By David Draper

Saturday night I butchered a bear for the first, and last, time. If I kill a bear in the future, I’ll leave the butchering to a professional. (After every bear, I tell myself it will be the last I kill, a vow I’ve made five times now. We’ll see how steadfast I am on the butchering promise.) Processing a deer or even an elk presents few problems, outside of a sore back and cramped hands, and I’m happy, even a little proud, when I do it myself. But, as I’ve said about all things ursine related, bears are different.

This most recent bear was skinned and boned on a rocking boat off the coast of Alaska. We had good seas that day, so the 50-foot Sundy at anchor made a fine and stable platform for the job. For the most part the primal pieces weren’t unlike that of the deer species. The quarters held familiar looking cuts such as the top sirloin, knuckle, and round, among others. The backstraps came off like the dozens of others I’ve fileted from countless deer, elk, and antelope.

By David Draper

Like a few other game animals—antelope chief among them—bear garners one of two opinions when it comes to the question of whether it’s edible or not. Those who say it’s not, many of whom haven’t actually eaten bear but aren’t shy about passing along second-hand information, provide a host of reasons of why bear meat is bad. Many will tell you it’s greasy. Or gamey. Or that it has trichinosis and will kill you. Some will even cite apocryphal stories about Indians not eating bear because they look human.

Not only is bear edible, I’d argue it’s delicious done right. Yes, bear meat can have trichinosis, but so can pork and that’s doesn’t stop people from eating pork chops. I’ve personally never had greasy bear meat and, in fact, would compare bear to very lean pork.

By David Draper

Some folks, myself included for many years, fall into the breast-man category, in that they breast their turkeys and throw the rest of the carcass away. Now I’m not here to lecture you about wasting meat or to get all sanctimonious about not honoring the animal by eating every last inch of it. However, I do suggest getting into the habit of pulling the legs from your turkey because, truthfully, there is a lot of good and tasty meat there that you’re missing out on. And it doesn’t take all that long to do, especially if you skin them out. (Though I’d humbly suggest you pluck when you’ve got the time.)

By Colin Kearns

I have a couple prizes to give away today—the last two FoodSaver GameSaver vacuum-sealersFirst, you’ll recall a couple of weeks ago when I asked for your suggestions on the angler’s perfect packed lunch. More than 50 of you shared your favorite streamside menu, and even though I didn’t get to go fishing while I was home in Missouri last week (too much rain), I did select a winner…