A number of people have asked, so I'll put the directions for cold packing or canning your bear meat here. It is really a easy, but somewhat time consuming process.
This is the same process as canning, but without the pressure canner. The meat turned out excellent. People at camp were eating it cold out of the mason jar! The spices Kip gave us worked very well. I have a few other ideas for BBQ as well.
Directions for canning;
1. Thoroughly clean all jars and lids. Discard any jars that are chipped or lids that are rusted. They create bad seals.
2. Keep the lids in VERY warm water until the jar is ready for the water bath. It helps keep the rubber seals pliable for good sealing.
3. Cut your bear meat/venison into cubes or small pieces.
4. Dice a sweet onion.
5. Get out your favorite seasoning(Kips in my case).
6. Season your cubes of meat lightly.
7. Put a layer of meat in the jar and then a bit of onion. Continue layering until it is about 1 inch from the top of the jar.
8. Smash the meat down into the jar with a spoon so there are no spaces between the meat cubes.
9. Put a teaspoon of salt on the top of the meat and then put the lid on. Regular salt is fine.
10. Put your mason jars into a LARGE pot of water.
11. Make sure the water covers the top of the cans and bring to a boil.
12. Boil the jars for 3 hours. Make sure the water is OVER the top of the jars at all times. If the water starts getting low add more boiling water from another pan(DO NOT add cold water).
13. At the end of 3 hours, remove the cans from the water or pour off the boiling water. Let them cool at room temp and the seal will be solid as the vacuum is created during cooling.
It won't have the most aesthetically appealing look in the mason jar, but how tender and delicious the meat becomes will suprise you!