What is your favorite game meat?

I recall Nilgai being the best but it's been a long time since I had any. I hear oryx is really good as well. I thought Axis was very good as was black buck. I like whitetail. The only deer that was meh was the old arse mule deer I shot in West Texas. He was ancient and tasted like it.

I haven’t had many different ones. Elk, moose, blackbuck, wt, mule deer, pronghorn. Of those elk was the winner.

My top 5.

1) Young grass/wheat fed elk.
2) Nilgai, even chased down and shot in the heat.
3) Oryx. Some of the absolute best meat on the planet.
4) Axis, especially does.
5) Feral Pork, especially once you learn what to do with the big ones.

There are many others that I love, including whitetail, dove, and cottontail rabbits. I guess the main reason why I love these so much is because every time I sit down with a plate of that, I think about some of the most important people in my life that are no longer here and the times we shared together when I was a pup. They never knew it back then, but those were some of the best days of my life.

Trying to pass that on........

Axis does or elk for me. Never tried Nilgai or Oryx.

1- feral pigs
2- ducks
3- rams
4- cotton tails
5- porcupine
6- venison
7- rattle snake


1 that didn’t make that list but the verdict is still out, Crow. Wasn’t terrible, but definitely needs a marinade

I asked a similar question on another thread and it seems elk is near or at the top of just about everyone's list. https://texashuntingforum.com/forum...st-quality-venison-game-meat#Post7915811

I haven't had the privilege of tasting any of the native American species. I would love to try them all - elk in particular.

My top 5 best tasting game animals, not necessarily in order, are:

Eland
Kudu
Gemsbuck
Mountain/common reedbuck
Fallow deer

Worst: Grey rhebuck

My top 5 best tasting gamebirds are:
1. Common quail
2. Young guinea-fowl
3. Francolin (all the species I have tasted have been similarly good - Orange River, Greywing, Redwing, Shelleys, Crested, Coqui)
4. Ducks / teals (yellow-billed duck, whistling duck, red-billed teal)
5. Doves (laughing dove, Cape turtle dove and to a lesser extent red-eyed dove)

Worst: Spurwinged goose

Nilgai
Elk

Axis, wtd, blackbuck in any order

Don't care for fallow

Squirrel is good food.

Elk , Axis , and Antelope are my top picks for game meat .

Nilgai, yum yum

Elk
Antelope
Deer

I forgot about feral hog. It can be really good.

In this order:
Whitetail
Axis
Mule Deer
Pronghorn
Gemsbok
Addax
Quail
Dove
Turkey
Rabbit
Frog legs
Armadillo
Wild hog
Aoudad
Squirrel
Elk

Dimitri,
Have you ever eaten waterbuck? We never had any on my trips over but both my PH's said it was not good.

Elk; nothing even comes in 2nd place

Agree!

Bacon
axis
elk
feral pig
quail
white tail
dove
rabbit
Bacon
Turkey...meh
tried squirrel years ago...swore I'd never eat another but probably didn't cook it right...need to try again
Bacon

with all the exotics roaming TX now, I need to broaden my palate

Hi Txhunter65,

I have shot only 1 waterbuck. A nice mature bull. As you know, all else being equal, young bulls and cows make better table fare than old bulls so one should be cautious about rating the meat of a species based only on having sampled one old male. And yet, all that being said, the meat was actually quite good. It was mainly used in stews, curries and for biltong and we all enjoyed it.

Waterbuck meat gets bad press from many SA hunters / PHs. Some say that the meat "stinks" and is not palatable. I don't agree. Others believe that whether or not the meat is palatable depends on the skinning process. A waterbuck's hide does indeed have a fairly prominent "turpentine-like" smell. The theory is that when you skin the buck, you should not touch any meat if you have touched the skin otherwise the smell is transferred to the meat. I believed this theory since the time I was a young boy and when I shot my waterbuck I made sure that there were 2 skinners - one who worked on the inside of the skin and could touch the meat and one who touched the outside of the skin (when pulling it) and was not allowed to touch the inside. As I mentioned the meat from my waterbuck was good - no turpentine smell at all. Nowadays, most farmers skin waterbuck as described above.

Recently this theory was put to the test in a blind taste test and the conclusion was that there was no difference between the meat that came into contact with the skin and the meat that did not. You can see it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnx7F0G5K5Q

All battling for my top spot would be elk and feral hogs. Havent eaten a lot of elk but what i did was really good.

runner up is a multi way tie for white tail, axis, mule deer, prong horn, sika

1. Oryx
2. Qail/Pheasant
3. Elk
4. Axis

I have not had the chance to taste any other meats beside whitetail, wild hogs and axis deer. I have eaten whitetail all my life but I do have to say that axis deer is fantastic. I killed 3 axis deer a few years ago and had all 6 hind quarters cut into steaks and tenderized. Theses steaks could be cut with just a fork and had absolutely no gamey taste. I also had packages of ground axis hamburger with no fat added, just lean axis meat. This was also fantastic.

Of what I have eaten

Oryx
Axis
Elk
Alfalfa feed mule deer
Nilgi
Mountain lion
Whitetail
Ag Pronghorn
Bear
Sage muledeer/Pronghorn, Aoudad, cedar whitetail

Not to brag but I can make it all taste good. My buddy on a game ranch has me come out and cook for his clients. He has all kinds of animals but Cajun Power, A-1, brown sugar and mustard marinade makes it hard to tell the difference between any of it. The only thing we don't marinate is the high dollar wagyu that just gets a dry rub.

Elk

Best in the world? Eland
#2 tied Elk/Kudu/Oryx
#3 Whitetail
#4 Pronghorn and doe Mule Deer, I don't care for buck mule deer at all and give them away.
All the others have certain unique and flavorful qualities, just have to enhance the particular one.

I left out that I had grilled quail at the Cabernet Grill in Fredericksburg some years ago. I'm sure it was pen-raised and marinated, but it was good enough that I still think about it 10+ years later.

We always take a few dozen semi-boneless quail to the deer lease, for grilling one night. It is simply amazing how good they are!

Quail grilled and basted with garlic butter and habanero/blacberry jelly is my favorite. Dove sated in the skillet that way is great too.

Anyone ever done anything with jackrabbit? I've shot hundreds (probably thousands) and at some point began to feel slightly guilty about letting them lie. I've watched multiple hunting shows where they prepared and ate them. Some they said they still really weren't good. Randy Newberg's crew in Arizona claimed they cooked up pretty good in a slow-cook stewed method.

I've watched West Texans (who would eat lots of things) shooting them by the bucket loads for decades and never consider eating one.

Any thoughts on this? And/or times of year to eat or not eat them if you were gonna do it?

Dall sheep is the best I've ever had.
Gemsbok/kudu
Elk/pronghorn
Sandhill crane
Puddle ducks
Grouse
Moose
Feral hogs
Black bear
Doves
Caribou
Squirrel
Whitetail
Rabbit/pheasant

I've never had an animal that I thought was inedible. If you can cook them right, anything can be decent. Of course, for some of them, cooking them right means covering up the flavor of the meat, which I usually try to avoid.

My brother in law shot a mess of them just before Christmas last year and made a stew from one of Hank Shaw's recipes. The jackrabbit wasn't the star of the dish, but overall, it was great and the stronger flavor worked really well. I've since made it with cottontail, and honestly prefer the jackrabbit, though both are good.

https://honest-food.net/hare-stew-hard-times/

Axis---easily #1 to me
gemsbuck
nilgai
Moose
Elk
Kudu
Springbok
Pronghorn

Put them in a crockpot, pull them off the bone, send them through the blender with garlic, onions, dried tomatoes and any other herbs and spices you like. Make it into a potted meat spread.

Or crockpot it will Green Chiles and Jalapenos, shred the meat, and make it into tacos.

I think my favorite so far has been axis doe, only slightly more mild than my usual whitetails.

I also love rabbit (cottontail) and squirrel, with squirrel definitely having the most interesting flavor of the two.

I think the only game I've eaten that I didn't like was a jackrabbit I killed and ate about 10 years ago. I leave them alone now.

Ok I like armadillo wrapped in foil and put in the smoker t 300* for 5 hrs. Season like barbacoa and you can't tell the difference.

Quail

I've never had the exotics like Kudu/Oryx/Axis, but Elk is tops on my list followed closely by Venison tenderloin, green wing teal (pan seared), rabbit, sand hill crane. A definite 'No" is eider sea duck - inedible no matter how you prepare it, and crocodile - like tough old fish, never again !

I've never had the ribeye in the sky. I need to put sandhill crane on my hunting list.

I was surprised by the quality of ribeye that place turned out.

My three favorite by far have been

- Kudu
- Elk
- Buffalo

Kudu has been the best game meat I’ve ever eaten. Had the tenderloin and then a bone in neck roast and both were out of this world.

I’m not the worlds best chef so Axis, Nilgai, Sika, Oryx all run about the same for me. I’ve had elk that was great and elk so bad the dog wouldn’t eat it.

Whitetail is farther down the list.

As far as birds go I’m pretty high on eating chuckar legs at the moment. The Breast is too grainy and dry

Great video, thanks Dimitri!

surprised in a good or bad way?

my daughter and son in law, along with another couple are going to Fredericksburg for a long weekend and if that is some place great to eat, I can suggest it to them.

Squirrels were the first thing I ever hunted as a young boy with his brand new single shot .410. I’ve only had fox squirrel. My mom cooked it up like fried chicken. But there are so many other good recipes out there too. I’ve also heard that gray squirrel is the better tasting of the two. The thing I like about small game such as squirrel and rabbit is that it’s basically a meal sized portion with just a couple of them. Squirrel really benefits from a slow cook process to get it nice and tender, otherwise it is tough to chew even though it still tastes good to me. Most folks either hate it or love it.

Axis deer is my favorite.
Squirrel & dumplings is good too.

Lots of great game meat out there and some I would just as well never take another bite of.

Swamp rabbits that I have killed in Mississippi were great, think cottontail that weighs 7 to 10 lbs.
Gray Squirrel are pretty dang good

larger game the best I have brought home was a doe pronghorn that was killed in an alfalfa field.
Axis are very good to me.
Elk if I had judged them by my first bull I would have never killed another, big bull in Montana that during the rut had 40-50 cows in his herd and he was rutted down pretty bad when I got him post rut 347 lbs of meat stronger than any whitetail buck I have killed. Best elk I have had is a free range one from Texas that was standing in alfalfa to his belly when I shot him pre-rut. The others were in between those two but dang good.
Moose all I have had was good.
Blackbuck, one was very good while the other the dog would not eat and if she would not I did not.
Fallow are to me about like whitetail.
Mule deer I put a notch below whitetail.

Birds
Ribeye of the sky
Speckled belly goose
Quail then chucker then pheasant
Ducks tel, woodduck then mallard/gadwall and will say canvas back are pretty dang good also.

Most wild game I like and will try most of it. Not going to shoot bobcat to eat but will eat it again if I decide to shoot another.

Red Stag
AK Dall sheep
Axis
Oryx
Elk
Caribou
Nilgai
Moose
Feral hog
Squirrel
Antelope
Mint goat
Whitetail
Mule deer

Cow Elk
Blue Grouse
Bob White Quail
Squirrel Gray then Fox
White Tail Doe
Mule Deer Doe
Wild Hog if smaller in size
Cotton Tail aka Hoover Hogs
Dove
Bear as long as they are eating fruits and berries, if they are eating dead fish and garbage nasty.
Bucks and Bulls and any animal that eats sage brush are hard to cook and make it taste good, but that was Idaho years ago, the kids held their nose and ate it but not the wife.
I haven't found a good recipe for any duck or goose, that gets the mudd taste out of it, if I was hard up, yep.
Jack Rabbit, I ant that hard up right now, but shoe leather is a close runner up.
Possum, aint bad, if you put em in a cage and feed em plenty of sweet potatoes for a month before you butcher those nasty thangs, according to my late grandfather.

Sand hill crane

Axis
Elk
Antelope

pig then whitetail

My favorites are:
Moose
Elk
Axis
They're all so close in my book that it's hard to rate them.

Thanks man