Black Bear Hunting Series
Re-Published with permission from
Virginia Chapter of American Bear Foundation
Follow them on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/VABearFoundation
https://www.americanbearfoundation.org/
Join the FACEBOOK GROUP - Missouri Black Bears this is a group for like-minded individuals of Missouri that want to show growing Missouri Black Bear Population.
The Missouri Black Bear is a hunting/conservation group designed to build a real resource for the serious hunters of Missouri. The Missouri Black Bear is the icon species for conservation.
Remember that this is a family orientated group, so please keep the post clean and respectful for the whole age group. Members from anywhere are welcome but the focus will be on Missouri.
This may not all apply to Missouri Black Bear hunting, so use your common sense for each series.
Black Bear Hunting Series
Re-Published with permission from
Virginia Chapter of American Bear Foundation
Follow them on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/VABearFoundation
https://www.americanbearfoundation.org/
These are a series originally done by Unbranded Outdoors and shared by Old Dominion Black Bears. It lays the basics for what the black bear is. The other parts of this series and the ones to follow are designed to help make you a better bear hunter by knowing the incredible animal we chase.
Part 7 of Series - Bear on the Ground - What happens once the bear is on the ground?
All of the hours afield, the research, the scouting, and the work has paid off. Your shot was good, the shot fatal, and the trail has led you now to a bear. Sit down. Let the emotions run their course. Notch your tag and take the time to make sure all of the license requirements are met. Take the photos you want right then. Call your friends, let them know. They’ll be excited for you and some additional help will be greatly appreciated very soon (just don’t delay the pack out until the next day for the sake of having friends there and pics taken). Get this done, because there is a lot of work ahead of you and it is critical to get it done promptly and done right. How you care for the carcass will dictate more than anything else the quality of the meat and the hide you retain from this bear.
The most important thing you can do at this point is to get the entrails out of the bear, get the hide off as quickly as possible, get the carcass cooled down, and keep it clean. The clean should be self-explanatory; the less foreign or gut matter that gets on the meat, the better. Be aware that bears, as omnivores, have a far more diverse and more powerful array of gut enzymes and bacteria than do herbivores like deer. Any areas of meat or hide that get gut material or fluids on them should be washed thoroughly as soon as possible.
Opening up the body cavity to remove the entrails is an advisable first step for cooling the carcass. The entrails and the blood with them are going to be very warm. Getting them out starts the cooling process and makes the carcass lighter by about 15-20%, and you’ll be happy to not haul that weight. As has been said in many of the earlier segments, bear have heavy, long, and dense fur. That fur acts as an incredible insulator, and when coupled with thick fat layer between the hide and muscle, a bear carcass will stay hot far longer than a thinner furred and fatted animal like a deer. This will lead to meat spoilage, called “bone sour”, quickly. With the entrails out, and especially the hide off, quickly, you will be well on your way to enjoying many incredible meals of bear over the coming months. The longer the entrails stay in and the longer the hide stays on, the greater your risk of meat spoilage or suffering the “bear meat is nasty” tales that have come from many who did not get the carcass cooled quickly. The same goes for the hide. The faster you can get that hide cooled down, the greater your chances of saving it for any taxidermy. The longer it stays hot, the greater the chances for spoilage or for hair slippage.
There are many ways to skin a cat, or in this instance, a bear. That will also play a role in how you remove the entrails and the meat. The “gutless method” for deer and elk involves splitting the hide up the back and working down. If you plan a rug, or any mount that involves the hide, this is not advisable with a bear. The best areas to cut to save the hide are up the belly side from the bottom of the rib cage down to the anus. If you’re cutting here, it makes as much sense as any to simply field dress and take the liver, the heart, and the inside tenderloins from that access.
IF YOU PLAN ANY TAXIDERMY FOR A BEAR, PLEASE GO MEET WITH YOUR TAXIDERMIST BEFORE TAKING A BEAR AND LEARN WHAT THEY WANT AND HOW THEY WANT IT DONE. Yes, it’s that important. You will learn more about skinning a bear from a top-level taxidermist than anyone else and knowing how they want it cared for will save you money and heartache later.
Most, if not all, states require that all parts of a bear except the entrails be present when checking in a bear in person and that evidence of sex still be attached to at least one quarter of the carcass. Virginia still requires this as well, unless the bear is checked electronically via the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources website or app. How you intend on removing the bear from the field, and what you plan to do with it (especially the hide) will dictate whether you should consider the electronic check or the physical. Removing an intact, field-dressed bear carcass from the field is no easy task. There are no antlers to grab and pull; and tying a rope around the head or feet to drag is better in theory than in practice. That heavy, dense fur and ample fat layer make it worse and give no purchase.
The first time you try to move one, you’ll find out fast how so many 150 to 200-pound bears end up being claimed as 350 to 400-pound bears. Vehicles help immensely, and if you can get one to the bear, do so. If you are by yourself and cannot get a vehicle of some description near the bear, you’re looking at a pack-out. Another option, and this is where it helps to have a friend or two, is to roll the bear into a heavy tarp, tie it up, and slide the tarped animal like a giant burrito out of the woods. This still isn’t easy, but it’s far better than trying to drag one without the tarp. Note – the old pictures of two hunters carrying a bear out hung beneath a pole across their shoulders should stay in pictures. It is not a pleasant experience; one you do only once.
Assuming that you are not getting a vehicle to the carcass, a cut-and-quarter to pack out is the way to go. This is going to require you, at least in Virginia, to have checked the bear electronically (or, it is highly advisable that you do so). With the entrails out, lay the bear on its back, and extend the cuts from under the hide outward from the sternum up the center of the thinly furred section of the underside of the front legs to the “wrist” area of the paws. Stop there. You will take the paws off intact and leave that for the taxidermist unless you have a lot of experience handling these hides. Do similar cuts up the backside of the hind legs along and through the thinner furred areas of the inside of those legs from the anus to the paws and cut those off as well.
REMEMBER THAT IF YOU HAVE TO RETAIN EVIDENCE OF SEX TO LEAVE THAT ATTACHED TO ONE QUARTER AND DO NOT REMOVE THAT WITH THE HIDE.
Start peeling the hide back and freeing it from the fat layer on one side and get it free all the way to and across the spine. Then, flip the bear back onto that now free hide and do the other side. This will give you a workspace and landing area for the meat quarters very soon. Once the hide has been worked free from each side up to and around the front legs, start breaking down the animal into quarters. Take the back legs off at the knee, and then the upper leg off by working into the ball socket of the hip. Lay the quarters down on the hide until you can get them into a game bag and hung. Remove the backstrap from the rear of the spine and up to in front of the shoulders, and bag it with the inside tenderloins, the heart, and the liver, and hang them. Take the front legs apart as you did the hind legs; lower at the knee/elbow, and the upper from freeing up the shoulder blade and off. Bag those, and hang. The flank meat and the rib meat are next and setting that aside to go with the neck. This is where it stops going quickly. Once you have moved forward of the front legs, think of the hide as a heavy, large (and slick and unruly) sock. Work it up the neck as far as you can to the head, cut off between vertebrae and the hide, paws, and head are now off the carcass. Check back over the remainder of the carcass to make sure that you have not left any meat. If you are in a state that requires all the parts to be removed from the field, you may have to take this bone structure of the pelvis, spine, and ribs out at as well.
From there, it’s simply loading up your pack with the game bagged quarters and making trips to get the meat and hide out to your camp or truck. If you are in an evidence of sex state, take that load first. Leave the hide load for last. You’ll be exhausted, but it’s the right thing to do and will provide the motivation to make that one last trip.
Missouri Black Bear Photos Only
Click Here
