What is your favorite wild game to eat?
General Topic
What is your absolute favorite wild game to eat? I would have to say elk, pronghorn, and whitetail backstraps are my favorites, in that order. Any of these on the grill make me supremely happy. I also really enjoy eating doves, pheasants, and turkey. What say you?
Pre-rut whitetail buck. Rabbit and grouse are tremedous too. A lot of highly reputed ones I haven't got to try yet including moose and pronghorn. Preparation is everything and I consider the best the ones that can stand up to the simplest ones.
I like Beaver the best!! :-) Shawn
Bison then elk
Oryx and gator are amazing but tough.
young cotton tail, is my favorite meat period game or domestic.
Hungarian partridge, cottontail, snowshoe, rare roasted teal (fat ones)
Edit to enter fresh fried yellow perch fillets. Hard to beat...
Favorites for steak: Sheep, elk, moose, Coues whitetail, whitetail & antelope For burger: Elk & Moose For roasts: Elk, moose, berry fed black bear, whitetail
1. Moose/Elk 2. Caribou 3. Whitetails 4. Rabbit 5. Quail/Grouse, tie.
Cottontail rabbit, ruffed grouse, and my wife’s all time favorite fall sheep.
Moms frog leg recipe was unreal. Can’t get frog tags any more where live I in the Northeast. Very sad indeed!
Had venison back strap tonight so I’m limping by:)
One of my trapping partners. Always a good time !
One of my trapping partners. Always a good time !
X 2 Shawn, Seriously tastes like the best prime rib you ever had ! Pronghorn is my second choice.
Summertime Sitka Blacktail
I love a lot of game I've eaten over the years but we've been dry aging our venison 14-30 days the last two seasons. It's absolutely amazing.
Moose and elk. Whitetail and bear vie for 3rd.
Planked fresh ocean caught salmon, antelope, elk, venison.
Pheasant, squirrel, and then whitetail.
Of the big game I’ve regularly eaten, it’s elk, mulie and whitetail in that order.
Birds I prefer pheasant, quail then turkey. I’ll eat ducks and doves and geese, but they’re not my favorite
Fresh walleye is my favorite fish.
I had one memorable spring when I was still in college, and for one dinner before I went back to school, my mom made walleye, crappie, wild turkey and fried morels. . . .all caught, killed or found by me within the previous 2 days. . . . I ate myself sick
Stone's/Dall's/Rocky Sheep Filet Mignon, prepared over the fire in a remote mountain camp.
Quail & Walleye aren't too bad either.
1 Frog Legs, 2 Rabbit fried and then slow cooked, 3 Veni loin marinated in mesquite marinade wrapped in bacon, probably in that order.
If we are counting seafood then cobia is the best raw or cooked. Walleye and rabbit are great.
X3 Pronghorn if they haven't run...been serving to non-hunters beside cow bison. ..never any speed goat left.
Coues whitetail, Elk and Bison for me!^&%@#$#@%..)(&*^%$#$%^@#$*. Sorry drooled on the key board!
Dall sheep, antelope, and then coues/sitka.
I know Shawn was kinda joking but I caught a 42lb beaver a couple months ago and fried up the back strap and it was incredible. As good or better than the elk back strap that was my previous favorite. Frog legs are pretty awesome though. They were a delicacy to me when I was growing up. I love frog legs. Anytime I see them on a menu it's a no brainer.
Mt lion then black bear and for birds, grouse and smoked turkey and for fish perch and smoked any fish especially the tail portion.
Hope someday to find out personally that a North American sheep is better Mt Lion.
In no particular order: elk, rabbit, and snook.
Though there are so many game meats that I haven’t tried it’s probably premature to make a list.
Antelope, followed closely by elk, then deer.
Moose cooked as part of a New England Dinner! I will eat just about any wild game Coyote roast is also one of my favorites.
Lope, I haven't eaten a lot but one of my very best meals ever was pronghorn.... then elk/axis/moose kind of in a tie. Axis is hard to beat. Depends on the animal and how you're cooking it. Moose is in there because up in New Brunswick a few years ago these NY guys turned me on to it..... was really good. Or maybe NYBob is just a good cook.... =D
Elk and Sheep
Are my 2 fav's
#LovinLife
Robb
Charlie, where do you live? Getting a tag for a frog sounds ridiculous to me.
Joking?
Perch for me too.
Small to medium black bear, squirrel second.
(1) Caribou-dry cow, (2) yearling cornfed whitetail doe, backstrap (3)Frog legs (4) If I cook it, same doe, front shoulder potroast.
Sous vide venison roast!
Sous vide venison roast!
Antelope, elk, whitetail, moose, caribou. Love them all!
For small game, I prefer squirrel over rabbit. Northern Pike is my favorite freshwater fish.
patdel: Here in Rhode Island frog tags take an average of three preference points. Sort of like how it is to draw a Non-Resident archery deer tag in Iowa:)
Just kidding, when I was a kid people didn’t mind you clubbing frogs at night around their ponds. Now it’s a mandatory 3 to 5 years in prison:)
Venison tenderloins wrapped in bacon on the grill!
1- Moose... 2- Elk... 3- WT............ 99th - Mule Deer
Pheasant, grouse, elk, whitetails, wild turkey, bear and moose. Wild boar can also be good.
Stream trout, salmon, pike, walleye, crappies, sunfish (but not the common green sunfish) and clear water cats. Eelpout steamed and covered in butter can also be good but their populations are down right now.
Someone convince me to try cougar, antelope, goose again. The few times I have had those they were Godawful. Spring suckers can be good, carp if small but never, ever oysters or snails, bugs or bug larvae. Caviar is best used as bait.
I love all of it. Seriously. I love it all, depend on all I can get, need every bit of it from the fish to the squirrels. If I had to pick only one and, didn't concern myself with being the most healthy I could be, it would be parboiled squirrel, then drained, dredged in milk, rolled in seasoned white flour, and fried crispy. Use the boil water for gravy broth, homemade biscuits, fried potatoes.
My goodness I loved it. I haven't eaten Gluten in almost 10 months. I feel so much better. I wouldn't go back for anything but, if I were to cheat, that would be the dish that gets me.
I ate Dall Sheep every day I was home from Sep 17th last fall until I left for Europe in Oct. There was a good amount remaining when I departed. I told the wife not to touch it while I am gone and I am looking very much forward to getting home and finishing it!
Living in Alaska has provided us with an incredible opportunity to have 5-8 species of meat in our freezer at any one time. We love it all, but sheep and musk ox are our favorites. We also love a good bear roast, a tender blacktail steak, caribou loin and one of our favorite meals has been a Bison neck roast in the Instapot pressure cooker.
Best that I have had is Orex/Gemsbok. Second would be an early killed spike Elk, or an early killed Doe Whitetail.
Dang it Nick, that looks delicious.
Spike elk. All the old timers would tell me they wanted to just kill a spike cause the meat was so good. I never believed em. Just figured they couldn't kill a mature bull so that was the excuse for killing a young one. I was hunting in one of the few areas in the state that allow spikes a few years ago and I was fortunate to arrow one. Let me tell you, the old timers were right. I've never had meat better then that. Not even comparable.
Pronghorn and wild hog are my two current favorites. However, mountain lion is excellent, as are whitetail, mule deer, moose, sheep, and caribou.
Actually, I like it all, and have a hard time eating commercial meat.
Nick, one of my favorites. We call it meat wrapped meat. ;-)
Moose has to be my favorite. Dall Sheep, musk ox, mountain lion, and whitetail are all right there too. I’m also on board with a big pile of perch!
Shoot, forgot bear. Do a bear burgenoine and you'll be hooked for life. It's that good.
It’s rare a family gathering passes that someone doesn’t bring up the fact that we eat beaver at my house...I like it! And there’s a lot of meat on a beaver!
But my favorite is definitely a well fed black bear!
I figured Charlie. But some of those eastern states make me wonder. Strange laws and over zealous enforcement. In my opinion.
Cecil lion #1, but Harambe was a close second. I guess he doesn't count as he was zoo'd.
Undecided between elk/moose, then caribou, then mulies then whitetail. East fresh walleye/perch almost once a week. NEVER gets old. So good. goose is our favourite ground meat. Never tried any of the high dollar hunt meats like sheep, goat, mt lion,musk ox etc.
Always freeze fish in water. I just use ziplocks, no air and good forever.
Venison loin on the grill Squirell Dove Crappie shake and bake
Chukar, elk, quail and teal in that order. All are great!
First choice is Muskox. Second choice is a tie between moose and sheep. Flavor-wise, it's close, but I'd probably give the nod to sheep....but quantity-wise, you get so much more great meat from moose, that it just about balances things.....the real secret is simply to not overcook any wildgame. I have yet to try axis deer and Nilgai, both of which also get rave reviews from friends.
Orion - would love to hear your chukkar recipe. I’ve never shot any, but those i’ve Spoken to who have described them to me as barely edible. You make me want to go round a few up:)
Elk and walleye go a long ways to keeping this house fed! I haven’t had much I haven’t liked but those two are tops!
Chukar is the best of birds IMO, better than pheasant.
Most all of this game is or can be really good eating. But the problem with wild game is it's very easy to ruin, many if not most folks do not know how to cook it, don't believe you when you instruct them to make it far more rare than what they would normally eat..... then promptly turn it into shoe leather..... it will go from perfect like midwest's roast to pine bark in the blink of an eye it seams.
And that sous vide is almost cheating it works so well...... =D
Muskox has been my long time favorite, then I killed a nilgai. That thing is amazing.
To loosely quote "kickboxing pizza man".... "there are NO bad nilgai"
We haven't even eaten the backstrap yet and everyone goes on and on about the tenderness of the meat. It's pretty amazing. He was a young bull, which may be part of the reason.
I love elk. Had some bighorn sheep that was really good also.
Partridge for birds, caribou for meat, and Atlantic salmon. Venison is a close second to caribou. Nfld sea-run brookies are amazing too. I eat at least 300 of those a year. My home-smoked hams and bacon are better than any you can buy.
Nyala 1st, zebra 2nd, axis 3rd & combo ground WT venison/wild hog 4th( sausage or ground burger).
best Ive had is black bear roast, I know now why pioneer's killed so many as staple foods antelope can be great
Let's see, my options are not as great as most of you, but I've eaten bison, elk, antelope, axis deer, WT deer,mule deer, feral hog and bear (of the mammals). I'd have to rate pronghorn antelope and axis as a tie for first, with elk second, WT deer third, hog fourth, mule deer fifth, and bison and bear sixth. But....to be fair to the bison and bear, it was only a couple pieces of steak and I didn't kill it, dress, it or cook it either time. The bison was tasty but tough. Another but.....I wouldn't turn any of it down.
As for fowl: chuckar partridge, woodcock, turkey, quail, and dove, in that order. I stopped trying to choke down ducks many years ago.
Haven't seen pheasant mentioned much on here, that would be near the top for birds. Right up there with ruffed grouse.
Fish - MN walleye, distant second would be CO trout.
Big Game - Elk #1 for sure, young does from my cousin's farm in IL a close second, pronghorn, bear, mountain goat, and then rutty bucks from my cousin's farm in IL. :)
Thinhorn Sheep by a mile. Then Moose. Then Whitetail.
A guy told me years ago when I was just a kid..... "it's all good..... some just better than others...." =D
At least I THINK he was talkin' about wild game......
30 days dry aged and cooked to perfection. 2.5 year old doe backstrap you can cut with a spoon.
Mountain Lion is delicious too
Was raised in Int'l Falls, MN. Had cabin in remote area of Rainy Lake. Have no idea how many walleye I've eaten. Eaten a lot of ocean fish and commercial fished halibut.
I think halibut and walleye are the favorites of those who like fish that needs breading or something else to taste great. Since I learned how to clean them I prefer northern pike over walleye and pacific cod, along with many other ocean fish, to be better than halibut.
1-Buffalo 2-Elk 3-Red Deer 4-Caribou 5-Axis Deer 6-Fallow Deer 7-Black Bear 8-Whitetail 9-Mule Deer 10-Antelope 11- Water Buff (good but tough) 12-wild hog Killed & ate em all. No longer hunt small game but Cottontail was my favorite & I don't care much for "any" wild game bird either but love plain old fried chicken. Not a big fish eater either.
Oryx....bighorn.....pronghorn...elk...
Whats funny is not that long ago there was this ricouclops thought Pronghorn was bad its incredible...
Moose, bison, and then elk. Favorite bird is ruffed grouse and Hungarian partridge with pheasant in three spot. Have had many other incredible dishes with various other game, but these are my overall day to day choices.
Without question Venison backstrap on hard wood charcoal grill. Next Brooktrout with olive oil, garlic rosemaryand bacon. Surf and turf you would not pass up!
Tastiest steak ever was a Muskox t-bone. Had a roasted blackstrap of African lion once it was excellent.
Bird: Wild turkey or grouse Beast: Wild hog
A baking dish full of squirrels, seasoned lightly with salt ,garlic powder and black pepper , slow cooked in the oven at 275 degrees . Coues whitetail is the best venison ever!!
Moose, elk, black bear, whitetail
Best game meat I've eaten is African species. By far. Maybe it was the atmosphere, the sounds, but everything we ate was fantastic. Maybe the Scotch and burning fire had some impact on the meals...
Downside is you have to be over there to indulge in it.
MathewsMan, we have scotch and fire in the U.S. ;)
Must be the accent...... =D
Agree, many times the best meals are the ones that hold memories as well..... taste/flavor is likely as much mental.... the texture, presentation, degree of hunger/fatigue, as well as surroundings and emotion. The ambiance..... hehehehehe....
I've eaten mountain house meals I've raved about at home..... only to make them at home and it was as bad or worse than a package of mac'n cheese.......
Recently had rainbow trout baked in tin foil on top of wood stove that was amazing! Typically rainbows are not my favorite but I would not trade that meal for anything.
I like everything I've tasted. My kids have asked me to stop shooting WT and Mule deer and just shoot Coues, elk, and Mt Goat.
Someone above mentioned Teal. I'd agree with that. They're absolutely amazing. Trouble is, you need a dozen of them to make a meal :)
Casey General Store has like this hot dog with jalapeño and cheese in it ...........that
