How to use the whole animal (waste not want not)

[hennible]

Yum lamb! Good stuff. The bear I will pass on, I just don't like it... Plus hung and dressed down they look a lot like people...
Oz maybe you could post some pictures of butchering the pig here, I'd like to see that.

 

[Aphrael]

Wow, you guys are making me HUNGRY!

I've never tried bear. Is it strong flavored or gamey tasting?

 

[hennible]

I remember it being strong and dark and gamy... But I haven't eaten since I was about five so, I should probably give it another chance...

 

[Aphrael]

I remember it being strong and dark and gamy... But I haven't eaten since I was about five so, I should probably give it another chance...

I've found quite a few things that I hated when I was a kid, that I really enjoy now. So it could be worth another taste.

 

[hennible]

Sure could, Bear fat is in a staple of our Native American population... Bear is used fry Bannock, and preserve other meats... Since the other animals are so low in fat it was integral to their diets before westernization.
I don't know if it's true but I've been told that moose, elk, deer etc. are so low in fat you could starve if you only ate those...

 

[Beer can]

I don't know if it's true but I've been told that moose, elk, deer etc. are so low in fat you could starve if you only ate those...

Moose Elk and Deer do have fat. The meat is lean though. And I've shot some bucks with no fat, they run it off chasing tail.
I watched a survival show once that a guy was surviving on rabbits he was snaring, he was eating the brain because that was the only fat a rabbit has. He said you could die eventually from 'rabbit starvation', with no carbs and no fat, pure lean protein can't keep you going when your freezing cold.

 

[Beer can]

Wow, you guys are making me HUNGRY!

I've never tried bear. Is it strong flavored or gamey tasting?

It's about like beef, but the grain of the meat is different, kinda coarse or stringy?, but I don't mean tough.
Some people don't like bear though. I think it depends on how old it is. My father shot a over 500lb 16yr old bear in the Adirondacks and it tasted gamey, kinda like the fat smelled.
Both my brother and father got small younger ones a few years ago, around 200lbs, I think 3yrs old. They were really good. Another brother got one with his bow this year.
A guy at work made some smoked bear jerky, you would have thought it was beef jerky.

 

[Kusanar]

Wow, you guys are making me HUNGRY!

I've never tried bear. Is it strong flavored or gamey tasting?

I haven't ever cooked it, but a guy at work brought in a pot of chili one day for a pot luck with ground bear meat in it, I was surprised, everyone I've ever talked to talks about bear being greasy, but the ground meat in his chili reminded me of the texture of ground chicken (something my BF cooks with a lot) and bordered on being a little dry, otherwise, it tasted just like every pot of chili I've ever had with hamburger in it.

 

[vehve]

I've never tried bear, but Karin had a chance to try it a few years ago. She said it was among the best meat she ever had. We've got brown bears around here.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Back to chickens

I butcher the birds..and toss the tender bits....testicles, lungs, liver...to the cat. She slurps them right down. The head, intestines, and feathers....go to the compost, or in a hole in the garden.
I leave the neck on, and keep the heart, gizzards, and feet for soups. The whole bird goes in to the pressure cooker. After we eat it, and we'll get 3 meals out of a 5lb bird, I boil down the carcass for soup. then I toss all of the picked carcass to the flock out in the run.
The egg shells go back to the run for the hens.
We do deep litter, so it goes to the compost bin about every 3 months.
Gee...that's about it!