Black bear for the menu. The choice to hunt used to be simple—hunt or go hungry.
by Tim Fowler
I am a late onset hunter, passing my 39th birthday before I borrowed my brother’s Remington 270 pump-action rifle, loaded the silver cartridges into the breach, closed the action, found the deer’s chest in my scope’s crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. It was final. Walking up on that deer was tough. I just killed a lovely four-legged animal that weighed nearly as much as me. Killing an animal isn’t fun. But it is delicious.
My first hunt was ducks—the result of me trying to spend some valuable adult-time with my mountain-man brother. Ducks progressed to geese, and then I ended up with a deer in my freezer. I was hooked. I have had twenty-two hunting seasons since then. I continue to hunt with my brother—this shared activity and passion has improved our brotherly connection. Hunting is also a direct connection with my food.
I wanted to hunt more animals and expand the variety of game in my freezer. I tagged mule deer, white-tailed deer, antelope, moose and elk. Bear was the only game I hadn’t hunted and I wanted one.
That first bear hunt I walked over freshly emerged grass, stepping over recently laid bear scat, following tracks in the mud created by melting snow. I extended my bipod, found a solid rest, placed the crosshairs on the bear’s shoulder, and squeezed the trigger. It was a good-sized black bear. I cut fresh steaks, roasts, loins and made sausage and charcuterie. Guests bragged up the fare and I knew I would go back for more.
Boreal forest black bears are delicious. My son says that bear is the dark meat version of domestic pork—an extra furry, wild and mature boar version with teeth. It is worth noting that male bears are called boars and females are sows. The eastern edge of the boreal forest roughly follows a line northwest of Calgary through Rocky Mountain House and up through Drayton Valley all the way to Athabasca. The combination of dense spruce and poplar with undergrowth of grasses, sedges and berries provide good nutrition and thermal cover for bears.
Bear fur is luxurious. My chair at my writing desk is draped in a fourteen-year-old black bear fur. My custom bear mitts keep my hands nice and warm even when walking at -40ºF.
Alberta black bears add variety to my pantry and give me many more meal planning options. Bear tags are easy to get and seasons are liberal. Any qualified hunter can purchase a general tag that can be used for both spring and fall seasons of the same year. Spring bears are lean and fall bears are gloriously fat. The fat is like fatback and perfect for pastry and other baking. The hunting part makes my heart pound—this game can eat me.
I do every part of the handling of the animal myself, from skinning the animal and salting the hide in the field to butchering the animals and preparing the cuts. When I break down a bear, I think about there being three parts: tough, and tougher and a few tender parts. I prepare the cuts based on the dishes in which the bear will be used. Bear shanks can be braised; whole legs hot smoked; tenderloin grilled or fried as schnitzel.
Low and slow is the best approach to most bear preparations and the minimum internal temperature needs to be 160ºF, the same as pork. Bear responds well to wet and dry cures, rich spices, hot smoking as well as braising. The toughest parts of our bears are ground for andouille, chorizo and Italian sausages. I wet-cure shanks for several days, then hot smoke them—perfect for baked beans or with sauerkraut. Dry-cured and cold smoked loins make Canadian-style back bacon for eggs Benedict. I confit (cook slowly in fat) shoulder, seasoned with rosemary, garlic and juniper berries for cassoulet. Fast dry-cured and blackened leg steaks make Tasso-style ham for jambalaya.
Hunting has become a big passion for me. Every spring and fall for seven to 10 days, I set up my canvas outfitter tent in a clearing a good way from the end of the road. This puts us right in bear country. I hunt six to seven weeks each year from the tent.
Let’s be clear. This is not a fair fight. I hunt bears with a stainless-steel Remington bolt-action scoped rifle with the powerful .300 Remington Ultra Magnum. Spot and stalk remains my preferred method of pursuing bears—quietly hunting on the ground while carefully searching for a suitable bear. I am successful about half of the time, some years I don’t get a bear.
I can tell you that hunting black bear adds tremendous variety to my table. It pushes my culinary talent to explore the best spice combinations and cooking methods to honour the animal. It is a delicious adventure.