Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Favorite Big Game Meat

Antelope
Elk
Moose
Caribou
Whitetail

The first four have all been significantly better than whitetail for me.

John

Axis deer

DING DING DING!!! And, we have the winner!

My favorite is the kind that was properly cared for in the field and properly butchered.
I've had way to much crappy tasting game that wasn't cared for properly. Antelope is the worst. Warm temps and people waiting to long to get the meat cooled.

Judman;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope that your Christmas was a good one and this finds you and yours well.

As a wee point of clarification, I'll add that our black bear experience has been with Okanagan black bears which typically don't have access to a lot of carrion, garbage dumps or salmon runs. Between our family and some friends who would cut their game at our place, I'd think the sample would have been roughly 12-15 bears, so not a whole pile.

A good buddy who guided up on the north coast for bigger black bears than we have around here mentioned a very strong fish smell from many or most of them. In addition I'll say that we've got family on Vancouver Island who aren't crazy about bear meat in any form either, so there you go.

Back on the prairies, the bears who were taken off grain fields were often said to be good table fare, but that's going off what other's said and not a lot of personal experience beyond a roast or two.

We've got a "private land" season here that starts in August which is more or less for vineyard and orchard owners to have their friends deal with problem bears rather than calling the Conservation Officers. The absolute best black bear I can recall eating was likely a 2 year old shot by a contractor friend of ours who was asked to do so by the owner of the vineyard he was putting an addition onto.

Honestly the back leg he gave us smelled like grape juice before any marinating...

We ended up doing it as a wrapped roast after I removed the leg bone, then we did a salt, pepper and herbs de Provence sorta rub, browned it and then cooked it in a local red wine.

Anyway sir, as mentioned just a clarification on why I personally put black bear - with the correct diet - so high on the list.

All the best to you and yours in 2020.

Dwayne

Wild sheep ribs over a fire. Wild sheep not the range maggots. Domestic mutton is lousy.

For me, the best meat is a young wild boar fed on acorns and chestnuts.

The most expensive would be a markhor stew. 😬

Guess I don't really have a favorite. It all can be prepared to taste dang good. Only bad wild game that I ever had was a whitetail, many years ago. And I'm pretty sure the steaks tasted like crap because the processor cut through bone, leaving me with bone in steaks. Never again.

I've had moose, elk, mule and whitetail deer, antelope, caribou, and David's deer.

For me the most consistent is pronghorn. Only had one bad one out of ~40ish.

Most inconsistent has been elk.

Beyond that proper care from the field to table is most important on any game animal.

Seeing guys haul around pronghorn in the back of a truck, hide on in the September heat for a day or more is common..Same guys love to tell you how bad they taste..damn mystery I tell ya.

Bison
Moose
elk/caribou
Antelope
WT deer
Mule deer

Antelope

I agree.

Axis
Gemsbok
Nilgai
Elk
Springbok
Pronghorn

Never ate a bear outta a garbage dump, or a salmon stream. Ate lots outta Apple orchards, BlackBerry fed, huckleberry fed and spring bear, to me, my family, and friends, it's pepperoni \sausage filler. Glad some like it. Cougar is about the same, mild pork, in texture, color and taste, if that's "delicious" then I'm happy for you. I'll take, in no particular order

Oryx
Moose
Elk
Pronghorn
Caribou

To me antelope is the most underrated meat there is. Whitetail and axis is perty good, nothing beats a good beef steak treated properly.... Grin

Dall Sheep
Caribou
Moose
Sitka Blacktail
Goat
Elk
Columbia Blacktail
Fall black bear in brown bear territory
Spring black bear

Have had bad ones of several of those high on the list, mainly from poor meat handling, and in one case from taking a shot that should have been a pass, in retrospect.

The only bear I’ve eaten was a young bear, from Maine, and his diet was whatever forage the big woods of Maine offers in September (this seemed to be bountiful) and the sweets he sometimes treated himself too from a bait barrel

I thought the meat was awesome

I’ve heard bear meat can be highly influenced by diet but this is my only data point

Mtn caribou and black Hawaiian sheep is damn good, especially bbq'd on kona with a cold beer...

Eland and Kudu loin on a grill at a bush camp on the Limpopo river, nothing else even comes close.

500, I must say that is some of the finest game meat I have ever eaten.. Wildabeast(?) was right up there too.. Maybe number 1!!!!

Just something about the bush and fine eating WCH, it can't be matched here.

That is for sure... I wish I could feel safe returning there...