Daryl, you are RIGHT.

The fat is very tasty, a lot like young beef fat. We have fed many who think the pot roasts are fine, tender, aged beef until we tell them it is bear.

Many say they do not like the taste of bear. I wonder why because I've proven how good it is by giving them some of ours, which they like! I think I know why. In spring and fall, especially in fall, bear are hunted during very warm weather. As stated, mid-day temps often exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit and if the pack out is long or if the hunter simply doesn't get the critter gutted, skinned and frozen FAST, meat can and does go "off". And then there are those who believe all game meat "needs" to be hanged before butchering. This is of course the quickest way to ruin good meat in such temperatures. Even in a day or two a fat-encased carcass can be blown high to mighty.

Speed getting the critter out is always the goal, so we come prepared to make use of any means to get it out. Here's the 4-wheeler. It got no use yesterday, but sometimes it can be used on old skid trails or such to get a little closer or close enough to use winch cable and rope. Yesterday the cover was so tight it was useless to us and it stayed on the back of the pickup.

Yes, Daryl, 285 Prvi!

Load was 54.5 grains of H4895 + CCI200 primer, in reformed Winchester .30-06 cases. Velocity goes 2250-2300 from the chopped, stubby barrel, just as you say. At these speeds the bullet will hole a two or three inch Douglas Fir branch and still kill the bear hanging onto the other side of it even though many consider it a fast-opening bullet, which, of course, it is. A .243 will kill on a broadside shot any bear that ever ran the Panhandle, but if that bear is trying to put wood between itself and the hunter, a chunkier bullet is the thing. I've killed bear with the .348 Winchester, .303 British, 7.62x54R, .45-70, .44 Magnum, .30-30, 9.3x57 and 9.3x62. The latter two calibers are my favorites.