Gratitude and My First Bear. Long Story.

[JohnCushman]

Great recap!! Congrats on the bear!

 

[RG_Adult_Onset_Hunter]

You seem like a pretty Portlandy guy, RG.
Regardless of that, congrats on the bear.
That was a fun read, sounds like you guys had a blast.
Cook him into anything cool yet?
Any food porn headed our way?

Meh.
But the elk and deer tags are so expensive.

I am way south of Portland in both geography and temperament; other than the food carts (which mercifully exist everywhere) I could leave that town off my list forever.

I have been cooking him, so far I have been doing really simple classic stuff (roasts, barbacoa, braised meatballs). I have some more off the wall concoctions that I'll be sharing though. The meat is astonishingly good, but I have been slouching on photography. I should share the braised meatball recipe though, that recipe is fail-safe even for the worst of cooks. Right now I have some brisket brineing for bear bacon, so we'll see how that turns out in the smoker along with the giant batch of pepperone I plan on doing.



I agree the tags for elk and deer are a bit expensive, but I'd argue that their price is closer to the mark than the bears. In any case, I'm happy to pay the money for the purpose of conservation. I could be very wrong on the tag thing, but the disparity in price is something that I think is worth investigating.

 

[RG_Adult_Onset_Hunter]

Quick update: The bear measured in at 20 & 5/16ths, so I need to fill out some B&C paperwork on him.

Also....bacon...bear bacon is so damn good.

 

[SaskHunter]

Congrats on the booner!

Also, never thought of making bear bacon!!!