Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Your wild game dining preference?

I have eaten WT, of course, as well as Mouflon, Blackbuck, Squirrel & Axis. Did not like the Elk I have tried. Don't really care for WT unless it is in sausage.

My favorite is Axis & Squirrel. I am wondering about Pronghorn especially.

What's your fancy?

Elk, moose, deer in that order. Not a fan of goose/ducks. Small game I can live without as well. I like bison alot but think all I've had has been ranched and not wild.

Antelope is ok but is stronger than any of my preferred 3 above. Black bear is ok but can be greasy. Never had anything African that I can recall.

Elk, antelope, moose then deer. Dove is at the top of my list too.

Pronghorn is my favorite. I've shot and eaten an even dozen and never had a bad one. I skin and chill them quickly and cut up my own. I think this makes a difference. And I never shoot at one that is running, some people say that makes a difference in taste. One shot, one kill, on an unsuspecting goat is the way to go.

A calf or yearling elk is really great too!

Nilgai, Bighorn Sheep, elk, moose, pronghorn

Smoker-grilled elk tenderloins or saut�ed Blue Grouse with garlic. There is nothing better wild or domestic...

Wild birds stuffed with oyster dressing.







And there is only one bird that matters.

I've eaten so much elk for so long that the taste, still enjoyable, has become rather commonplace.

Recently have been partial to bighorn sheep.

I've noticed that if I go a while without waterfowl, venison, antelope, (and actually even beef) then each tastes better when I resume eating it again.

I haven't had the opportunity to try a large variety of game like many here have. Most folks around here seem to prefer elk to anything else, and I'd probably rate the elk tenderloins grilled/smoked on charcoal as Shrapnel posted as about tops for me. After the tenderloins are gone, I've generally found the deer I've shot to be more tender than the majority of elk I've had so probably would lean that direction with whitetail preferred to mule deer, but not by much. Add in upland birds, either mountain grouse or pheasant...

This really does make the difference !

You're in control of your own meat.

Age for upto 7 days at correct temperature.

No hair, no fat & no silverskin/connective tissue left on my meat. Always vacuum packed & frozen !

Was taught by a friend & am eternally thankful. Have had other peoples wild game meat & can tell how "anal" they are with their cutting & processing.

Hmmm...

Don't much care for racoon or bear. Muskrat, beaver squirrels and bunnies are good. WT deer are capable of being truly outstanding when cooked well. Never had some moose. Elk, Bison antelope is good. Wild boar, various snakes are good too.

I'd have to rate my favorite being WT deer because I know how to make them really special. I suppose any of the others could be as good or better in the right hands.

Of the birds, Woodcock first then ruffed grouse, wood ducks, then teal. I would bet though that in the wrong hands any birds can be awful, like most people do woodcock, and in the right hands any of them can be superb too.

Nilgai
Squirrel
Axis
Elk
Whitetail
Dink mule deer

Pronghorn, when properly cared for (skinned and gutted, IMMEDIATELY after hitting the ground), is top table fare, IMO.

For my wife and myself, our preferences are:

Pronghorn and Whitetail deer
Nilgai
Elk
Wild Turkey
Bighorn Sheep (not a lot of opportunity here! Need a few permits in a lifetime.)
Moose
Mule Deer doe or young buck

Kudu
Oryx
Nilgai
Elk
White-tailed deer
Mule Deer
Pronghorn

I have enjoyed some moose cuts, but have not eaten enough to have a firm opinion.

Elk
Pronghorn
White tail
Mule Deer

Still waiting on tags for moose and sheep!

Properly cooked, elk and deer are **excellent**. The quality of the output is determined by the weakest link between it walking and it landing on your plate. Proper field care makes a huge difference. Proper hanging makes a huge difference. Proper cooking makes a huge difference. Most people flat out don't know what they're doing but rather than accept responsibility for their mistakes, they blame the meat as if somehow it was responsible for how they mishandle it.

First thing, don't shoot anything that is running or "hot" with the adrenaline flowing, it changes the flavor for the worse.

Second thing, as soon as it hits the ground, get the blood out of the carcass, then get the hide off NOW and get the meat cooling. A carcass can stay warm for many hours with the hide on and every one of those hours degrades the meat.

Many people do not have proper cold storage to hang meat to "age" it. "Green" meat which has been cut/processed too soon tastes funny.

Only after you get all of those truly right does the recipe matter. If you don't, you recipe has to cover the foul taste of your earlier mistakes, but if you get those right, then you can choose a recipe that brings out the flavors.

My favorite is blacktailed deer with elk a close second. I haven't had pronghorn in quite a while but it ranks right up there ... when done right. I'm not that fond of waterfowl, most of what we got when I was a kid were birds living on snails and stuff like that, there were no grain crops for probably 100 miles, so everything was just a little "fishy" except the ones that were gawd awful "fishy".

Tom

Young sagehen
Eland hump
Cow elk
Pronghorn
Blue/spruce/ruffed grouse
Pintails off grain fields

Then about everything else equally. I love it all!

Oryx
Springbok
Mtn Zebra steaks
Kudu
Pronghorn
Blue Wildebeest
Axis
Deer

Antelope or deer provided they are not rutting. Early season bucks always are better.


Grilled pheasant is pretty good. Just like a good steak don't overcook it!

Pronghorn antelope, mountain lion, and caribou.

Ohhhh...I forgot about Gemsbok and mountain lion...

Never had mountain lion any way but in a stew. Wonder if Eileen has any recipes?

Gemsbok YES!

Mountain lion is so tough the broth bent my fork.

Dall sheep, Eland, calf elk, Pronghorn, calf moose, Pheasant, Teal, and Grey Partridge, in about that order, but methods of handling meat and recipes used in cooking matter!

I also thoroughly enjoy both whitetail and mule deer, ruffed grouse, geese, most ducks, and even snipe. I've made my living most of my life raising livestock and poultry, but don't eat much domestic meat. Wild is just better to me. I cut my own meat and make my own sausage and cook my own meals.

Big on sandhill crane, mountain lion, beaver, young caribou, oryx (White Sands, NM), Sitka blacktail, bison, good ducks, lynx, feral pigs...

Moose, elk, Dall sheep, mountain goat, black bear, WT deer, mule deer, hares, most upland birds, and muskox are all very, very good under good conditions.

The worst I ever tried to eat was a piece of sea otter backstrap. Not far behind was an old pronghorn buck and a fall brown bear in the salmon. One huge caribou bull was nearly inedible.

I really enjoyed Nyala filet. It was seared in coconut oil, roasted on a pan for 15 minutes, and served in a brown onion sauce with mashies. Phenomenal!!

Eric

It is extremely difficult to pick one as a favorite. I have had game I didn't care for but generally it was the fault of the cook or the person handling it in the field. The only moose I had prior to moving to Alaska was terrible. Tasted like vinegar. I knew it had to have been handled improperly or shot in the rut. All the moose I've had since moving here has been excellent.

My wife and I shot a lot of grass fed deer and elk when we lived in the lower 48 and always found them to be outstanding. My wife once killed a summer crop control elk in a pea field. That was some of the finest elk ever. We've both killed some excellent eating caribou, always cows, or bulls pre/post rut.

I've had musk ox, mountain goat, Dall sheep, antelope, and spring black bear and all of it outstanding.

I am very fond of snowshoe rabbit and gray squirrel, though I've not had a squirrel stew in a very long time. About the only game bird I'll pass on is spruce grouse, though many tell me I'm crazy. I've not had many good ones. I like duck and goose if they are not over cooked. I did try some seal jerky once, compliments of a co-worker. I don't need to ever do that again.

If I had to pick just one, it would probably be Dall sheep. Though it would be only by the slimmest of margins over anything on the list. I like wild game. A lot.

On a hunt outside Toad River BC we had a tenderloin sampler one night. In order of preference, mountain goat, Stone sheep, moose then elk. Eland is high on the list as well.

I had some under great conditions a few years ago, on the Emerald Rose tied up at the harbor, still remember that!

Moose elk and WT deer in that order. My two bear were so different that its hard to know. one was very good and the other was a stinky mess.

Grouse, salmon, deer, elk, turkey and pronghorn; I've not had the privilege of trying moose.

I like it all. I think Sitka blacktail is my favorite. Love moose, fried quail or squirrel.

Bear is likely the one I'm not a big fan of.

Bear can vary considerably, due to the time of year and diet. When it's good, it's really good, but when it's bad.... Elk can also vary considerably. I suspect a lot of people rate elk high because they're grazers, like cows, so the meat tends to resemble lean beef more than some other animals.

Unless we go out, we eat only wild game, and don't find all that much difference in cloven-hoofed animals. They're all good, if taken care of in the field and not abused in the kitchen. Have had people who say they don't like mule deer eat it at our house and guess it's elk. We've probably had two dozen different species of cloven-hoofed animals in our freezers over the years, and tend to remember specific animals that were exceptional more than certain species.

My preference is meat that has been well taken care of- That seems to make more difference than whether it was a deer, antelope or elk.

Elk, moose, antelope, whitetail deer, Hungarian partridge, pheasant in order of preference of my favorite wild meats. Right at the top, with elk tenderloin, is fresh walleye and frog legs.

I've been pondering something my wife told me a few years back regarding the venison I prepare. She and her two daughters generally prefer not to eat it so I've been trying to understand just what it is they don't care for. They all tell me it tastes good, so I've been stumped as to what the problem is. I think part of it is the former husband/girls' Dad turning them off on it by his handling/preparation of what he brought home. Beyond that, what finally came out was the texture of the meat was the issue. At first I thought they were all just nuts, but started paying attention to "texture" (whatever that is).

They all seem to prefer elk to deer and the only difference I can tell regarding texture is that elk is coarser or more grainy (closer to beef) whereas deer seems to have a finer texture. My older step-daughter tried some fresh deer tenderloin (medium rare) right off the grill and said it tasted good, but was "mushy". The combination of being very tender as well as fine textured seemed to turn her off. I've never had moose, but my wife has and says it's great and texture isn't an issue. All this has me thinking maybe this texture thing is related to the size of the animal and they compare everything to beef - the more it differs from beef, the less they like it. Smaller animals - finer texture, larger animals - coarser texture?

The more I think about it, I still think they're all nuts But then, that just means more for me and the grandsons - they beg for steak every time they come over...

We eat almost all wild meat instead of beef. When we do have beef, it's often disappointing.

As do I - it's the women folk that just don't get it! I still enjoy a good Fillet, T-bone or New York strip at home, but am usually disappointed with beef at most restaurants. When I grill steaks for the family anymore, I do beef for them and usually have venison myself.

The problem is between their ears. Just say it's lamb or veal and they'll love it!!!

JGray,

That's pretty much the conclusion I've come to over the years. The average American's taste buds are trained to beef, pork chicken, so anything that tastes or chews somewhat different is weird. I recently read an interesting article on taste research in Smithsonian magazine. The latest tests indicate our taste buds ARE trained, and often we can start liking something new if we eat it 10 or more times. So few people eat lamb anymore that I've seen the same reaction to its distinctive flavor as many have to game.

Of course, many Americans prefer bland food or drink in general, due to the processed stuff designed not to offend anybody which makes up most supermarket foods. Which explains why many choose Budweiser and Coors over microbrews, Kraft macaroni and cheese over fresh pasta and real cheese, and Chicken McNuggets over real chicken.

Definitely some of that going on as well...

After killing a goat this year, I've been able to eat every game species here in MT.

Pronghorn is far and away my favorite, and is always the first to go. The most tender game meat I've had by a long stretch.

Whitetail is also always great, even all the rutted up bucks I've shot have been delicious. It's what we eat the most of by far so it's kind of my bar for comparing other meats to. I will say the riverbottom bucks of SW MT that live in cottonwoods and eat alfalfa are a bit better than the big timber bucks we kill in NW MT, but not as much as you'd expect.

Black bear would probably be my third favorite close to whitetail. Nothing better than big crock potted bear roast. The higher fat content and large grain makes it perfect for low and slow cooking. The fat also helps it make great burger and sausages.

I've never been a huge fan of elk, for some reason it always ends up being tougher than other game meats for me. No off flavor or smell, but just tough. I haven't had cow elk in a long time, maybe it's a lot better.

Mule deer is what it is, the bucks we've killed have all had a bit of aroma, but once cooked it's good enough.

The mountain goat tenderloins over the campfire the night of the kill was some of the best protein I've ever had. Everything else has been... An adventure. Lots of slow cooked chili, no grilled steaks. Very mild flavor, but it's easily the toughest game meat I've had.

The only bighorn I've ate was an ancient old ewe and she was tough also, but nowhere near as bad as the goat. Similar color and flavor to mule deer.

The mountain lion was an awesome change of pace, great lean white meat that can be used in place of pork chops in any recipe. I'd kill another in a second for the meat alone.

Amen to that. I won a bet once with a gourmet chef in Los Angeles when I told him I had shot a bear in the Sierra that was basically inedible. He bet me he could make the best chili ever if I gave him some of the meat. I did, and several acquaintances gathered for the tasting. The looks of disgust were priceless, and I won the bet. I did, however, salvage the meat. It made some of the best teriyaki jerky I've ever had. Go figure.

that ive had nilgai is at the top of the list, then speed goat, bison, elk,.....deer can fall anywhere on the line depending on the individual....walleye and pheasant can fall anywhere on the line depending on if im hungry for it or not....

JGray, I have a done a few taste tests and compared our home grown beef to store bought. The home grown always has more flavor and a little different flavor as well. Love grilled burgers(1") with a touch of red/pink in the center.


Even better is a antelope backstrap steak with a blood red center!

Beyond good.

My buddy gave some moose steaks and those are great as well.

but our local beef here is different than what most people are buying in the store....hell i rarely eat steak in a resturant anymore cause the stuff i buy from Hoch's just tastes better....but then your beef and what i buy out of Hoch's is eating the same stuff as the elk around here

My wife loves game meat as much as I do and I'm grateful for that.

We had a few of her family visiting of the summer and I made venison burgers. I know if I told them it was venison they wouldn't have eaten it, so I just said 'How about some burgers?'

There was none left.

Elk from the Missouri Breaks in Montana,not from the mountains in Western MT.,Whitetail deer,then antelope.I hope I never have to eat mule deer again.
I've eaten bighorn sheep,mountain goat,elk,whitetail,mule deer,black bear,moose,caribou,beaver,muskrat,porcupine,grouse(ruffed,spruce,sharptail,)Hungarian partridge,pheasants,ducks,geese,swan,sandhill cranes,doves,snipe,squirrels,rabbits(cottontail,snowshoe and Jack rabbit)and I even tried coyote made into summer sausage once,one bite.But Elk is my favorite.

Sheridan, the beef might get a touch more grain than the elk. Unless the elk herd has been camped on a wheat field.....grin


Steelhead, here's one. My wife loves chicken and pheasant.

But won't touch the pheasant, afraid of biting/swallowing a copper plated #5.

Freaks her out. I said just don't chomp around like an old cow and you'll be fine.

Evidentially bad advice.

Cooked up a big batch of tacos for a gathering of my students last year. Most are not from here and the talk eventually turned to game meat. Many remarked they've never had venison or antelope.
I just had to tell them..


" If you ate those tacos....you have!"



They actually thought it was cool instead of being repulsed.

texture is a different, fat levels are different....but a steak from the beef you and the other guys around here raise is a fair ways away from what most tend to think of as beef....its a hell of alot leaner than any steak you get at a decent restaurant for one thing....most decent restaurant steaks and most feedlot beef tastes flat out greasy to me...

course after eating mule deer all these years i cant figure what peoples hang up with lamb is....i dont mind lamb at all...

For me it is elk followed very closely by Dall sheep. I have had amazing antelope, and antelope that would gaga a maggot.... Both times the antelope were handled properly, and quickly. Go figure...

Dall sheep or stones sheep is tops in my books early caribou is also outstanding. Cow elk is pretty tasty and so is moose but it can be a little chewy.

That all makes sense, John - I prefer microbrews and the girls do, in fact, drink Budweiser and Coors (light, no less)! Coffee is another one - the bolder/darker, the better. The girls think my beer and coffee is disgusting

Jerry

Sam, I'm not sure I've had home grown beef and think I need to change that. I know quite a few folks that buy a half or whole beef, often splitting it between a couple families. I eat more venison so generally buy smaller quantities from the local markets (usually just steaks and burger). My neighbor raises a few cows and butchers one for his own consumption every now and then - I'm sure he'd work with me on a smaller quantity...

Jerry

even with all the wild game we ate(Darla and i would generally buy and fill a couple doe tags along with the buck tags) we bought usually a full beef a year, some years one and a half, a half at a time cause of two athletic girls in the house....we damn near went broke feeding them.....Jess, after practice, would come home, thaw out a 2 pound package of burger, make herself 3 giant hamburgers for a snack and then eat a full supper 2 hours later...was unreal to watch.....she didnt have hardly any fat on her either, burned it off playing sports

Recently my wife bought water buffalo and we were trying to decide what it tasted like. IMO it tastes like any other buffalo/bison - maybe not quite as lean and dry.

Yeah my wife probably wouldn't react that great either if I told her not to do something like an ol'cow.

Big Horn sheep
Elk or pheasant

sheridan,

We went through the same "disappearing meat" deal with Eileen's son. We'd cook a 10-pound elk roast in Friday night, expecting to use it for various meals all weekend, and find it gone by Saturday afternoon.

Ralphie, sure I said it in a little more sensitive manner....grin

Remember that the next time someone accuses me of not playing well with others!

My hand's-down favorite game meat is Dall Sheep. Nothing, IME, is even close.

My 2nd favorite is absolutely antelope. If you get the hide off quickly and get it chilled quickly you'll always have GREAT meat.

The Alaskan Moose I've had is better than our Montana elk, but I've only had Shiras Moose once and it wasn't as good as the AK Moose I've eaten.

4th favorite would be elk, but only spikes or younger. Elk calf is fabuous, and I'd put it ahead of moose. Old bulls and cows are tasty, but TOUGH!

5th favorite would be Nilgai.

Grey Squirrel is good, especially chicken-fried.

Deer... bleh.

Bison is great but I really don't consider it game meat. Here it can be bought over the counter nearly everywhere, and it's served in most of our restaurants.

Sam,

If you're sick of the pellets in the pheasant, just upsize to #2 shot. It blows clean through them and I've never had a pellet stuck in the meat, even from rear-end long-range shots.

We eat almost exclusively deer and elk. I don't get tired of either. Throw in some grouse once in a while and we are set. My wife's moose she got this year makes some darn fine burgers.

My all time favorite is calf elk steak cooked up in a generous amount of butter heaped all around with a big pile of morel mushrooms, then topped off with a piece of good swiss cheese. Don't know where my wife came up with the cheese topper but it sure ties it all together quite nicely. Dam, now i'm hungry.

I agree that store bought beef can't hold a candle to home grown.

I'm kinda' partial to just grass fed. Takes a little longer to finish them though.

Hard to choose a favorite. But the top contenders in no particular order would be-

Yearling white tail

Bacon wrapped quail

Pheasant

Yearling elk

Squirrel

Rabbit

I haven't had moose, sheep and lots of the more exotic things. However, I enjoy most game meat. While I can eat it, I am just not as big a fan of pronghorn as many folks. On the last one I killed, I had much of it made into summer sausage. I gave a roll of it to my aunt and she was incredulous! "You did what? Don't you EVER use a good antelope for summer sausage again! That's what nasty old deer are for!" It made me laugh because I really like nasty old deer! Several people I know do like pronghorn better than deer. I don't. Don't tell me it is because I don't handle the meat correctly, because I do.

My absolute favorite is fried turkey breast!

Never got to try Dall sheep but I've heard it's excellent.

Of course if some of y'all that live in areas where you can hunt them want to pack some in dry ice and send it to Arkansas...

I'll be happy to send a gallon of honey back in return.

Just had favorite for supper--
Fresh venison tenderloin (killed on Wed)
Homemade mac & cheese
Salad
Fresh bread
Iced tea

I like most any that I have tried but currently my favorites are antelope and whitetail. I haven't had elk in so long I forget what it tasted like but I remember liking it. I used to eat a lot of pheasant and liked it. Duck really seemed to depend on what they had been eating and sometimes you couldn't tell until that first bite. I definitely think that the individual animal varies a lot too and there is a mental aspect to enjoying what you have worked for yourself-they always taste better...to you.
One I could never get to enjoy was woodcock. I used to shoot one occasionally early pheasant hunting in swampy areas. Never could even pretend to enjoy it.

Dall sheep is my favorite, but I have 2 friends that hate it. One grinds it into Jalapeno/cheese dogs, and can barely stomach those.

Sitka blacktail would probably be second, with columbia blacktail closely following, though it has been a while since I've had the latter.

I'd put moose next.

I like elk pretty well. Have only had the Roosevelt variety, but it was good.

After moose it gets pretty tricky. Have not had a bad black bear, but would not be terribly surprised if I did. It is tough, and doesn't lend itself to grilling, but is good as roasts.

I had good caribou a couple of times, but in general I'd rather not eat it...which is why I don't really hunt caribou.

One of the most disgusting things I've ever tried to eat was whitetail, and it was prepared in order to mask the flavor. I'm glad to hear that some people like it and hopefully that means that I got an outlier.

Anything you are wrapping in bacon probably wasn't any good to start with, although moose bacon is pretty tough to argue with.

It's interesting what one may find delightful another would barf. I won't kill what I won't eat. I plan to go on an Antelope hunt next season and find out what they taste like.

I love a variety of game meats, but it is hard to beat hanging loins grilled or flash fried in onions...

30 years ago I married a gal who couldn't boil water without calling her mom for help.
The girl has turned into a terrific cook, and particularly excels with all sorts of game. Loves to experiment...

I grew up in a family where we literally "lived" on wild game. We seldom ever ate beef and what pork we ate as generally from wild hogs.

Normal fare included rabbit, squirrel, deer, hogs, ducks, quail, doves, fish and various reptiles (turtle, snake, alligator and such). Basically we ate anything that walked, swam, flew or crawled....depending on what came along when we were in the woods.

I liked it all and still do. The "secret" to cooking wild game of any kind is to understand that most of it is very lean. Dry cooking methods will ruin most wild game.....it must be cooked in a way that doesn't dry out the meat. I like deer, elk, pronghorn and moose, but you can not treat it like grain-fed beef. There just isn't enough fat content to prevent toughness and dry meat without some added fat to the recipe. Game birds are much the same.

Wild game does have a distinctive flavor (which I like) and cannot be made to taste like beef. Attempt to make wild game into beef will never work and guarantee failure and disappointment.

I've eaten some strange stuff over the years and mostly liked it all. Some more than others. Possum I've tried baked, fried, stewed and every other way you can imagine......and it was never really great.....edible, but hardly something I'd deliberately seek out. Some were surprisingly good. Never ate Mountain Lion, but have ate quite a bit of Bobcat (when I was running a trap line). It was great....mild, white and tender. Alligator was disappointing. No flavor and bland.

Snake was good....if plain....except Moccasin, which was terrible.

Wild game is great....but it has to be treated like it is not like beef

In order of preference
Wild Sika deer from maryland
Young elk
Any other elk that has been cared for properly
Antelope shot while rested and cared for properly
rabbit
Ruffed grouse
White tailed deer

My list of do not even bother eating
Antelope that were run around a bit or not skinned and cooled quick
Most mule deer
Duck
Any goose
old bull bison,not much flavor and pretty tough chewing.

Just my tastes others may vary

im sure you can run into a bad one but generally speaking with speed goats, they can either be some of the best tasting or worst tasting game you ever had depending how you treat them.....find some that havent been run, kill them clean, get the hide off and the meat cooled down fast and its damn good eats, real mild meat....run one or leave the hide on while it bounces around in the back of your pickup for a day or two and its quite possible your dog wont eat it

IIRC part of the reason for them being milder is they mature into trophy animals much quicker than deer do, a mature trophy speed goat is usually a couple years younger than a mature trophy whitetail....also the older animals are more easily killed off in a bad winter as they carry no body fat and pretty much have to constantly eat to live....

Moose.
WT.
Smoked goose.
Squirrel.

I am really quite partial to Russian wild boar. Used to hunt them and get the hams double smoked. Very nice. I can't believe they're considered vermin in the southern U.S.
I got a young whitetail doe from the neighbors tree stand just last week with my bow. From the time it was shot through the lungs to hanging was 2 hours. Just butchered it and wrapped it yesterday. It should be good.
Unfortunately, I will probably be the only one eating it. Too many people with taste biases. Oh well!!

My deer finally thawed out and I just ate a literal pound of post-rut whitetail tenderloin, bloody rare.


Grade AAA delicious.

And I just snarfed down a batch of fried squirrel, pierogies, and squirrel gravy...my favorite meal....

We grew up on grass fed beef and small game (squirrels, rabbits, dove and ducks). I have also had raccoon that tasted like roast beef when cooked like a pot roast with onions, carrots and potatoes. To me, all the WT, MD and elk taste like grass fed beef when properly cared for and prepared. Springbuck and eland were the top meets we had in Namibia but oryx was not far behind.

Early sitka blacktail, dink sitka blacktail, late sitka blacktail. I can't stand rut sitka blacktail on a medium aged or mature sitka blacktail.

Moose is really good. Caribou is also really good.

Wait, I know you've never shot a dink. Must of been those bucks you let your foster kids shoot.

I've had decent peak-of-the-rut blacktail bucks. Any fat left on the meat will give it a rank flavor.

I noticed a lot of folks dissed muley. The one I shot in Nevada (1st week in Nov) was pretty darn good. All the steaks I've had so far (and these are the choicest cuts) were very good - rivaling our blacktails. They get a good soak in marinade and then grilling. One thing I noticed with this deer is it didn't stink with deer musk. Every deer that stinks of "rut perfume" is gonna taste rank.

With 5 tags, dinks hit the dirt. I can't go eat dinner at most folks houses, if they serve venison. I don't know how they do it, but they manage to make the best tasting deer meat taste like dog [bleep]. It's got to be in how they take care of it. Burger, forget about it. I think they grind up every last tendon and all the fat to make the gamiest tasting hamburger. I can't do it. Same as fish... you'd think you couldn't screw up halibut, but I've had some gut wrenching halibut brought to potlucks and such.

Muleys get a bad rep for the same reason pronghorn do IMO. Most of the deer you see are hauled around for days,or hung in the sun. Guys treat wild game like hell and expect it to taste excellent.

You can get bad ones of course, had several muleys/elk that were terrible, but only one pronghorn. The lope was a mystery, shot literally in his bed during a snow storm by my hunting pard, same area i took mine in the day before,skinned and on its way to ambient temp (around 30 deg) within an hour, and never hung in temps above 40 while aging. It was the most rank tasting meat ever..Still dont know why.

My preference

Pronghorn
Bison
Elk
Moose
Deer

If all the elk were young cows/bulls, then they would tie with pronghorn..IME elk are the most unpredictable in what you will get taste/tenderness wise. although I havent had enough moose or wild bison to have too strong of an opinion.

Moose
Wild Turkey
Axis
Caribou
Fallow
Whitetail
Rabbit
Chukar
Grouse
Pheasant

Raccoon and bear is pretty good barbequed in a smoker...

Can't remember all the wild game I've consumed, but includes

Impala
Hartebeeste
Warthog
Rabbit
Pheasant
Quail
Springbok
Gemsbok
Caribou
Doves
Elk
Bison
Kudu
Mule Deer
Feral Hog
Elk
Bison
Pronghorn

Undoubtedly others if I reflected on it for a bit.

Favorites are elk and bison. Least favorite pronghorn.

Elk, deer, turkey, duck breasts (filleted, brined and circled with a piece of bacon like a fillet mignon), wabbit , quail, dove and squirrel.

Elk hands down, wild pork loin is a favorite too, I'll be tasting bison come the first of Feb, have heard it's very good too.

Nyala has been my favorite.

For American game, I like elk, pronghorn, venison, and wild hog. I shot my first pronghorn this year, and I'm not sure it hasn't edged out elk in my book. Every cut is so tender, and the flavor is fantastic. Too bad I have to travel so far to find them!

Oryx and Nilgai are the best wild game I've ever ate! Axis would be my 3rd choice
And I also love wild Pheasant.

I won't eat ducks. Always give them to my hunting buddies.

Will eat Bison, but it always tastes too "sweet" to me, as compared to beef.

My favorite, though is still US aged Beef. Prefer registered Angus.

I have eaten a lot of wild game (including Axis which many people rave about) as I suspected many of the previous posters have. We all are going to have favorites pending our personal taste.

But IMO still hard to beat a corn, soybean, alfalfa, acorn and grass fed Pa. whitetail.

When it comes to birds:

Hard to beat a grilled barely cooked morning dove wrapped in bacon.

Feathered: Chukkar or Pheasant

small game: squirrel

Big game: smaller(<150lb) wild hog. By far my favorite wild big game meat. After that elk, deer. I've tried black bear twice, both times it was terrible.

My favorite so far was a yearling bison.
Worst: My first duck hunt, I killed a coot. I tried to eat it... I really tried.

WT deer is my favorite...cooked in a mushroom, burgundy wine, and mushroom sauce. Or grilled. Or fried.

Haven't had opportunity to taste elk, but hoping to change that this year.

I like Pronghorn...kind of a sharper flavor?

Mule deer venison has good flavor.

Doves and quail grilled simply with a butter and lemon juice baste is stupid good.

Just finished over a Lb of whitetail doe liver with onions and brown gravey.

My favorite is

Whitetail
Wild boar (Russian)
Muley
Antelope
Squirrel
Wabbit
Pheasant
Elk
Caribou
I've eaten many african Plaines game and Kudu blackstrap grilled to medium rare is very good. Reh bok is also very good.

Pronghorn, Wild Turkey and Canada goose. Deer has become so
commonplace over the decades, that I just don't like it as
much as I used to.