Bear Skin Rug?

[FLINT]

A black bear has taken up residence on the land that I hunt deer on.

I watched him eating acorns for a while the other day while I was bowhunting.

I've never really had any interest in shooting a bear before, but the landowner has asked me to shoot him if I see him while I'm deer hunting. Apparently the bear has regularly been disturbing his porch, scattering his trash all over his yard, tore down a small fence in his yard (to get to the trash I guess), and has destroyed all of his bird feeders. He also has two older dogs that spend some time outside and would not come out well in an altercation with a bear.

So, If I have to take this poor guy out, I'd like to get something out of it. anyone ever have a bear made into a rug? how much does it cost?

[sniper15545]

The average cost is $125.00 per linear foot.

[Blaine]

A black bear has taken up residence on the land that I hunt deer on.

I watched him eating acorns for a while the other day while I was bowhunting.

I've never really had any interest in shooting a bear before, but the landowner has asked me to shoot him if I see him while I'm deer hunting. Apparently the bear has regularly been disturbing his porch, scattering his trash all over his yard, tore down a small fence in his yard (to get to the trash I guess), and has destroyed all of his bird feeders. He also has two older dogs that spend some time outside and would not come out well in an altercation with a bear.

So, If I have to take this poor guy out, I'd like to get something out of it. anyone ever have a bear made into a rug? how much does it cost?

Perhaps the landowner would absorb half the cost for a successful contract hunt?

[FLINT]

Thanks guys, and oops,

Why did I post this in the classifieds section???

how can I move it?

[bigbore442001]

Black bear makes for good table fare if you prepare it right.

[Grizz]

Black bear makes for good table fare if you prepare it right.

and the fat can be rendered like lard or tallow. the skull looks good when the worms get done with it. the claws make good necklace pendants. and other things. the bones can make knife handles. probably a good amount of sinew to harvest. there's a lot of resource bundled up in there.

you could read up on tanning the hide yourself. making your own vest or hoodie from your own work sounds like a big smile down the line. quite the project.

only bear I've eaten was sausage made with beef fat and a portion of ground beef. it was very good. the guy who gave it said that bear fat is rancid and doesn't make good sausage. I don't know if this is correct, maybe it has to do with the bear's diet . . .

[BenT]

Just had a bear roast last weekend. If they don't want the bear to come around . Put the bird feeders away and put the trash somewhere else for 3 to 4 weeks and he will stop coming around. Bears are just looking for an easy meal.

[TedH]

My rug cost me just a bit over $100 a foot. But that was a few years ago. Out of all the wild game I've had, bear is up near the top, second only to the mountain lion meat.

[FLINT]

Thanks guys!

sounds like it wouldn't be a total waste.

we'll have to see what happens. but chances are, he will just move on. which will be just as fine with me.

[Les Staley]

First hunting trip to Wyoming 1990 brought home to Michigan elk, deer and black bear meat. The wimin all prefered the bear by a big margin.

[Tom Mix]

Unless you are going to eat him or her then please do not kill him or her just for the fur.

Like somebody said, put the bird feeders away and put the trash somewhere else for awhile and it will go away maybe.

But if you do kill him please do so for the meet as it is good stuff.

Here is a story of how the settlers in Arkansas use to hunt black bear in the Ozarks. This was before modern guns where you only had one shot so most bear was taken by knife or spear after the dog fight.


This story is from out of a book I was reading. It is called HUNTING ARKANSAS by Keith Sutton. Here he is talking about how they would hunt in Arkansas when it was being settled. This story probably took place around 1820 or so. Please read the whole thing. It is just one page and then it gets into modern hunting.


Page 5
They were bound for “The Bottoms”, and would hunt in the canebrakes and big timber between Helena, Arkansas City and the Whit River.
There was no intention of shooting any bear: this was below the dignity of a bear hunter. The hunting was done by dogs who would find, chase and “bay” a bear. Once the bear was bayed he would fight the dogs that ran at him from every point of the bay circle.

When the men reached the bay, one or more of them would go in to kill the bear with a knife. Mr. Opp had a great reputation as a killer of bears. Before going in to kill the bear, Mr. Opp would exact a promise of no shooting unless “you think I am being killed.”

With every pack of bear hounds was one or more shepherd dogs. These dogs did not enter the chase nor the fight until their master went in, then they were fresh and kept biting the bear from unexpected quarters while their master was busy cutting the bear’s throat.

Once the bear was dead, it was lifted from the ground and hung by its fore feet, using rope or “galluses” or anything handy to a limb five or more feet from the ground.

Then the bear was dressed and the heart, lungs, liver, and other “innards” given the dogs…… While all the dogs feasted on bear innards, the bear was skinned, untied, and taken back to camp. The first bear to be killed on the hunt was consumed by the hunters while in camp. There were many stories about bear stew and camp stews. Some of the stories were undoubtedly embellished by the whiskey drunk directly from stoneware gallon jugs which were an integral part of bear hunting equipment.

Other bears killed were brought back to Helena and often one was displayed in front of Mr. Burton’s meat market on Rightor between Cherry and Ohio Streets. There a choice cut could be purchased by a non-hunting game lover.


George Robertson of Paducah, Kentucky, also came to hunt bears in the nineteenth-century wilderness south of Helena. Loading their hunting gear on steamboats, a party of as many as thirty men would land near Modoc and camp nearby. “I remember one occasion, it took ten wagons and forty mules to move our camping equipment into the woods where we pitched camp,” he said.


And how many bears would they kill on a single trip? “Well,” he replied, “ I remember that on one of them we killed thirty two, I packed the meat down in a hollow cypress tree camp near mine.”


Unfortunately, this indiscriminate killing of bears by early Arkansas and subsequent habitat reductions signaled the demise of the black bear in Arkansas. Hunting was prohibited by setting a closed season in 1927. By that time, bears had long since been wiped out in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains and only forty to fifty remained in the around Whit River National Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Arkansas.

[vancelw]

The average cost is $125.00 per linear foot.

Well, I see TedH said his was $100 a foot. I remember mine costing $200 per foot and it was the lowest price I got of the 3 people I asked. Highest was $250. Cost me $1400 for mine and worth every penny.

If you shoot him have some help lined out. Need to get it skinned and chilled quickly. All that fat and fur insulate the carcass and the meat will ruin. Trim as much fat as you can before cooking any. Bear meat tastes best warm. If it cools after cooking it tastes like lard. very chewy, but not necessarily tough. And remember, they are related to pigs and can have trichinosis, so cook it to the right temp.

Post pictures of all stages

[FLINT]

no worries,

If I ever shoot a bear, I will certainly eat it. That was a given. I just needed more motivation than that.

sounds like the rug could be an expensive proposition! I'll have to check around and see what they get around here per foot.

[EdinCT]

Flint you could also skin and flesh the hide and tan it yourself.
http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/dixietanpaste.aspx

http://www.flemingtraps.com/trapper-s-h ... rmula.html

Also I agree a bear that's not on trash or fish is very good table fare.

[cas]

The bears mess with our family cabin fairly regular. There's no food in it and it's only occupied about 15-30 days a year, so I have issues with the "put the bird feeder away" theory.

The first "visit" many years ago was by far the worst. The bear torn a 2+ foot wide by 5 foot high hole in the house trying to get at a bee's nest they'd made in the wall. The bear was just doing what bears do and the bees just doing what bees do, not much anyone could do about that. It did serious structural damage, exterior wall (sawn timber siding) studs, interior wall, knocked over an antique hutch, broke all the dishes and glasses. Before that I was indifferent, I didn't think I'd ever want to shoot a bear. After that I would have shot any I'd seen. lol As years past I'd grown indifferent again, doubting I'd shoot. But I've found out from the locals that there's at least one problem bear in the area, so I guess I'm back to shoot again. Most of the stuff they've done to us since is knocking things over and breaking stuff in the yard.

[7.62 Precision]

Eat him if he is eating good. If he is a trash-eating bear, I won't eat him, or if he is eating fish.

Don't eat the fat. Trim it all off, don't try to use it for making pie crusts or anything else. I have been told so many times bear fat can be rendered as lard. It tastes like a bear. Every time I have ever tasted bear fat, it tastes like a bear. The best tasting bear that has meet that is hard to distinguish from beef has fat that tastes like a bear. If I am eating bear in spaghetti, and git a little piece of fat, I suddenly taste bear.

A bear hide tans great with a battery acid solution, or you can buy solutions that work well too. It is a bit of work fleshing, tanning, and working, but you can do it, no problem, if money is an issue.

Locking up the trash and removing bird feeders sounds noble, but it doesn't always work. Especially with a bear that has already learned he can get food near habitations, it is almost impossible to remove the incentive, and you can have no food in a cabin and such a bear will rip the door off the hinges and trash the place in the hopes of finding something.

If it is a home where people are living, there will be food stored and cooking going on, and all kinds of wonderful smells that you can't avoid.

Any bear that is tearing things up on porches and around houses needs to be shot. Period. Because if not, some day someone is going to get hurt.