Bear meat is best for making smoked specialty meat products, like sausages, hams. It would be far too dry just ground up and used for hamburger on it's own. Before you go bear hunting, read up for some bear meat recipes.
Here's a pic of a black bear I hunted this spring.
I've hunted bear off and on for about 20 years. This is only the second I've taken. This was taken with a bow.
I knew I had a monster hitting my bait barrel when he tore the barrel off the tree the first time he hit the barrel. The second time I was sitting in my tree stand, he wouldn't come in till it was dark and i couldn't see my bow sights anymore. I knew he was waiting just out of sight, which in thick bush wasn't very far. He was grunting and clicking his teeth, mad that I was there.
I was really scared getting out of that tree stand that night, I was yelling and talking to him the whole time. Good thing my truck wasn't very far away, I was pretty shakey.
The next morning I went to rebait the barrel, and saw that he had clawed up my tree stand tree real good, a good 7 ft reach.
I got him just at dusk, minutes left of light. Took me another half hour or so to get the nerve to get out of my tree and go find him.
This is probably my last bear hunt. One with muzzleloader and one with bow. Unless I get a chance to go for grizzly before I'm too old.
It's very exciting to hunt bear, even the years you don't get a shot at anything decent. More often than not a female with cubs hits your bait, and that pretty much ruins that bait barrel sight for the season. The males just won't come in with a female with cubs around.