Elk meat—bull or cow
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: Rcarter
09-Feb-25
Generally—all circumstances the same regarding meat prep, do you have a preference between bull or cow meat? Can you tell a difference between tenderness and or taste?
From: JohnMC
09-Feb-25
I’d say if anything makes a difference it is age more than sex.
From: LUNG$HOT
09-Feb-25
“Elk meat—bull or cow?”
Yes!
Ha, But seriously, I think there’s so many different factors which attribute to the final product of elk meat it’s hard to nail it down. I’ve had meat from bulls that unexpectedly knocked my sox off and I’ve had a cow or 2 that weren’t as good as I expected where meat care definitely wasn’t a problem or factor. I’ve also experienced the opposite. I’m of the belief that feed, age class and aging the meat (or not) has the most significant effects on final product. We raise beef and have a very strict feed regiment and dry age all of our carcasses for 21 days. The final outcome is amazing but even with these controls in place every once in a while we have a steer that’s just not what we expect.
From: FORESTBOWS
09-Feb-25
I would take a young bull over a old cow. But a 2yo cow is perfect
From: HDE
09-Feb-25
Generally, hands down a cow.
From: wyobullshooter
09-Feb-25
The only elk that was less than desirable was an old lead cow. The taste was okay, but she was tough as shoe leather. I’ll never kill another. I’ve killed mature bulls, and they were as tasty and tender as the younger ones.
From: Norseman
09-Feb-25
Spike or raghorn
From: Dale06
09-Feb-25
Cow, younger is better. Killed a large presumably older bull years ago. The back straps were inedible, because they were so tough.
From: Mule Power
09-Feb-25
I killed big bulls little bulls cows, and one calf. I can say without question it has more to do with how quickly the animal dies and how well you take care of the meat and anything. I made an admittedly poor shot on the calf. Followed up and killed it about an hour later. It was literally the toughest elk I’ve ever eaten. I’ve had meat from big bulls and even a lead cow that was excellent.
From: Groundhunter
09-Feb-25
I would shoot a young bull, or like last season, a calf
From: Ron Niziolek
09-Feb-25
I’m happy to be eating elk and honestly can’t tell a difference most of the time
From: montnatom
09-Feb-25
my two experiences with late season (Jan/Feb) pregnant cows was not ideal
From: DonVathome
09-Feb-25
"Generally, hands down a cow."
I completely agree.
From: Knothead
09-Feb-25
Has more to do with age than gender IMO. The younger the better. Best tasting elk I ever had was a spike bull.
From: WV Mountaineer
09-Feb-25
I’ve eaten steaks of various cuts off of bulls and cows within hours of getting them off the bone. Of equal aged animals. My experience was the cows were more tender.
From: Bowfreak
09-Feb-25
This elk died quickly with a near perfect double lung shot. 20 degrees and was broken down quickly and handled as well as you can handle meat. The tenderloins were good. Every other cut of meat on the elk was tougher than anything I’ve ever put in my mouth. I think the hoofs may have been as tender as the backstraps. I ended up grinding ever ounce of meat once I did everything possible to try to make a steak edible. It tasted great and the burger was tremendous but borderline inedible for steaks.
I killed a spike bull this year and that meat was on par with any animal I have never eaten including the most tender antelope cuts. It was phenomenal.
I think it’s age more than anything. I’ve never eaten a bad whitetail but I try not to let them get too old. :)
From: HiMtnHnter
09-Feb-25
Either one on the younger side, especially early season. Later in the year, cow all the way…
From: APauls
09-Feb-25
Bull, cause there’s more of it
From: Bowaddict
09-Feb-25
Never had a bad tasting bull, a few were a little tough. One of 3 cows harvested tasted terrible. Killed quick and meat was boned out in few hours during a cold high country snow storm. Don’t know why but it was bad. A few of the bulls were young 4x’s, delicious and tender!
From: RJ Hunt
09-Feb-25
I have found that my archery elk have all tasted the same and I can’t tell the difference to be honest. That said I age and process all of the meat myself. All have been excellent.
From: Jaquomo
09-Feb-25
I've been eating elk of every age and gender for 50 years and IMO a spike bull is the best and most tender, followed by a yearling cow (pretty much interchangeable). Ive had some big mature bulls that were great, others that were chewy. Same with older cows. YMMV.
From: BULELK1
10-Feb-25
I don't really notice the difference.
I think it is more about how ya take care of the meat in the field after harvest and travel home on ice, and then when home how ya prep it and cook it.
Good luck, Robb
From: JSW
10-Feb-25
I've never shot a cow but family members have. I never could tell the differences in meat quality between the sexes. If you can shoot a spike bull or same age "heifer" you might be able to tell by the tenderness of the meat.
All things considered, some of my biggest, oldest, bulls have been some of my best tasting elk. It's all about how you handle it in the field and how you age it.
From: gil_wy
10-Feb-25
Best elk I’ve eaten was the oldest bull I’ve ever killed… tender and tasty. Probably more of a function of how they live than anything. Hard livin’ equals gamey and tough in my experience.
From: Stix
10-Feb-25
Age is the determining factor on tenderness and quality of meat, not sex.
From: butcherboy
10-Feb-25
There are a lot of factors at play. Age, food, health, time of year, field care, aging the meat, etc. I prefer younger animals and usually early in the fall. I’ve had a few cows shot in December that were terrible but I believe they weren’t very healthy animals. The rest of them shot late in the year have been great. All the bulls I’ve killed have always been in September and have been good but were all young bulls. I’ve processed thousands of elk and I don’t think I would want a bull past October. We used to have saying when cutting WG “Either this elk is really tough or my knife is just dull!” It was usually the first part. Lol
From: hobbes
13-Feb-25
I've never noticed a difference but haven't killed any old bulls. The only elk that I've killed that wasn't especially good was the cow I killed in 23. She wasn't big but teeth indicated she wasn't young by any stretch of the imagination. It reached 80 degrees that day and I gave her a touch over an hour. Shot was one lung and liver and broadhead under skin in front of back ham. I quarterd and hung relatively quick considering I was alone and hauled butt to get bags to darker side of mountain in shade and breeze. I deboned hams and rehung then carried all bags to trail rest of the afternoon and came back next morning to haul to truck with boys. Meat was cool when I left that evening and cold the next morning. There was no bad smell when cutting and packaging. The meat was tender enough but gamey compared to any other elk I've cooked, mostly in smell while cooking and not so much taste, similar to MD. Meat is long gone now but wasn't excellent like all other elk I've had. I've not settled on conditions, shot, or age.
From: JBunn
16-Feb-25
All the elk we’ve killed were good eating. That includes two 10 year old bulls, one of which was killed during the rut. All were killed quickly and deboned and hung to cool as soon as possible.
From: boly
16-Feb-25
I have a theory on the taste thing. I think the animals shot while they are gaining weight as in early archery seasons is better as opposed to later seasons when they are now losing weight using reserves for colder times survival. This has been my experience on taste with meat care basically the same.
