Bear meat is very good.....I shot one in Alaska at the outskirts of a blueberry thicket. Very sweet, tender and I thought all bear meat was a deep dark reddish purple. I shot one later in PA and couldn’t stand the smell while gutting him out. Certainly couldn’t find a way to cook it that made him palatable. Went back to the area to scout out the terrain and found an open pit county dump within 3 miles of where I was going to hunt. Mystery solved.
The ones I’ve taken have both been good eating, one in the mountains of Arizona and the other had been raiding an apple orchard in Oregon. It all depends on what they’ve been eating. East of town we have the city dump and feral hogs raid it nightly, ten miles farther and we have the ranch where hogs feed in open pastures. The pasture hogs are fine eating but the dump hogs are horrible. Last week I got into a sounder on the ranch and took a 175 lb sow and six smaller ones around 35 to 45 lbs I kept the little ones and gave the sow to the ranch hand. I split the little ones and cook them on the grill, I have one marinating right now and I’ll throw it on the grill Sunday along with some grilled corn on the cob, grilled onions and a pot of Pinto beans and corn bread. Maybe a few Dos Equies thrown in just to wash it down.