I am assuming they are eating some berries but I don't know what their primary source of food is at that time of year. I have seen them in September hunting around digging up stuff and pulling apart stumps which I assume means they are eating bugs, ants and such.
Any comments on the meat from these bears is appreciated as I know from the few I've had its location and food dependent.
You can put a small amount in a frying pan and if fish odor is detected, you will know the bear has been consuming fish.
This one had 4 inches of fat over his butt. Tasted great!
Just don't shoot one that's been eating trash or has had access to carrion like rotten livestock. And if you happen to shoot one that has ear tags, more than likely they will have a date written on the back of the tag that states a specific date that you should not consume unless beyond that date. The bear likely has been tranquilized in town eating from a dumpster and released. We shot one a few years ago that had been moved about 50 miles north of town and we killed it a week later about 8 miles from town again. Incisors were round likely from biting metal containers.
I have eaten blackies feeding on fish in AK- that soured me on bear meat for a quite a long time.
Interesting note, I have a friend who has done a lot of hunting all over for everything. He has ate from probably over 500 big game animals. 20 species. His wife made him a game meat steak years ago and it was amazing, he had no idea which animal it was from so he asked. She said it was his POW AK bear steak - from fall he killed it eating dead salmon. He said it was one of the best wild game steaks he ever had. I cannot explain that but I never forgot it.
I think some of it is due to what Bou said, handling.
When I do an animal, I wear latex gloves and then once I get the high down, I re-glove before I touch the meat. In fact, I reglove as much as 4 times to keep the meat clean.
IME, I have seen this make a big difference on some of these animals that are rutting- especially big boar hogs, Javelina and elk.
