Wild game consumed in your home

[JTHOMP]

Past couple of years I haven't bought much meat. What I mostly bought was sausage to cook with until I made a big batch cut with 40% domestic pig from the store. Unfortunately only a pack of two left and probably won't make anymore until it's cold again so might have to buy. Ideally all of my meat in the future will be killed, raised, and/or processed myself regardless if it is a wild or domestic animal.

Currently freezers are full with what I've killed, and a steer we butchered (mostly storing for my sister). A lot of the year I'm stretching meals with rice, bread, or vegies, to make sure it last until the following hunting season. Now it's a binge of large packs of meat to try and make room before the season starts. I kill more than I personally need, but have a hard time sharing it when I find it still sitting in someone's fridge a week after I cooked it, or still in the freezer months later. Do think cooking just what I kill is easier for me to do than many since my gf lives with me and doesn't eat much meat in general, so mostly responsible for myself in that aspect. I'm not picky and will eat the same thing ever day for a week even it doesn't turn out great. Plus I live near my parents, grandma, and brother, so somebody is always cooking somewhere.

 

[Elkoholic]

100% red meat is wild game
Occasional chicken & fish is store bought
Breakfast sausage & bacon is store bought too.

 

[88man]

yeah I buy chicken and pork and salt water fish. However, 95% of red meat is game> Elk/deer/antelope

 

[LuketheDog]

I bet 95% of our red meat since 2016 or so has been wild game, but I like variety so once in a while I'll buy a chicken or some pork ribs. Oh, and hot dogs, my kids go on hot dog binges where they'll only eat hot dogs for dinner for a few days...but I'm still not sure if hot dogs are actually meat...

 

[Jbotto]

In the last year that my wife and I have been married, and on our own, I haven’t shot any game. This year it changes. I took the year off last year due to residency changes after lotteries had been drawn and a change of job. This fall we each have a doe tag at the moment. I’m hoping to get my percentage up from the 10-25% category.

 

[Pucky Freak]

I did about 50% when I was single. Now it's more like 15% Wife likes venison, but prefers beef. She'll eat a few bites of other things I catch/kill, but mostly just to be nice. I'm not allowed to hunt bear because they're "cute." Rabbits were a source of contention for a long time for the same reason, but I kill a fair amount of them and she finally gave up and said it's fine as long as I don't feed them to our daughter.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Don’t remember the last time I bought beef. I buy chicken when we run out of birds, and buy bacon occasionally. Will buy fatty sale pork to make sausage- but even at that we tend to go very light on pork when we make stuff. The only fish we eat is what we catch. I rarely even enter the meat department.

 

[mtmuley]

Most of the beef I've eaten in a very long time has been in the form of a burger at Nap's in Hamilton, Montana. mtmuley

 

[brockel]

We live on antelope,elk, and deer in that preferred order but we also raise meat chickens to butcher every year as well as butcher a hog every year. Only meat we buy from the store is a couple tri tip roasts as I love them off the pellet grill sliced. Catch lots of catfish (got a trip planned this weekend) as well as some perch, walleye, pike, and trout.

 

[magnum44270]

Havent bought red meat in 4 years

 

[Strehb18]

For the guys who are close to 100%, what do you need harvest wise to make it through the year? I would like to go 99%, but I'm not a very succesfull hunter.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I'd say me and the lady are pretty dang close to 99% wild game and wild caught fish. About the only except for us is: when I have an itch for some smoker pork ribs, king crab for new years, and prime rib for xmas. Other than those few times we don't really touch store bought meat. I have the lady "trained" that wild game has better flavor than most store bought meat, so its a win win! Gives me a reason to spend time and money hunting! ha

 

[deer_shooter]

95% or more red meat in our house is wild game, mostly whitetail and antelope. We supplement with chicken and pork and once or twice a year we'll get a ribeye from the local butcher and occasionally a prime rib roast.

 

[HSi-ESi]

For the guys who are close to 100%, what do you need harvest wise to make it through the year? I would like to go 99%, but I'm not a very succesfull hunter.

I'm sure it's dependent on where you live - but for my family in MT the main staple is 1 elk per year, mixed in with deer (2-3 per year). Some years you get lucky on the draw (antelope, moose, sheep, etc). Which makes for a nice change of pace. Sprinkle in Pheasant, Grouse, Duck, Goose for variety as well.

I've been thinking about making a yearly coastal trip (think chartered boat) to supplement with fresh fish. Plus, it would be a fun annual thing to do with the kids.

 

[brnsvllyjohn]

When my son was at home we could eat 3-4 deer a year. If we had a lot of deer meat on any given year we made jerky. Now that there are just 2 of us 1-2 deer a year works out OK. I rarely make jerky any more. We freeze in 3/4 pound packages now and not 1.5 pound packages like we used to. This allows us to eat venison 1-2 times per week. I fish 75-100 times per year and keep fish 2-3 times per month. We eat fish 1-2 times per week. When I keep fish I keep one limit and freeze a few meals worth. Most fishing trips I release everything if possible. I don't like keeping fish in the freezer for long periods of time so I don't keep very much on hand. I can always fish again next week.

 

[LopeHunter]

Empty-nesters now so I mostly make jerky or pepperoni sticks these days and gift to co-workers and buddies. My folks always want some elk burger and a cousin begs for 20 pounds or so of steaks and roasts when I get a deer or elk.

 

[Cheater]

Over a 100 participants now and 67.7% of them are at 50%+ of their meat consumption being wild game. Pretty impressive, I'm hoping to move into the 10-25% bracket this coming year.

 

[brockel]

For the guys who are close to 100%, what do you need harvest wise to make it through the year? I would like to go 99%, but I'm not a very succesfull hunter.

Last year was 2 elk, 4 antelope, 3 deer

 

[BucksnDucks]

Being in California the availability of wild pigs up my family's percentage greatly. It's nice to have the wild ground pork on hand to mix with venison for sausage. The other positive would be the waterfowl, we have a 100 day plus season and can stack ducks and geese (mainly Specks) in the freezer.

 

[jeremys4]

Living in Nevada and going years without tags makes it difficult to be self sufficient. Hunting with friends and family spreads the wealth. Till last year I’d never ate any cow elk... boy what was I missing. We butcher all own meat my grandfather has walk-in box and bandsaw. My uncle owns a ranch that we raise lamb for our consumption so I get a whole lamb every year.