This bear was taken near the Naknek River recently. The buzz has it squaring near 11'.

Picture 2
No matter what the official score, this is one big bear. Green score of the skull is reported of a bit over 30".

Picture 3
A paw this size could really do some damage.

I would say that represented a whole passle of hard work getting it out of the water, field dressed then skinned! If done in the water - worse yet!

Bearskin TENT! :)

It looks like it's a lot better to hunt these intentionally than to have them hunt you when you're unaware of it!

What is the record skull measurement, and how do they determine it?

I have never hunter anywhere else than my friends farm which mainly only has Pigs, but I would like to hunt bear

I would say that represented a whole passle of hard work getting it out of the water, field dressed then skinned! If done in the water - worse yet!Well, a lot of work getting the hide off anyway. Few ( VERY few ) Alaskan bear hunters salvage anything but the hide and skull off a brownie. Since I have tasted brown bear meat - I can understand why! :eek:

I agree with you wholeheartedly, 321 - never tasted a bear yet that I thought was worth cooking.

I guess my thoughts were in line with what I've been told, as I've never been to Alaska, myself. I'm under the impression it is a major game penalty not to recover the meat from a game animal in Alaska. Maybe I'm mistaken.

Kdub, it is verboten to not recover all the edible meat from every Alaskan game animal except the bears. This means all the neck and rib meat, everything. Some hefty fines have been levied against hunters who are caught without all the edible meat.

I love the story ( true ) about a noted bowhunter who shot several deer on Kodiak Island when hunting alone 15 years ago, but when the pilot came to pick him up all he had were the two heads and capes - "a bear ate all my meat" he said. Abuses like this are one reason the fines are heavier now.

Actually, some black bear meat is not bad if the animals have been eating berries and such - the few I 've tasted were similar to strong pork. The brownies were entirely different - they'd been eating fish and carrion and tasted like it! :eek: :eek:

I have strong memories of the bear meat my father-in-Law brought back from Canada - very greasy and gamey. Tried some at a wild game dinner - same result.

I went with him on one trip to Canada and a fellow shot a blackie off the local garbage dump. It was brought back to the hunting lodge and was dressed out by the wood shed. It was hard work for them and it was a relatively warm day, so they draped it over the woodpile and went inside for some cold ones. I came along about a half an hour later, saw the carcass (which looked like a fat old man that had been skinned) and the white worms working their way out of the muscle tissue. Swore off bear meat then and there! :o

'Course, it's possible a deer carcass treated the same way would have had parasites coming out of it too - just that I've never seen it!

kdub,
As 321 said, bears that have been feeding on fish or carrion are pretty bad, but grizzly, brownie, or black that have been feeding on leafy greens, grass, tubers, and berries are really quite tasty. Looks pretty obvious the big bear posted above was probably on a protein diet, so doubt the meat would very palatable, but don't dismiss a big brownie in alpine or before the big salmon runs start, they can be very tasty.

We eat quite a bit of black bear, my wife treats it like pork when cooking; roasted, boiled or fried - be sure to get completely cooked. The flavor of the meat has very much to do with the bears diet, but the quality of the meat is the same as with all other wild game - handling in the field. The quicker the animal is skinned, quartered and hung the better.

alyeska338

The guy who owns the hunting outfit is a Taxidermist I use here in Washington. I was up there today to see if my Spring 2002 bear was done. He said the bear was "huge." They are waiting for the skull to dry, but either way, it's going to be way up in the book.

As has been noted, black bear feeding on berries and grasses can taste very good. I ate some last year prepared by a nearby sourdough and it was very good. I've got my eyes out for one this spring, and intend to cook it. I believe the meat must be treated similar to swine. It goes bad much faster than moose meat if not treated.

I shot a blackie out of valdez about 6 years ago and it was almost as good as moose (I said almost). tender, had good taste. Real good eating. The bear meat since then totally sucked so now all I get bear meat in is sausage. Taste pretty good for pizza toppings.

Picture 2
No matter what the official score, this is one big bear. Green score of the skull is reported of a bit over 30".

Now that is one big rascal!

I have a picture from back in 1957 believe it or not, where they had 4 big browns pasted on the side of a barn. They all squared 10 feet or better back then.

I just cannot imagine that I'd ever shoot a game animal that was in a lake, pond, or stream!!

I just cannot imagine that I'd ever shoot a game animal that was in a lake, pond, or stream!!
DM,
A lot browns are shot while they fish for salmon. This is not considering unsporting or against fair chase ethics. Unless the bear is in water deep enough for it to be swimming, you would be surprised at the speed and ease than move in streams. As evident in the pictures above, the water was very shallow where the bear fell. We don't know if the bear ran to the water after being shot or if it was shot while crossing the shallow waterbody.