I'm leaning towards antelope.

crappie

Quail

Red meat? Axis or Moose

White meat? Quail

i've had most small game, game birds, deer, elk, bear and caribou. i'd have to say elk.

Elk

1. Moose
2. Elk
3. Grouse
4. Turkey
4. Whitetail
5. Pheasant

In that order.

Moose
Elk

Grouse eating berries
Quail

Halibut
Lingcod

Of what I have eaten I would say Elk and Axis.

Deer are like Humpies to me in that I turn them into pepperoni and jerky unless it’s a Sitka Blacktail, they’re delicious.

Fur: Moose/Elk are a toss up
Feather: Whooping Crane
Fin: Snook for game fish by far

Venison back strap.........on the grill.........rare.......

Antelope unless it sprinted a mile before dying. Then elk.

Hard to beat right there!

Also Axis Deer & Pheasants are two of my other favorites.

Kudu tenderloin in an African bush camp so remote you can throw a rock across the Limpopo river and have it land in Botswana.

1. Dall sheep
2. Elk
3. Moose

Elk

Of the many animals I've eaten, the list would be:

Moose
Chukar
Walleye

ELK

Elk. No question

Wild caught snatch.

Someone had to say it.

Don’t eat a lot of wild game, as I give 99% of it to others that like it more than I.
But pronghorn blackstrap on the grill is great. And I had grilled eland tenderloin from one I arrowed the previous day in SA. It was awesome
Fish wise, wild caught king salmon off the BC coast.

Beaver

antelope
elk
deer
buffalo

gator

Sika

I'm surprised no one said Caribou!! Had it once at a Lapeer sportsman's club wild game dinner! Damn it was good!!!

1) Dall Sheep
2) Mountain Goat
3)Bison
4)Moose
5) Sitka Deer
6)Muskox
7)King Salmon
8) Halibut
9) Fresh Seal Oil
10) Caribou- if it is close related reindeer than its number two.

BFT

Ground squirrel
mud hen
possum

I have not had many four-legged things from the wild, but elk has been the best so far. I did have buffalo pot roast in a restaurant once and it was outstanding. Not sure just how wild that animal was though.

Fu Q.

1) axis deer
2) nilgai
3) fresh cool water crappie
4) elk

Moose, walleye

I prefer squirrel and then beaver. I will say for taste, barbequed feral hog is unreal good. Heres why re squirrel:

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/why-i-eat-squirrel-really

Kudu
Axis
Eland
Bison tenderloin
Blackened red snapper
South African crayfish.

In my world, Antelope for flavor and elk for the bigger quantity of very good meat.

I've never been to Africa but there's some great meat running around, I've seen it in videos.

Elk
Walleye

moose
mule deer above timberline

Move moose to 2, Elk to 3 and we're done here.

Fish in order of taste,
1.Walleye
1. Perch
1. Fresh Tuna steak
1. Halibut.

That's called a close tie.

Elk is my favorite.

There is very little I have not eaten from NA and I have been able to get numbers of people to taste test different game meats many times, not knowing what they were.

If you aren't eating it on the mountain dall sheep falls way down the list.

Sitka blacktail usually wins.

Good caribou is very hard to beat.

Moose is very good, but seldom wins. Elk is about the same.

Lynx is outstanding.

Mountain goat is often very, very tough. Properly aged it is really good.

Wild pigs are some of the very best meat I have ever eaten.

Sandhill cranes and ruffed grouse are my favorite birds.

Black cod smoked, tunas, lingcod, yelloweye, and orange roughy are on the top of my fish list... halibut would not make it anywhere near the top.

Axis
Gemsbok
Nilgai
Kudu
Elk

Moose
Antelope
Pheasant
Quail
Grouse
Elk
Rabbit
Deer

😎

I forgot about moose...and caribou. Both damn good.
And Blue Grouse fat on huckleberries... Delicious.

Antelope

Pheasant

Walleye

When it comes to game species, I cannot tell any difference. Maybe it's the way it's been cooked, or maybe I have dull taste buds, but I absolutely cannot tell the difference between deer, elk, caribou, moose and antelope. A sagebrush fed animal vs an alfalfa fed animal, yes, but all else the same I cannot differentiate species.

Same with white meated birds like pheasant, quail and ruffed grouse, and the same with dark meated birds like spruce grouse, sharptail grouse. Likewise with white, flakey meat fish like bass, walleye and crappie.

My favorite is the white, flaky meated fish. So damn good when fried.

Whitetail
Ruffed Grouse
Perch

Las, being a goat, i was surprised to see it on somenes fav list. Im wondering if you could enlighten us as to the difference in an old billy vs a nanny.

I have passed on shooting some large Auodad rams due to reports on the meat. Now, if im ever out and about and get an oppurtunity at a 3/4 grown female i will probably pull the trigger.

T Man, you know now that I think about it I probably couldn't tell the difference between a deer or antelope that came from the same country.

Is it their diet that makes them taste so?

This^^^, after fried oysters.

Dall Sheep
Mountain Goat
Elk
Moose
Antelope
Musk Ox
Mule Deer
Whitetail
Caribou
Spring Black Bear (or fall berry fed bear)
Cougar

Ruffed Grouse
Pheasant
Quail
Ptarmigan
Huns
Chukar

Red Salmon
Char family (Dolly, Arctic, Brookies)
Grayling
Walleye
Northern Pike
Crappie
Catfish

longarm;
Good evening to you sir, I trust that the week has been a good one for you thus far and this finds you well.

Like a few others here, I've been blessed to have sampled a whole bunch of different wild game, but honestly sometimes without eating some of it side by side I wouldn't want to start a debate over "best".

More or less for me - as best as I can recall - it'd be:
1. Sitka blacktail - I got a young buck in August who was fat as a tick - it was outstanding table fare.
2. Calf moose - very mild flavor I guess - but tender too.
3. Young bull moose - again early season - say September
4. Young black bear - taken from a vineyard or orchard - really has to be tasted to be appreciated.
5. Early season whitetail
6. Early season mulie bucks - off the east side of the valley taste better however, though I can't exactly say why that is.
7. Elk - haven't had lots but what I've eaten was from rutted, early season bulls and it wasn't that bad.
8. California Bighorn - I liked it okay but my good wife wasn't as impressed with it.
9. Pronghorn - had some pretty good and some less so.
10. Mountain goat - again a nanny was good, but the billy was not so good.
11. Bison - haven't had a whole lot, but some that was given to us was pretty much like grass fed beef I thought.
12. Caribou - I wasn't sure the chap cooking it got decent caribou or was the best at cooking it - or both?

Meat on the fly:
California Quail - really can't be beat
Chukar Partridge - nice flavor but I recall it being a bit dry.
Young Ruffed Grouse - usually quite tasty.

Miscellaneous wild table fare;
Snowshoe hare - can be really tasty - or less so - again I'm not sure why.
Cougar - that which I've been given to try was really pretty decent eating

Fish;
1. Ling Cod
2. Rock Fish
3. Yellow Perch
4. Walleye
5. Coho Salmon

Foreign stuff;
1. Zebra
2. Kongoni
3. Klipspringer

I think that's about it for now.

Thanks for the interesting reading all and all the best to you all this summer.

Dwayne

caribou

Nannies are better, but young billies are not much different. An old Billie before significant hanging time makes tough burger. But goats are slow reproducing and nannies should always be avoided.

Speed goat.

!Puzzy!

Of what Ive had, the NA red meat candidate is elk; bison, a distant second; then caribou.. Only have had a couple bites of moose.

Fowl: pheasant, Hungarian Partridge.

Africa: impala, eland, springbok.

Fish: almost easier to list the ones I don’t like. Love fish, fresh and salt water.

Antelope tops the list. As far as fish, yellow perch or bluegills are my favorite.

Elk

Axis
Eland
Nilgai
Elk

Fried bullfrog
Halibut
Walleye
Ruffed grouse
Elk

Dungeness crab

Blue grouse

It used to be elk but I wont touch any of that because of the rampant CWD in my area.

I like oryx followed by bison heifer then elk

Best I've had.
BigHorn sheep
Moose
Cow elk
Bull elk
Whitetail
Mule deer
Antelope
Mountain Goat
In that order, the sheep was one my best friend shot....kind of hard to get a steady supply of that.

Antelope is # 1 for me.

Elk is second.

Fish is crappie, northern pike and walleye, in that order.


Edit to add that Red Drum (Red fish) would probably be my favorite if I had access to it.

I was on a 10 day hunt outside Toad River BC in 2008 eating game for the duration. One night we grilled a tenderloin sampler, Stone sheep, mountain goat, elk and moose. The goat was the hands down winner.

Four legs.....Antelope
Wings..........Quail
Fins.............Fresh Trout (not to big)
Lots left to try!!!!

Yes Sir. Their diet is a lot of grass and wild herbs. I’ve never had a bad Sitka Blacktail or noticed the wide variations of flavor like you see in mule deer or whitetails (non-rut all). They’re my favorite deer to eat and hunt, mostly because of where they reside. 😉

Fallow so far for me .

Bighorn sheep
Mule deer/ whitetail
Antelope
Elk
Moose

Blue grouse
Dove
Quail

Ling cod /rock fish
Walleye
Halibut
Pike
Crappie
Yellow perch

That does not surprise me at all.

Hawaiian fallow is the only deer close to Sitka blacktails, IMO. And it is outstanding.

I would have gotten that multiple choice wrong.

More often than not sheep comes in last in a blind taste test... And I have done it many, many times. A lot about eating game meat is the experience and without the ambiance the meat often fails...

Roe Deer and Pheasant.

Would like to try Elk.

And that is not to say sheep is bad, it is very good.

After 4 pages it's irrelevant but i'll still put mine in.

Quail

Elk back strap

Walleye.

axis
oryx
eland
kudu

Flounder
Grouper
Crappie
Mahi
Moose
Deer
Squirrel

Elk, moose and antelope as long as it hasn't been eating sage brush.

Antelope off of alfalfa

Would like to try many more but here are my tops:
Sitka Deer
August (early) Caribou still in velvet
Moose
Fall "berry bear" Black Bear
Elk or "Speed Goat" are a tie
Mt. Goat
Mule Deer
Dahl Sheep

Under the "if I knew then what I know now" category:
Lynx

Art is correct on this one. To my delight tried the first one about 10 years ago. Very good! Would rate it a close 2nd to Sitka Blacktail...

Elk.

Have some acquaintances that live in Idaho who have elk that live all summer and fall in their corn fields. They kill several a year. Corn fed elk is out of this world good.

Pronghorn backstrap.

Deer, squirrel, and bluegill fillets.

This ^

Dead. Packy

Plus one more!

John

Eland.

Fresh Whitefish.

There ya go. I thought for sure you'd say wild turkey.

Elk- for steak and chops, roasts
Elk/Black bear- for burger , elk by a nose since I like my burgers rare but I really do enjoy the taste of bear meat.
Dove
Wild turkey- but only this year’s, brined it in salt and Pepsi for 5 days in the fridge then smoked it for 7 or so hours till up to temp, never before can I say I really enjoyed eating those birds but man that was good.
Perch

Certain meals stick with you: I ate a batch of cutthroats next to the stream we caught them in. Cooked over a small fire in a cast iron pan with butter. My father and I were just touring the mountains in Colorado and found this little stream and thought we’d wet a line, fishing was excellent. I hope to eat a meal that matches it someday, but I don’t necessarily expect to. That was 20 years ago and he’s gone now.
Ate a grouse we shot with a 22 in the middle of January at our hunting camp, wood stove and cast iron skillet with lots of bacon grease, side of corned beef hash. Probably up there in my top 10.

God has been very good to me

Goose is pretty good.

Pronghorn backstrap from alfalfa. 2nd, Elk.

The best steak I ever had was a Bison Filet Minion at Ruth's Chris Steak House, but it was probably farm raised. Had a Bison Burger at a restaurant in Jackson, WY, and that was the best burger I've ever had.

Am I the only one who likes Woodcock?

Freshwater Cusk aka burbot is great if it hasn’t been mentioned.

Gotta go with elk and pheasant.

Gave up duck hunting for a while because a mallard I shot tasted like river bottom. Must have prepared it wrong and I don't like to waste anything I killed.

Nilgai and Oryx. Everything else is a distant second.

Fall bear on huckleberries.

Meat= Whitetail deer taken from here in the Islands part of Vermont. Easy winters due to the flat ag type land/ crops and the warming affect from the lake before it freezes.
Fish= Alaskan lingcod or rockfish.

Bison and Sika Deer are close together...

Y'all might hate me for this but......wait for it.....



















Squirrel.

I've been liking red deer.The meat is really good.

Moose
Anticosti Deer
Wild Turkey.
Pheasant/or Partridge
Woodcock
Rabbit
Squirrel

Rethinking my post of "Pronghorn Antelope", I had Ostrich at a game dinner that maybe was the best game meat I ever ate.


DMc

Moose
Elk
Axis Deer
Pheasant

Dall sheep.

Axis

1 Dall Sheep
2 Moose
3 Quail

When my father and I made specific trips to trap muskrats we ate well, but the midday break included a jar of my mother's peaches. Sharing a quart of those peaches straight out of the jar on a spring morning will always stick with me as an example of living well.

I don't think any big game animal comes close to squirrel. Maybe the first meal but after 200 lbs, when you are wishing you had missed, they really don't compare.

Of the game I eat regularly:

1.Mule Deer
2. Antelope
3. Wild Pig
4. Elk

I find elk a bit bland, probably because they mostly eat grass as opposed to the variety of plants eaten by browsers like deer and antelope.

Some of the African antelopes are also great eating. I like fish too, but that's a whole additional story.

Antelope and Axis

Fallow deer then Axis as a distant second place

I just made us street tacos with two little Axis steaks. Dang they were good.

venison (whitetail) and walleye

Axis

I really liked what ok I’ve had.
Really like whitetail if I’ve killed, processed, cooked it
I’ve had caribou that was great and caribou that was almost inedible.
Fish? Walleye, perch and crappie in any order.

Fur - sheep.
Feathers - ruffed grouse.
Fin - king.

Yep. Ruffed Grouse for feathered game is my fave also.

It’s funny how many times you mention “halibut wouldn’t be anywhere eat the top”.....

I sure like halibut.

Anyhow,

Oryx
Caribou
Pronghorn
Elk
Moose


Fish,
Halibut
Spring chinook
Sockeye
Ling cod
Smoked black cod

Ya there’s probably a reason it’s $30 + lb.. 🤣

1 Big Horn Sheep
2 Antelope
3 Elk

Not the only one, but one of a very few who knows how to make them right.

Properly prepared early season blacktail deer, elk, moose, all species of wild sheep...
( how I loathe south Pacific lamb)...chrome king salmon, fresh trout, pacific rockfish,

Sheep is pretty good as is axis, cougar is neutral like pork, deer is pepperoni/sausage fixins imo

Rabbit
Moose
Porgy/Black Sea Bass

Probably pronghorn. Just so mild and tender.

Dall sheep on an open fire drinking glacier water

Axis

Young sagehen

Moose.

Young Mt. Lion, spike elk. young wart hog.

Fish : triple tail
Small game : cat squirrel
Big game: tenderize hog backstage.
Dessert: raspberry/ mayhall cheesecake

Salt Water Fish-Wahoo, Mai Mai or better known as Dorado around here.

Southern Brakish water fish, Specked Trout, Redfish, and Flounder.

Northern fish-salmon, Rock Fish, Halibut.

Wild game-Young Squirrel, Elk,Venison,in that order. Nothing beats young squirrel. I love Venison but the Elk is almost Beef.

"Delicious" is used loosely around here I notice. ....Grin

Lynx????

Cougar???

Bear????

Elk Tenderloin smoked on a grill and slow cooked grouse with lots of butter and garlic...

There we go...

i love wild Turckey and my close second would be rabbit. nothing tastes better.

Bison cow.
Well handled antelope.
Elk calf.

Chukar.
Pheasant.

Been pretty much ignoring this thread, but probably some nice northern teal.

Pronghorn

So many keep saying pronghorn and it amazes me... have had very little exposure, less than ten animals, including three shot while I was there. Universal, severe suckage every time... and I have eaten or tried to eat a bunch of bad stuff. I cannot picture it in the same league with all the stuff that is good, let alone being a contender for best.

My wife friend gave us some antelope when we were in Colorado. I grilled it up like I did moose. Good lord I couldn't eat it. I have no idea what they did but it was not good at all. Anyhow moose is #1 in my books, I cooked moose a people were surprised it was moose,

Long Pig, although some think it is an aquired taste. I took to it straight off. Seriously though, Lynx is a close second.

I also like squirrel, as well as rabbit, and venison. Mepps will buy the squirrel tails for use in fishing lures, and it's the first hunting season to open and get me back in the woods.
I started a thread on another site, asking for recipes for squirrel, and had well over 5k recipes before long. Just about anything you can do with any other meat, folks have done with squirrel.

Land: Elk

Air: Sandhill crane, specklebelly

Water: crappie, walleye. Maybe snapper

Elk
Cougar

THAT is a Very good list!! Just add the young sagehen.

I can hardly tell the difference between Elk and whitetails but dont usually eat Elk. I prefer fish over anything is it's wild. Perch and bluegills are a tie, walleye and northern are a tie. The very best though is small smoked Channel Cats. I dont know of anything that tastes quite so good.

Elk, then venison. I've got one package of ground elk in my freezer that I need to make chili with, I'm waiting for my red ghost peppers to ripen so I can try that for 'spice' LoL!!

Impossible to decide for me. I love all meats and each kind has its unique flavor and savoriness.
However, cured variations of all meats are heavenly for me and I'd pick them over regular meats.

Kinda the same for me. I've eaten some great deer, moose, caribou, elk, etc., and would have a hard time picking a favorite. Although the little spikehorn whitetail I shot last fall was crazy good eating! I'm in the camp of halibut is not my top choice in saltwater fish. I like it, but prefer lingcod, haddock, and even pacific/atlantic cod. I think it's just a texture thing with it, though fresh it's pretty dang good. After it's been frozen it's just not the same.

When I hear that Pronghorn tastes bad and elk is preferred over a beef ribeye, I have to believe that there is some mental anguish involved in these taste tests. Everyone around here prefers elk to any other wild game. My boys and I happen to kill a lot of critters each year and give some away. Since no one likes mule deer, I never give any of it away, instead I mark the mule deer packages "Elk" and never have any problem giving it away and have never heard anything from the recipients but "That elk sure was good"...

Wild Turkey

Haven't tried a lot of different game meat but enjoyed good moose meat the most. Also had one that had very little fat on it, tasty but tough.
Generally do not enjoy blacktail, might be different if you got them near some farmland. Decent mule deer and whitetail is always welcome.
Have had some good black bear, but generally I am not very enthusiastic about it. Might be partially because I don't particularly like to handle them, I think it is the long hair and the barrel chest! Had cougar and grizzly, neither was memorable.
I like my beef fairly rare, but not game meat (medium). Just a personal thing!
Ruffed grouse is pretty tasty, blue grouse is okay and spruce grouse can either be decent or not too appealing. Bandtailed pigeon was chewy, and tough to get!
I love to fish, but really am not too keen on eating fish. Being raised catholic probably had nothing to do with it, working on a commercial troller for a few summers might have!
Nice piece of lingcod or halibut is pretty good (for fish), and had mako shark once that was pretty decent. Swordfish was mediocre. Most salmon are not too appealing, though a nice coho filleted is decent enough. About one trout feed a year is plenty. Had some walleye, thought it was okay, for fish!

I agree, blacktail is by far the worst, I grind backstraps and tenderloins into the pepperoni/sausage pile.. guys go crazy!! 🤣🤣

1.moose
2. elk
3. antelope

My favorite of all time was White front goose.

Yet If I had as much of that as I had Halibut, Halibut may come away the winner. Love venison and Walleye and would look forward to wild hog properly prepaired. a bit surprised at how much I have not tried of what is listed here including speed goat.

Sounds like I need to learn to properly prepare squirrel yet.

Mule deer buck in the rut is pretty 'gamey' meat.

Without mucho seasoning I don't like it.


The same buck in early season is WAY better, actually quite good.

nilgia

For me it's venison and phesant. Man, do I miss me some squirrel and dumplings.

Grew up on squirrel and dumplings. Axis is my favorite though.

Eland

fish = wahoo