Is it ok to make summer sausage and other smoked products out of bear meat.

I've eaten bear summer sausage and polish so the answer must be yes.
Fuzz

Definetly fine to turn bear meat into smoked and cured products.Biggest problem with bear is the possibility that it may have trichinosis.Essentially small parasitic worms.Freezing will kill them as well as cooking to an internal temperature of about 170 f.
Trich is most prevalent in dump bears as they are eating garbage.A wily woods bear should be fine but to be on the safe side make sure that the product is fully cooked.

[ 10-24-2003, 05:56: Message edited by: turnerhunter ]

Thanks guys for the replys on the bear meat. My bear uas full of blueberries and a full 8 miles from the road in a wilederness area I packed into. I shot her while on the WA high buck hunt. This was my first bear and the meat is great. I'll turn the lesser cuts into some smoked product. Thanks again.

Turner, small point, but any animal that eats other animals, live or dead, is likely to come up with trichinosis (sp).

That said, bear meat is second only to moose meat (providing they haven't been eating fish or garbage) in our kitchen. FWIW, Dutch.

Point taken on the eating other animals concern Dutch.
You also reminded me of the first time that I smoked a bear ham from a fish eating bear and the darn thing tasted like greasy smoked salmon.Can still smell that bruin.Kinda put me off bear for a while.Friend of a friend of a friend once told me about being in a bear camp where they could not wait to try some of their first bear kill.They whacked of a little slab and tossed it into a hot cast iron frying pan.Anticipation turned into something else as the raw surface of the meat turned into a wriggling mess of worms. No idea if this was for real ,but I dont eat any bear tartare at my house thats for sure.

Depends on what the bear has been eating, if he has been eating rotting meat, not so good, if he is on berries when killed it is very good, if he is still on milk, its to die for......

PLease tell me that the small parasitic worms are small enough that after cooking enough to kill them they are too small to feel in the mouth or see with the eye?! I have my tag and am hoping to get a bear, I definitely do not want to cook a steak and be wondering what the little maggot looking things are.

Red

Dago Red,

Serve the bear with rice and you won't notice the maggots!

WC

Hey Dago Red. I did a little check on Trichinosis and I have great news.The worms are just in the larvae stage.They do not grow larger until they get in your intestines.They are protected in a small encapsulated mass that seems to protect the larvae from heat and salt and such until it gets to your gut where they hatch.So there is almost no chance that you will ever see them.
Found a good site www.cdc.gov/
Click on left side menu-Health Topics a-z
Then on letter T (for trichinosis)
Then click on fact sheet
At least it answers some questions and tell you how to handle meat that may be infected

[ 10-24-2003, 05:53: Message edited by: turnerhunter ]

If you don't mind eating trichinosis syst, bear meat can be good, depending on what they have been eating. Here's a quote from an Alaska State epidemiologist, "It is prudent to assume ALL bears in Alaska are infected". I don't eat bear meat anymore. I've seen people with trich and it is very painful. I'd call the State Bioliogist in your area and ask them if they know if trich is prevelant in your bears.

TJ, isn't that a little overly cautious? That kind of appoach rules out any bear, cougar, wild hog, some wild fowl. I mean, a man could starve to death..... Dutch.

IMHOP the best black bear meat is from spring bear. no fat, no toughness, and pure mild flavor. usually smaller and lighter in texture and color too. this is from a personal sampling of five bears:. two spring,and three fall.

your milage may vary.

regarding trichinosis: 30 days hard frozen at 0 degrees fahrenheit will adequately sanitize the meat from pigs, bear, and other omnivores. This is a better route than serving burnt meat. I found this from a Registered Professional Dietitian: a technical nutritionist with sanitation specialty.

You don't have to burn it to destroy trichinosis.The following will kill the bug, ,from the USDA; heating to 137F,or storage at 5F for 30 days. But don't be like the fellow who decided to make bear jerky , everyone who ate it got the bug.