears Andy said they look like people when skinned. I've heard that from everybody else too. That doesn't sound cool but oh well.
Oh and Sol Duc Browns don't taste good because they eat fish where you can hunt them. Our bears eat berries and bugs mostly....also fawns and calves when dropped.