Bear Sausage--Are Bears Sacred?

"Here!" said Mathel as she headed across the yard toward me as I was finishing up mulching what we'd planted in the garden. "Snack time!"

I looked at the piece of sausage stick as I took it from her. 

"It's bear!" she announced proudly. A friend had just stopped in and given her some bear sausage to snack on. Now she was sharing a piece with me. 

"Her husband got a bear," Mathel told me. "Up in Minnesota. Up there, the tribe [Dakota or Chippewa] considers bear sacred, so they are not allowed to kill any. 

But to keep the bear population from getting out of control, they allow the Rosebud Sioux to come up and hunt bear (since the bear is not sacred to the Sioux) in return for allowing some of the Minnesota tribe to hunt elk down here."

Hm. 

And Mmm.

I munched on that wonderful meat, made from bear not unlike the bears our sons and daughters have gotten in western Colorado. 

It's good we don't consider bears sacred. According to scripture in Genesis, God gave them to mankind, along with all the other animals, after the flood to use as food when necessary.

So we do!

And it's some of the best tasting meat I've tasted!