Best tasting wild game

[Bambistew]

I've eaten a lot of different game and fish and really most all of it can be exceptional if cooked right, or the animal wasn't gamey to start with. A sample here or there is tough to make a full judgement call. I've sampled a ton of different African animals and NA as well. Elephant tenderloin was interesting, and much of the other African game was exceptional as well but tough to rank it with the game I eat a lot of. That said if I have a freezer full of meat I get or am given often, I would grab the following in order of preference.

Antelope
Moose
Elk
Bison
August caribou (can be amazing or so-so, later in the fall or winter they move down the list)
Dall sheep (only if its fresh, as in 0-3 months), otherwise move it down the list. It definitely has a shelf life, and gets mushy and dried out. I made most of the last 3 into biltong (jerky)
whitetail deer (alfalfa fed or western deer), if eastern or acorn/corn fed... no thanks
Mule deer (as long as its not rutted up)
.
.
.
.
Bear
road kill possum
blacktail deer

 

[MThuntr]

The more I see these threads, the more I feel like I really don't know how to feel about some animals. My cow elk this year is one of the better tasting animals I've had while the bull elk my friend shot is likely worst so I can't put elk in a single box...same with antelope. The first antelope I shot was inedible (likely a result of my inabilities of processing) while the last one I shot was amazing. I'm a fan of mtn lion and moose but those meals were few. Whitetail deer is consistently in my freezer so I've grown to favor it over many other animals. I've never had the fancier sheep species. I think I've had bighorn but don't remember.

I do like deep fried mourning doves and quail...spend the time plucking them it's a game changer!

Without a doubt Yellow Perch are my favorite fish to eat. Just about any white fish is good for me (bluegill, bass, walleye, whatever). I almost always pickle pike and my freezer is out so I need to make a trip to get some. I'm not necessarily a fan of trout and tend to go smoked when i do keep them. Small cutties or brookies fried whole or over a fire in the summer are tough to beat though especially if there was a struggle up to an alpine lake...type 2 fun

 

[HSi-ESi]

My ranking always seems to change with what I have in the freezer. Variety is nice for sure. Current favorite to least favorite:

Buffalo
Elk
Antelope
Moose
Mule Deer
WT Deer

Growing up we had a local "Game Dinner" in the fall to clean out the freezers. Folks always brought interesting dishes - so I've had Ostrich, Hippo, Rattlesnake, Beaver, Mtn Lion, Elephant (to name a few I remember).

Birds never last long in the freezer - or even make it there anymore. Grouse, huns, pheasant, turkey, ducks are all usually consumed the same week of take.

 

[npaden]

It really is interesting to see where things end up on different peoples list. Aoudad is on 2 peoples list. One near the top and one near the bottom. Same with Javelina. Crane is also one that tends to end up either high or low on peoples list. I'm going to have to shoot some of them some day to see for myself I guess.

Some things like Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goat are just so scarce that they aren't going to be on very many peoples list so hard to really get a gauge for where the really should be in the pecking order.

I have a really hard time ranking them because for the most part I like all wild game.

Ranking the things that I have killed and eaten I would probably go as follows (I'll use a scale of 10 to 1 with 10 being the best and 1 being terrible)

10 - Elk (it's good and you get a lot of it)
9.5 - Antelope (growing up I didn't like antelope, but I think a big part of that was field handling)
9.4 - Quail (I might not rate them as high if I shot more of them. They are a treat though and I think pretty good no matter what)
9.3 - Deer (Muley and Whitetail - I like them both about the same, I've eaten enough that there are some outliers here, better and worse, but overall I think they are solid.
9.1 - Mountain Goat (My only experience with mountain goat was good, a 3 1/2 year old Billy that tasted good and wasn't near as tough as people made it sound like they would be)
8.8 - Dove (I shoot close to 100 each year, it's probably not a fair ranking as I cook them with bacon all the time and that probably sets them a little higher than they would by themselves)
8.5 - Wild Pig (I got tired of eating it and that's probably why it is this far down the list. It just became a chore to butcher and eat it all I was killing so many of them)
7 - Turkey (They are decent tasting but the ones I have had have both been very tough to chew)
6.9 - Bear (If you didn't have to cook it so well done I think it would be better, with that said you have to cook it well done so you won't get sick)

I didn't try to mix fish in there, I like pretty much every fish I've ever caught but King Salmon would probably top that list.

With all that said I still end up buying some Ribeye steaks a few times a year even though they are full of hormones and steroids!

 

[onpoint]

"With all that said I still end up buying some Ribeye steaks a few times a year even though they are full of hormones and steroids"!
I wonder what portion of people responding with their lists of favorite game also regularly/sometimes buy and consume beef, poultry, and pork.
I haven't bought a beefsteak nor hamburger in a store since the early nineties. My wife has bought home pork a few times in that time period - after eating it I felt like crap. We do eat chicken thighs now and again.
Wild critter meat occupies 99% of the space in our freezer. Usually 100%.
The cat/bear/waterfowl hunters and consumers will get no competition from me...………..

 

[Europe]

npaden, I definitely agree with you about how, and why, certain "favorites" end up on different lists and why. "It was the best I ever had, until, I had something I had not had before and then it was the best"

Some time elapsed between our sheep hunts, but every time we went, it reconfirmed TO US, that Dall deserved to be at or near the top. But others, who were with us, during the hunt and meal, disagreed and had a different favorite. Being raised in Arizona, it took a long time to get me not to always say coues deer when ask what was the best I had ever had. Bottom line, I agree with your point.

onpoint. We always had beef in the freezer, my dad and then my husband always butchered one to two of our steers ( sometimes a couple times a year ), plus we also ate the chickens (and eggs) from our farm, but we also always had wild game of some kind, (big and small game as well as both upland and waterfowl birds.)

 

[ImBillT]

^^^ I definitely eat 5-10 ribeyes per year, as well as some chicken. Personally I get tired of all red meat or all white meat. I like to mix it up. I don’t shoot enough white meat or catch enough fish not to buy a little meat here and there. Shot my first elk this year though, so I may not feel the need for quite as many ribeyes.

 

[Trial153]

Just my top 3

Summer/ early fall Caribou
Moose
Elk

 

[JohnCushman]

Not really wild game, but the locals would feed us goat curry in Iraq. It was amazingly tender and the meat had a unique flavor. I also ate a lot of lamb in Bosnia. I ate some sort of 'meat' kabobs from the street vendors in Turkey that were quite tasty. We didn't know what the meat was, but there were no stray cats or dogs around.

 

[huntin24/7]

For big game:
1. Elk
2. Moose
3. Antelope
4. Whitetail
5. Mule deer

Birds:
1. Huns
2. Pheasant
3. Crane

Fish:
1. Bluegill, perch, crappie
2. Halibut
3. Walleye
4. Salmon

 

[JEL]

"With all that said I still end up buying some Ribeye steaks a few times a year even though they are full of hormones and steroids"!
I wonder what portion of people responding with their lists of favorite game also regularly/sometimes buy and consume beef, poultry, and pork.
I haven't bought a beefsteak nor hamburger in a store since the early nineties. My wife has bought home pork a few times in that time period - after eating it I felt like crap. We do eat chicken thighs now and again.
Wild critter meat occupies 99% of the space in our freezer. Usually 100%.
The cat/bear/waterfowl hunters and consumers will get no competition from me...………..

onpoint,
We don't eat a ton of beef or pork but I will tell you that what I do eat I don't get from the grocery store. Pork especially. I buy 1/2 hog from a local farmer every couple years. It is not the same meat as you get in a grocery store. If I eat beef I usually get some steaks from a non hunting friend who buys beef from the same farmer. Good stuff. (also I grew up on a farm/ranch back in day. I have great memories of raising, butchering, and processing our own meat).

Wild game does make up the largest portion of the red meat we eat now. Moose is my favorite (have only taken one. It was really good) followed by antelope, elk and deer. Have eaten some beaver and bear and really enjoyed that as well.

 

[sneakypete]

Stone sheep back straps, moose!

 

[Tinner2216]

Grouse
Bear
Elk
Deer
I believe bear would be higher on people's list, but it extremely important to get it field dressed and in a cooler immediately. We use beef for chille and save the bear for burgers on the grill.

 

[Big Bore]

Hog
Nilgai
Axis deer

 

[LCH]

I've got enough space to raise a few domestic critters at my place. If I didn't hunt I'd probably have a small hobby farm thing going. We raised cattle when I was a kid, mostly bottle fed steers. I never have trouble getting enough wild game for our freezer though, so it's not worth the time and financial commitment to me to raise anything.

We do buy chicken at the grocery store. Processed meats for sandwiches/etc. If I haven't killed any boar we occasionally buy pork loin or sausage.

As far as red meat, I enjoy a well grilled steak at Texas Roadhouse or the like when we're out on the town. I've never had to buy it to stock the freezer though.

A co-worker of mine buys a quarter beef from a local farmer each year, grass fed/no hormone treatments, all that. When he told me how much he pays for that beef, I feel a whole lot better about spending $300 on a cow elk tag.

 

[ImBillT]

^^^ Not sure what he pays, but a friend of my sells grass fed beef, whole, quarter, or half for $5/lb. Unfortunately I bought my 1/4 before hunting season assuming that I wouldn’t be quite so successful. That made my elk a little cheaper per pound and my out of state mule deer quite a bit more expensive. It would be much different if I wasn’t out of state.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

^^^ Not sure what he pays, but a friend of my sells grass fed beef, whole, quarter, or half for $5/lb. Unfortunately I bought my 1/4 before hunting season assuming that I wouldn’t be quite so successful. That made my elk a little cheaper per pound and my out of state mule deer quite a bit more expensive. It would be much different if I wasn’t out of state.

Bought, cut and wrapped our beef is currently costing us about $1.80 per finished product. That's cheap enough for burger much less steaks and roasts. All I have to do is pick him/her out and haul her. I usually try to find another person so I only have to handle half at a time.

 

[cgarner]

Moose
Antelope
Elk
Fish (I love to eat fish in general. Too many to list separately)
Crane
Swan
Dove
Quail
Whitetail
Frog legs
Alligator
Mallard (from Canada)
Rattle Snake
escargot

 

[ImBillT]

Bought, cut and wrapped our beef is currently costing us about $1.80 per finished product. That's cheap enough for burger much less steaks and roasts. All I have to do is pick him/her out and haul her. I usually try to find another person so I only have to handle half at a time.

That’s a heck of a price! I wouldn’t really want more than a quarter though. I get enough game every year that a quarter would be about the most I would want. This year however, I put 468lbs in the freezer in deer and elk alone. I doubt We’ll eat nearly that much.

 

[BrentD]

Swan has come up several times. Is it really any different than a Canada goose? I should think we are not terribly far off from having a Trumpeter Swan season here. Damn, they are big!