Brown bear/Grizzly/Kodiak bear.....edible??? Why not??

[larrysogla]

Ever since I immigrated to the U.S. in 1973........I have read hundreds of hunting/shooting magazines and I have NOT read an article where a brown/grizzly/Kodiak bear was butchered/cooked for human consumption. BUT I have read many articles where the black bear was butchered and cooked and eaten and the comments were that the black bear is delicious. It seems that if the black bear is edible............that the brown bear should also be likewise................or is this just a case of hunter aversion that was passed down through the generations. i.e. that it is more cultural than culinary for the disparity between black bear consumption versus brown bear B-B-Q's.
It did not dawn on me until yesterday that there is this gulf between black bear consumption and brown bear non-consumption.....................or is there brown bear/Grizzly bear consumption among Alaskans/others that we never read or hear about in the news???
Your reply is appreciated
larrysogla

[weekender21]

I have a good friend that grew up in a small village in Alaska. He said they do eat spring grizzly bears that are just out of the den and feeding on berries. The bears in the fall are all eating dead salmon carcasses and are not edible.
Not all hunters eat black bear either. I know several hunters that go to Canada on a regular basis chasing large black bear with their bows and they only bring the hide home. They usually kill very large boars, maybe that has something to do with it too.

[larrysogla]

Weekender21,
Thanks for your valuable replay and insight. Animals do taste better or worse depending on what they have been feeding on. On the Houston ranch where we were hunting...the hogs smelled good like fresh green grass and tasted excellent. The hogs were feeding on lush green grasses, peanut farms and pecan orchards. While at the high fence hunting ranch we hunted in San Antonio, Texas............the hogs had a disagreeable musky smell and musky taste because in addition to the green grasses, the hogs were also feeding on the discarded carcasses and entrails of the harvested hogs that were skinned and gutted on the high fence ranch. Your info is right on and the only question remaining is..............if people do eat the brown/Grizzly bears during berry season...............how come the hunting/gun writers never tell it in their stories...........or is it too intimidating to the "professional" reputation they are trying to maintain as hunting/gun writers to talk about eating brown bears even during berry season. I myself has very little interest in "trophy" hunting.............principally because it is usually some kind of substantial expense to go for "trophy" class animals........but also because I have no interest in killing an animal I will not eat. Lastly my wife hates head mounts of animals so I cannot bring or keep one in the house. Except for coyotes and rattlesnakes.................which I will shoot on sight......I prefer harvesting animals that I can put on the dinner table. Hopefully some "professional" hunting/gun writer will shed some light on why he/she does not write stories about edible berry fed brown/Grizzly bears served on the dinner table.
Thanks again for your valuable reply
'Nuff said
larrysogla

[Kit Fox]

I support hunters who hunt differently than me, but I personally don't shoot game animals I don't plan on eating. Just the way I was raised. I can see the reasoning behind not eating late season Brown Bears due to their nasty diet. I stopped hunting Coyotes because I felt it was a waste to shoot them and leave them unless it is for genuine deprevation purposes. I've heard that large bull Bison taste horrible, but when you think about it, that is a terrible waste of meat.

[waldo2382]

In remote areas, brown and grizzly bears can be hunted for subsistance. The difference between the brown and black bears is that brown bears are MOSTLY carnivours, but will eat veggies. Trigenosis is far more prevalent in the brown bears than black bears. Black bears are good in the spring and can be great or terrible, depending on where they are. Interior bears that eat berries in the fall will be quite good where the coastal black bears that have eaten primarily fish all summer won't be so good. Diet of the animals depends a lot how they taste.
You have probably heard more about black bears than brown bears because non-residents need a licensed guide and cost around $8000 (on the low end) where anyone that is not a an alien can hunt black bear at a reasonable cost.

[qaz]

I had Blackbear this past Saturday and it was excellent. If I would have been offered Brown Bear, I would have eaten it as well. I don't care what time of year it was shot, it's all about how it is cooked! I have eaten ground hog and possum also, if a possum is good, you can bet any bear meat is.

Qaz

[weekender21]

If a native Alaskan says fall brown bears eating dead fish is bad, I'll take his word for it. They eat everything up there!