Animal Meat

[Soap 漬物]

Anyone here who actually ate deer, wolf, bear, or moose meat?

[IFIYGD]

Venison is good, a bit gamey if not prepared correctly. Ground, it makes wonderful burgers and meatloafs.
(Black) Bear meat is heavy and a tad greasy, but excellent grilled with heavy seasoning.
Moose I had once. Very similar to venison, but stringier and a bit more earthy in flavor.
Bunny rabbit is delicious breaded and fried.
Never had wolf, not sure I want to ever try it.

[Soap 漬物]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

Venison is good, a bit gamey if not prepared correctly. Ground, it makes wonderful burgers and meatloafs.
(Black) Bear meat is heavy and a tad greasy, but excellent grilled with heavy seasoning.
Moose I had once. Very similar to venison, but stringier and a bit more earthy in flavor.
Bunny rabbit is delicious breaded and fried.
Never had wolf, not sure I want to ever try it.

I've met a few friends who hunted deer and made jerky from them, says it's 10 times better than the packaged jerky you get at stores, never tried them before

[Lord Kefka]

I have eaten deer, bear, boar, kangaroo, snake, emu, crocodile, grouse, bison. For wild or odd meats.

[Lenny Rat]

Never ate wolf meat, but deer, moose, and bear are all check marks.

[Ogre]

Deer, elk, moose, antelope, pheasant, grouse, dove, duck, goose, rattlesnake, bear, alligator, bison, squirrel, chipmunk, frog...but no wolf.

[RabbitRidge]

As a child we domestically raised chicken, rabbit and calves (mature bovine sent to a local professional butcher for slaughter). Chicken and rabbit were my favorite (they don't taste anything like what you buy in the store already processed). As a teen and beyond, I hunted wild turkey, swine and deer (no moose in the Altamaha swamps). I was not a fan of vinson (virtually no fat content but a source of pride tagging them). Never had wolf or bear, but plenty of duck and dove.

[H34VY_R41N]

Rabbit, moose, deer, bear. I'd say venison is the best.

[Soap 漬物]

Originally posted by Tekel1959:

Had a young ( black ) bear ham for one childhood Christmas that was delicious. I have also had some in later years that was less appealing, not sure if it was age, cut, or the cook. Venison is good, we eat the tenderloin by itself ( yummy ), and use the rest half and half with beef for burgers, because it is so lean... Rabbit is good meat, but small game is a lot of work for much less return, farmed makes it reasonable. No canines unless starving. I have never had moose, but elk is good eating.

Nobody mentioned fish, which I love if the water is clean, and reject if not.

Fish is commonly eaten unlike the animals I listed, I'm sure everyone with the exception of those with allergic to fish and vegans had fish every now and then

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by mskitty:

One of the reasons the animals listed are not commonly eaten is because of the hunting laws, you are only allowed one per year and the hunting seasons are short, plus climate change is affecting the patterns of the animals. With deer you only get about 50-60 lbs. out of it, unless it's a really big buck, so it doesn't go very far to be something that is commonly eaten. Plus when you factor in the cost of the hunting trip, cost of the license and tag, cost of the butcher (unless you do the processing) it can turn out to be really expensive.

Here in my part of the US, deer hunting has been significantly affected by something else as well. Chronic Wasting Disease in deer populations. (CWD also affects other Cervids and is a prion disease, similar to Mad Cow Disease).

[rickstopher]

Stew with bear meat is crazy good. Prepared exactly like beef stew but only with bear meat. Venison is very good if you cook it in beef tallow. Moose is very gamey and doesn't taste as good when the dude who killed talks about climbing inside the cleaned out body cavity to saw through the spine.

[mr_bman]

Nothing better than a moose burger. Your idea of what a burger should be will be altered forever and you will almost want to go hunt one yourself.
They're almost as good as pancakes.

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by mr_bman:

They're almost as good as pancakes.

You rang?

[Yeoman]

I hunt, and am getting into trapping. I’ve had deer, elk, black bear, and rabbit.

Deer and elk are close, though I prefer elk (not sure what about it tastes better. Maybe a little less gamey?). Elk is fantastic for stir-fry and tacos. For burgers though, they probably need some fat, or a fattier meat mixed in. I tried making straight elk burgers before and they fell apart.

I’ve had canned, shredded black bear that was really tender and good, though greasy. And I’ve had wild rabbit, which I really enjoyed, though it was pretty tough. “Tastes like chicken”. For a bonus, I’ve also eaten rattlesnake, which was actually really good. I haven’t had wolf, but *might* try coyote this winter. Not sure if I really want to eat it, but I want to use the whole animal if I can.

All that being said, I really hope to try a moose someday

[IFIYGD]

The trick for elk or deer burgers or meatloaf, if you have no fat to add or fattier meat to add - eggs. Adding an egg or 2 to the ground meat and seasonings (with or without bread crumbs for burgers- I always add bread crumbs or crushed rice crispies for meatloaf), will help it stick together. Slower cooking over a lower flame also helps with the burgers.

[Yeoman]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

The trick for elk or deer burgers or meatloaf, if you have no fat to add or fattier meat to add - eggs. Adding an egg or 2 to the ground meat and seasonings (with or without bread crumbs for burgers- I always add bread crumbs or crushed rice crispies for meatloaf), will help it stick together. Slower cooking over a lower flame also helps with the burgers.

It’s been a while since I tried making burgers out of elk, but if I remember right, I think I used egg? I don’t remember. Though, I did used to have a bad habit of cooking on too high of a heat, so I may have dried it out. I’ll have to give it a try again.