PA only has a 4 day bear season. Really the only successful way to kill bears in PA is to put a drive on and push them out of the thickets they like to hide in. Last year our group killed 2 bears this way. This year there was almost no hard mast crop, the acorns were non existent and the hickory nuts were light. So the bears were already sleeping for the winter or down in the valley eating farmers' corn.

However, we did put out at least 4 wild hogs. Hogs in PA are a new thing and are only found in a few isolated pockets so we were excited to get a chance to whack a few. Rumor has it they escaped from a high fence hunting preserve around 2000 and have been breeding and multiplying in the wild since.

Here's one of the guys I was hunting with yesterday and the hog he shot.



We also put out a sow hog who had piglets with her. We couldn't get a shot at her but were actually able to catch one of the piglets alive by hand! The thing was about 3-4 pounds and looked like an overgrown chipmunk!

Thankfully, no wild hogs here yet.

But, this year our WV bear season is running concurrent with deer rifle season for two weeks, and with few restrictions. The DNR did this in hopes of taking a higher number of bear this year. The season started last Monday.

The DNR is now concerned that because of the lack of mast this season, and because of this week's miserable weather, the bears have started hibernation already. We've just got way too many bears and deer right now.

Yeah, we didn't push a single bear out. With a lack of hard mast and the early winter weather, I think the bears went night night for the winter already.

That's cool, Travis. If they are up there in your PA hunting grounds, I bet it's just a matter of time before we see them. Last time I checked, we had hog hunting in just four counties down in the deep-south-you-don't-want-to-go-there counties that are famous for breeding the Hatfield-McCoy feud. Ken may know if the range for hunting hogs has extended beyond that area but I don't. I think it would be cool to be able to hunt them, but then I think to all the posts by our Texas buddies here who share the stories of devastation those things bring and the feeling passes!

We saw our first hog in 8 years this week on our wildlife camera; looked to be about 100 lbs.

I definitely have mixed feelings on the topic of wild hogs. The hunter in me thinks they'd be a lot of fun to hunt but the conservationist in me knows the damage they cause. They aren't up this far yet and I hope they don't make it up here any time soon. If I get an itch to hunt some I'll drive south a couple of hours.

With abundant forage in the form of wild hogs, in should come the apex predators. I hear Jaguars are becoming more common in AZ and TX - and those things are the 3rd largest cat in the world and males can top 350. That's a potential man eater there - but I bet they are eating well in TX. I would think that cougar sightings would increase in these hog areas, too. How's your cougar population in PA and WV? In Nebraska, the turkey and deer population spike resulted in a pretty stable cougar population. DNR actually created a hunting season.

As far as I know, we don't have any/many "wild boars" as far north as you and I. They were intentionally introduced in the very southern counties many years ago, but have not moved very far north. We can shoot them out of season because they are not supposed to exist in our counties.

Sometime, when you are visiting, I'll show you a funny story about a friend, who you have met several times, who encountered a wild pig on her school bus route. The pig wanted on the bus. It wouldn't let her move the bus. There was a great story about it, in the local paper about it, from about a dozen years ago. But, it wasn't truly a wild boar/wild pig like they have in Texas.



I don't want them. They have invaded the area where I grew up. The damage they cause is incredible. I don't want to fight them.




As far as I know, they are officially extinct in Virginia and West Virginia. I've seen, and reported, two cougars in-the-wild in my 40+ years living in this area. Both were on shores of the Shenandoah River.

One was an adult. It was near dusk, near one of my favorite SMB fishing holes, just up-river from where Gooney Creek empties into the South Branch of the South Branch Shenandoah. The cat was a little darker than golden labrador dog. I was floating in the river, it came down a well-worn wooded path on a rather steep bank. I watched it take a few licks of water from the river before it spotted me. It then slowly backed up the path, and completely disappeared into the background in just a few feet.

The second one was a juvenile that was darker than the one I mentioned above. I saw this one, just below Paris Mountain, near Frogtown, VA. I was just north of US Route 50, near the public access. It was early summer, and just above sunup. I was on the west-side of the river, driving north on an old trail. The cat was on the east side of the river, running north in a pasture across from me. It was about the color of a chestnut-colored horse. The really noticeable part was its tail. It seemed to be at least as long as the cat's main body.

There are regular sightings, and sighted kills of pets, in this area from these "extinct" critters.

I sure don't want to put CJBS on the spot. He may not be able to comment. If he can, it sure would be interesting to hear both sides of this argument.

If they haven't been reported in CJBS's patrol area, they have been reported just south and west, in the Occoquan area in the adjoining county, near where he patrols.

I'm a Sasquatch agnostic. But, I sure think I've seen cougars, or whatever they may be called, in our area.

I've never seen a wild pig.

It is kind of crazy. In the last couple of weeks, I've seen, what I assume, are bear scat piles near the ponds and chicken coop. We never see the bears. I need to get my game cameras out again. I've got the batteries charging now. I will set them out tomorrow.

Maybe, I'll be the first one to get a good clear photo of Sasquatch.

Having hogs and hunting hogs is different. I have a lot of pigs. But I rarely see one. They are about 99% nocturnal. The odd thing is that I see a lot of tracks but they shun the corn feeders with the game cameras.

A friend shot a 200 lb one on my place last month. That was at a feeder and he had it made into sausage. I'll bet that we won't see any more and they are still around.

Honestly, the depradation stuff seems to be blown out of proportion. I've seen them grazing on my wheat like a cow. They didn't root it up. They will muddy a small, shallow pond but that's unusual. The only problem I've ever seen is a neighbors coastal hay patch. They messed it up by rooting for the grass roots. That was once about 5 years ago and it hasn't happened since. But they have never done it to my place. I've never know them to attack anyone.

Open season around here. Need a CCW or any hunting license on State land. No restrictions on private property tho. Don't hear much about them on the news tho, unless an event has happened.

I think the Cougars, that we don't have, could be eating well

I have seen three hogs of them basically plow a part of a field of ours. Caught one, two remain.

My experience with feral hogs pretty much mirrors Dave's. We saw more sign than damage. Power pole/tree rubs and wallows during the summer were pretty much it. In fact, several times I threw limbs or yelled at them to get them away from a deer blind as I was approaching it. I never witnessed any aggression.

Biggest issue we had was at feeders, where deer numbers dropped tremendously if the hogs got used to the throw schedule and came daily. We wound up caging the throw areas, and the problem disappeared. On those we didn't, we had to t post the feeder legs to keep the hogs from rooting around the feeders and tipping them over.

I also had to use TPosts. Problem solved.

Ken, I found a pretty good sized pile of scat that appeared to be nothing but berries right next to my building on the farm. We've never seen a bear out there, but this looks to be almost certainly bear scat. It's pretty cool to think one has been through there and has gotten me to do exactly what you are doing with getting my camera ready to put out there.

I pretty much agree with Dave. The main problem I have had is they will get into creep feeders and clean you out. They also root up my hayfield to the point you have to level it out to not destroy equipment and your back. I have out cameras and very rarely get daytime pictures of hogs. Most of the land I own is open pasture.

Enjoy hunting them if its like Oklahoma you will be over run in a few years. Hogs will chase deer away from feeders my wife and I have seen it.
Just for eating them , trap them and feed them corn for a month or so.

Dale, the darn things seem to come and go on my place. When they first showed up about 10 years ago, I looked at the breeding statistics and thought I would be over run with them. I'm not. Or maybe I am and just don't know it. I have one monster boar that sometimes shows up at a corn feeder about midnight. I can back track him in mud and find that he passes a couple of other feeders to get to this one.

They are about like coons. They can be a pain in the butt but there's not one damn thing I can do about it. I have a trap but they will eat everything on the outside but never go into it.

I've got hogs a plenty here. I've killed 7 in the past 6 weeks with my compound bow. If anything they are good practice. When they show up I'll take out the larger sows first. Funny thing is if you shoot them with a rifle they go nocturnal, but you shoot them with an arrow and they'll come back in 5 minutes. Also our acorn crop is poor this year so the hogs are working harder for their food. So if my northern friends want to shoot a hog just let me know. Going out this afternoon to kill another one. And we have seen more mountain lion activity since the hogs have been here. If you have a few hogs in your area now, just wait. You'll have more next year.

A Friend works with a guy who uses dogs and traps or catches or kills how ever you want to word it. It always sounds like it gets pretty crazy his dogs get wounded and sometimes killed on a frequent basis. He sent me this picture just a few days ago and said it was taken in Medora Indiana. He does most of his hunting in Indiana and Kentucky I believe.

Hey travlinman, what area of Texas?

I should have seen this coming.

Drones to hunt hogs

If I could get a drone to find my cell phone in a pasture when I lose it bimonthly, I might jump all over that.

I saw them shooting wild hogs from a helicopter on a hunting show on TV. It was in Texas. The guy was using a crossbow.

Ken, I've got a Sasquatch livin under my trailer, stop over and snap away. PS I married her daughter.

Finally back from my hunting trip to PA.

Anyways, I didn't see any hogs and haven't gotten any on game camera in over 2 weeks. They just disappeared into thin air. A farmer down in the valley we are friends with said one was hit on the road in front of the local church the day before the opener for rifle season and showed me a photo of it. It was probably 180-200 pounds with some nasty cutters on it. I would have loved to made him into a shoulder mount had I killed him.

As far as mountain lions in the east. Hmmm... Well, with the 1000's of game cameras that are in the woods these days, no one ever gets one on camera. I find that amazing if they really exist. No hunter has shot one either... None have been killed on the roads either. Except for one mountain lion killed on a road in CT. Turns out that was a young male cat(they are known to disperse long distances) who passed through Wisconsin where he was caught on came camera and left poop behind. They did genetic testing on the dead cat in CT and determined he was the same cat photographed in Wisc. The genetic testing showed he was a Black Hills mountain lion, the furthest east naturally reproducing population other that those down in FL.

My opinion, if there are mountain lions in the east, they are escaped pets. I think people see things that may look like a mountain lion but aren't. Just my opinion, some day I may be proven wrong.

Modest cougar populations have re-established in NE, IA and KS from SD, WY and CO. Could it be just a matter of time until they disperse into the hardwood forests in the East - provided your deer or hog populations remain high? I'd think their chances of hunting success in forests would be far better than our open prairies. Are there cougars in IN and OH?

It all started with a few rogue males traveling along the North and South Platte out of Wyoming and Colorado about ten years ago...DNR said hey, these are just young male CO or WY cats pushed out of their territory.

Lots of game cameras out this way - big deer hunting state - but don't recall anyone getting shots of cougars in NE on their cameras - it was tracks, sightings, then we started seeing them hit on highways or interstate. Keep us in the loop Eastern Pond Boss family.

Dave
I have the same deal. I won't have any hog sign for a month or two then go out one morning and find an acre tore up. I work away from home so most of the time they seem to be long gone. I can get them to come to a corn feeder a few nights then gone. Sounds like you have some trap shy hogs. A guy that traps a lot of hogs swears by grape jello in the corn. I have tried several things , beer fermented corn, pancake syrup, just plain corn seems to work best for me.

We are not supposed to have cougars in Indiana. If they show up, walking to and from the deer stand in the dark might be a little more interesting. Skunks are the biggest threat now.

I thought cougars were actually known for being quite immodest, thus their attraction. That's just what I have always understood. We're talking about the same thing, right?

Guilty: Thread Perversion

What??? Who???

Where were all these cougars when I was young?

Not supposed to have any according to most local govt. sources, but the darn things somehow manage to get photographed every so often.

(I'm speaking in regards to cougars of the feline persuasion......)

I've never seen either type on my trail cam, but I keep checking!

A friend of my fathers claimed to have found 2 deer kills and numerous tracks near his place in Sinnemahoning PA.We just figured that he had spent a little too much time out in the woods alone.That all changed though after the cat in CT got hit by a car.I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there where a few more out east.

Well, I'll believe there is a breeding population of cougars, mountain lions, pumas, catamounts or what ever else you wanna call them when someone finds a female with babies in the east.

Here in VA where guys run the snot out of the deer and bears with dogs during the firearms hunting season, the dogs never seem to run mountain lions up a tree.

One thing about mountain lions in the east. Florida sure is in the east, and no question about it, they have a well documented wild cougar population. They are spreading into new areas of Florida also. They have even been hit by cars. Some of them are live trapped and radio collared and relocated.

Surely none of them are ever relocated to other states.

After a lifetime of city living I moved to this 160 acre farmstead in October of 2008, just 3 miles outside of Lincoln. Knowing what I know now I would have and should have called it in, especially after finding out the Boy Scout Camp was so close, but there's now no doubt in my mind that what I saw was a mountain lion. It was a heavily wooded area with only the creek separating us. He looked at me as I was frozen, turned and walked away. Scared the hell outta me and I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

After that encounter I never went exploring unarmed and without a camera, but for the next 4 1/2 years of living there I never saw another one, nor did I hear of any sightings. I have no picture but I know what I saw.



I now live less than a mile from that property along the same creek-line with about 20 acres of wooded area. I only have 2 trail-cams out and I've seen about every critter here but nothing close to the size of that cat.

I found this last Thursday (Thanksgiving) while showing a friend around the property and it was clearly drug about 50' to where it was found, under secluded brush. I just figured it was a pack of Yotes that did it???

'Yotes don't care if they eat in the wide open. Did you look at the back of the neck or the throat? Any puncture marks?

A single Mt. Lion will kill an Elk or deer roughly every 5 days to eat it.

Great point, and I wished I would have checked!

It's been a week and we're expecting 3-5" of snow beginning tonight. If it's still accessible in the morning you've piqued my interest to check.

If I make it out there, is there anything else to look for, or in the area?

Thanks Esshup!

Cougars get hit on the roads in Florida all the time... About 15% of the cougar population in Florida is road killed each year.

http://cougarrewilding.org/CougarNews/?p=1908

If there were even 100 cougars in all other eastern states combined, we should be seeing about 15 cougars road killed per year. We see 1 every 20 years. It's just simple math, we don't have a reproducing cougar population in the east other than in Florida.

Mt. Lion prints are large. You won't mistake them for a large dog - they'll be larger than that. Even a 120# cat has paws as big as my hand, and I wear XL gloves. No claw marks in feline tracks.

Here in Maryland we have had several mountain lion sightings over the years. First the DNR said everyone was wrong they were mistakenly seeing bobcats or coyotes.

Then when video cameras started getting popular, they received at least 3 different videos of free roaming cougars in Maryland. One of the videos is even a black phase cougar. They said these animals were almost certainly escaped captives.

The last one was a few years ago when several people spotted a 6' cat in the area of Andrews AFB. Lots of deer in this area. It was discovered that it escaped from an enclosure. Never did hear what happened to that one.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/fall2007/lions.pdf

This link best describes the eastern cougar/mountain lion population. The fact that so many people see "black" mountain lions to me shows it's that much more unlikely they are seeing mountain lions as a black mountain lion has NEVER been documented in North America. Even back in the colonial days when 1,000's were killed.

In the end it is a very simple math problem. Florida has roughly 100-120 cougars in the wild and has on average, 15-20 of them killed on the road each year. Yet, the rest of the eastern United States has 1 killed every decade and those usually can be tracked back to being a released pet or a long wandering male from far out west.

I hate to break it to people, wild reproducing mountain lions don't exists in the eastern United States. They died off when the whitetail deer almost went extinct(their main food) and the woods were all logged and burned in the late 1800's.

CJ, with all due respect, I have no idea whether you are right or not. Personally here in Missouri, our very own Missouri Department of Conservation for years negated sightings of big cats here. Basically said they DID NOT EXIST in any number. Until eventually, a couple were killed by cars. Well what do you know? They abruptly came out with the official report that the cats did exist. One of 2 things, they did not have a clue about the cats, rendering them as non experts in my opinion, or they were lieing about their existence from the beginning. Either way I find it difficult to respect their opinion now. Kind of like Linus's credibility when the Great Pumpkin never showed.

Rancid Crabtree can find them if anyone can. Heck, that guy can build a grasshopper trap.

Missouri is closer to established self sustaining populations of mountain lions. So, it would only make sense the occasional male mountain lion will find it's way there. It's far easier to get to Missouri than it is VA, PA, WV or MD from where the western populations of mountain lions are.

I suspect biologists in Missouri got a little sick of going out on BS sightings of mountain lions and down played the small number of legit sightings. It came back to bite them in the butt in the credibility factor. Missouri still most likely doesn't have a self sustaining reproducing population of mountain lions. Maybe in 20, 30 or 50 years it will. It takes far more time for females to spread into a new area than it does for males...

See: http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/wildli...in-lion-reports

When you start seeing a decent number of females in the mix, you know you have a reproducing population.

I see the same thing but on a smaller scale with black bears. 20 years ago, we rarely saw black bear sign on our land in PA. Maybe once every couple years we'd see a pile of bear poop. My best guess, it was a young male dispersing to a new area. As black bears got more common in their core range, more and more female bears were born and they dispersed but in much smaller distances. Instead of 15 to 50+ miles, they generally only disperse one third to one half a mile. Females don't get their heads bashed in by dominant males like young males do. If you are constantly getting whooped, you may decide to walk a long ways to find an area not chock full of large male bears already. This small dispersion area for females in a 5 year period may lead to only a couple extra square miles of new reproducing bear territory. However, over a few decades, this can really increase the range of a reproducing bear populations is found. We now have multiple female bears with cubs each year.

The same is true for mountain lions that are dispersing from Montana, Colorado or the Dakotas. As time goes on, if those populations there continue to grow the females will slowly expand out as well. It's just those pesky juvenile males who are sick of getting their heads beat in by dominant males in established areas. They set off for new areas and sometimes they travel a lot of miles. It's these males that are being seen in Missouri. In that one fluke, a male that traveled from the Dakotas to Wisconsin and then all the way to Connecticut.

CJ, in the upper portions of Wi., there are more and more sightings of Mt. Lions on trail cams this year than last. Don't know the sex of them tho.....

I don't know if that has anything to do with the wolves now on the "legal to take" list or not.

I would be willing to bet they are all males. Not so easy to sex mountain lions from photos, if only they grew antlers on their heads...

Delaware also has an interesting cougar issue. They've been seeing cougars for 10 years. The state says there are at least 2 free roaming cougars there. Many confirmed sightings. They believe a pair escaped captivity in the Philadelphia area and made a home in Delaware. They have been eating deer and geese.

in the news just this morning, FL panther/Cougar was found dead from gun shot. Found near big cypress national refuge.

I'm in general agreement with CJ, in that a reproducing, sustaining population of mountain lions is one thing, while a lone male "explorer" here and there is quite another.

HOWEVER....if I were losing livestock, or had a personal encounter with a mountain lion that, for whatever reason, didn't end comfortably for me, then I highly doubt the state's claim that the damage was due to a lone male individual would bring me much comfort. Sure they might be right, but would it matter if the deed was already done?

One more thing. That male that traveled from the Dakotas to Connecticut...how many folks observed that cat during its journey? For those who claim the eastern half of the country is too populated and too well developed to hide an out of place, large animal...

Hmmm?

Somewhere in my files I have an old newspaper clipping detailing the account of the moose that stopped traffic just a few miles outside of Bloomington, IN. A lone wanderer, just as CJ suggests. But it came all this way south before anyone took notice.

I think Connecticut's story that the cougar killed on their highway walked 1500 miles from South Dakota smells fishy.

Wild hogs and Cougars. I've crossed paths with both species in my many yrs on the trail. The first cougar was when I was 16. She was about 34 and drop dead beautiful and used to get me and my buddies Ripple (Pagan pink). I was so backward and thick I couldn't figure out why. Therefore I remained a virgin till I was 26 and the sad part was I married a wonderful woman that was as backward and thick as myself when I was 22. Now the wild hog encounters occurred after I divorced my wife and graduated to Jack Danials. Of course they were dainty little fawns while the JD was in effect. When JD wore off the tusks came out and one wrong word would get a sharp response form those powerful stiff legged stompings. Gave me a whole new respect for Ol Yelller, cried many times again.

MSC, they did genetic testing on the CT animal. It matched the poop it left behind in Wisconsin. If you believe there are reproducing cougars in the east then I guess they've found a way to not get captured on game cameras or get hit by cars nearly as often as other populations.

I'm saying if a cougar travels 1500 miles from SD to CT, it had some help.

I followed that story fairly close when the cat started heading into my hometown area at the MN/WI western end of Lake Superior (near Duluth/Superior) and then its trek across the Michigan UP. It was struck and killed about 20 miles from where my in-laws live in Connecticut. They had a body. They had DNA. If it was a hoax, it sure fooled a lot of wildlife biologists and other professionals.

Animals do some amazing things...

Different states live trap and relocate cougars all the time. I wonder how many get released into other states? As many as 13 Texas cougars were released in Florida in the 90's. Some of these did travel over 100 or 200 miles after being released.

I'd like to know where you get your info from MSC? It is very uncommon for states to trap and transfer cougars from one state to another. The federal government trapped Texas cougars to transfer to Florida for genetic diversity, which in my book made the whole Florida panther thing a mute point as there are no longer pure Florida panthers, so what's the point in protecting them as an endangered subspecies if they are no longer pure anyways?

There isn't a state in the east other than Florida that has had cougars trapped from other states and released into them. It's like the people who claim the insurance companies are releasing coyotes into eastern states to bring the deer population down.

Oh yeah, I saw a Big Foot last night, he ran in front of my car and my pet unicorn was killed by a chupacabra last week.

WOW!!

A word to the wise CJBS2003......... Always keep you unicorns on a leash!!!! Those tickets are expensive .

CJ, I was just asking if it happens. Since so many states are live trapping 'problem' cougars and relocating them.

I agree with you about the Texas to Florida cougar relocations. FL already said they had too many in the same area of south Florida, and they needed to spread out and they were afraid of inbreeding, So they put 13 TX cougars in the same area. What?

Sorry for the cougar that made it over 200 miles to Georgia, where a deer hunter popped it.

Travis, you know better than to diss my Sasquatches...c'mon man.

Yeah, and also the chupa's. The goat sucker has just gotta be real.

My 15 yr old grandson and I got to got to go last weekend. He went to his stand and I headed to another one. It was late afternoon. I hadn't even gotten to sit down when I heard him shoot the 30-30. He sent a text saying he had shot a big hog but it had run away. I told him to sit still until I got there. By the time I got there we had about 30 minutes of daylight left and started casting around for sign. I found some blood so knew the general direction to look in some really thick junk. I could actually smell the damn thing. It got dark pretty quickly and I started getting nervous. Looking for a wounded, pissed off, hog in the dark with a scoped 243 can be a character builder. We looked for about 45 more minutes and I called it off. We went back the next morning and found a blood trail and finally found the hog piled up under a cedar tree. It was pointed our way but I have no idea what that might mean. I went to the house and got the FEL and about 75 yards of heavy rope. We drug it out and by the smell, knew that only Catmandoo would try to eat it. So we weighed it (205 pounds) and cut the head off for a skull mount. The buzzards and coyotes can have the rest. By the time we got all that done, it was time to head home.

I'm reminded of something I once heard about the difference between football and hunting wounded, dangerous, game at night. Football only requires one ball and I found myself to be what the Spaniards call a castrado.

Texas Panthers To Florida

That article mentions the 8 Texas cougars that were relocated to Florida in '95. There were other such relocations. I believe the total number was 13 cougars from TX to FL.

Dave, where are the photos from this adventure?

Coyotes didn't touch three wild hogs that someone threw out by the railroad tracks south of town here.

Yeah, I've also seen that happen.

Wild Hogs: Do you eat them things? Many years ago a guy at work shot one on a guided hunt with dogs, I think it was in NC. He brought some in that he had already cooked, they were like big pork chops, anyhow it was really good.

All wild hog meat I have had has been quite good. I guess for some all it takes it one bad experience and they are forever ruined.

Naw! Even I wouldn't waste my time with such a critter. I'd use my backhoe to dig a deep hole.

As my close acquaintances know,I don't let much meat go to waste. I hate to see good roadkill go to waste.

In the last 60+ years, I've helped, or fully butchered, many thousands of critters. In general, many mature warm-blooded male animals,ready for mating,are not good for eating. This is based on North American tastes and standards. As I found, while spending a lot of my life in other cultures, some of these strong tastes are highly desired in these other cultures.

To most of us of European or Scandinavian descent in North America, the taste of meat from a mature boar hog or a mature billy goat, is not our dream of a great steak, roast, stew, or rack of ribs. IMO, this also goes for bear and sheep,etc.

For us guys, think of a gas station urinal that hasn't been cleaned for about two weeks. To me, that kind of smell is what permeates the meat of many mature male warm-blooded mammals wanting to mate,especially hogs,bears sheep,and goats.

I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done to remove this essence and taste. If there is, my father's generation and I have never found it.

Yes, the meat can be used in very spiced and processed sausage, but to those of us who know what it is -- it is what it is.

If you shoot a hog that stinks, just walk away. There is no way to get that smell out of the meat.

Another time a guy at work shot a bear in Maine. He gave me a nice steak. I cooked it exactly the way he told me (the recipe had lipton onion soup mix in it). Anyhow it was terrible and stunk up the whole house.

On a hunting forum I frequent, the general concensus is that Fall bear is much better tasting than Spring bear.

Yes, they aren't mating in the fall and they aren't starved after a long winter. I like bear meat.

I've never had a good piece of boar bear meat -- but maybe that is just me.

Many years ago, my brother and one of his buddies took out a bear from our apple orchard. They had it skinned and butchered by the time the rest of us went to bed.

My brother and his friend decided to fry up some bear steaks in one of our mother's good cast iron pans. It not only stunk up the house, the pan had to be taken down to bare metal and re-seasoned. Even after re-seasoning in a wood fire for several hours, the pan still tasted like boar bear.

My brother is fortunate that he doesn't have a flat spot on his skull from my mother whacking him with the skillet.

MSC, never did like that Lipton onion soup mix for the same reason...JK buddy . I've never tasted bear meat and only know 3 or 4 people who ever shot one (by the way, they never brought up the subject of eating them....hmmm).

The other spelling of "bear" is a completely different story though . Happy Holidays to you and yours. Be safe!!!

I traded a buddy some Elk for some moose meat. He said it's tough - it was a larger bull (Maine, 48" spread, 19 points if anyone is interested).

I have some burger, tenderloin and sirloin steaks. Recipe suggestions anyone?

Tony, I DO have a recipe for BBQ 'coon that is pretty good.

Not a specific recipe but with wild game I have always found to not over cook it and keep it moist. I marinate all of my wild game before cooking. Most likely not telling you anything you don't already know.

Bacon wrapped tenderloin is fantastic for moose.