Making meat, Alaska style

[FarmerDenise]

That must have filled your freezer nicely.

 

[savingdogs]

Does it taste gamey? I had elk once and I thought it was kinda gamey. Everyone else there thought it was awesome, but I thought it was pretty chewey.

 

[FarmerJamie]

How long does something that big take to bleed out? I've done deer many time, how messy is it to dress out?

I've had elk roasts before......yummy.

 

[mrscoyote]

I'm jealous they don't grow anything that big here in Florida.

 

[MrBubblingbrooks]

Lots of questions! First; preparing bear; Mrs B has written a bunch on this, I believe. Use a meat thermometer for roasts, take it out of oven when internal temp hits 150. That will have killed off any possible uglies and still leaves a delicious roast. Moose is very lean; one of the leanest wild meats. It is very similar to elk in taste. And it can get gamey during the rut or after a hard winter. At its gamiest, though, it is still very mild tasting; unlike a gamey caribou, which is nearly inedible. It is best as stew, steaks, grind meat, or jerky, as its leanness makes it very difficult to make a moist roast. A young bull like that one will dress out at about 200 to 300 pounds, with a boned out weight of 150-200 pounds. The fattiness of bear varies greatly between individuals, and time of year. Spring they are leanest, and fall they're fattest. Contrary to another post, my experience has been that salmon fed bear are usually awful tasting; Fish is not a good flavoring for red meat. If they ate a diet of fish in the fall before bed time, when they wake up they taste just fine.