What is your favorite wild game meat?

[themikeman]

Skunk

[FirstFreedom]

mmmm.....skunk....goes good with solient green.

[Dogjaw]

My least favorite? Antelope (yuck!)

A friend told me to cook up some bacon and pan fry antelope in the bacon grease. Not bad that way.

I'd have to say Elk, followed by pheasant, whitetail, squirrel (in slow cooker).

[Charles S]

I would have said venison last year, but I think that wild pork of a young sow is the best wild game I eat regularly. Having said that the few times I have had Elk it has been superb.

Charles

[deerhunter17]

1-whitetail deer ummmm I love that!!!
2-Grouse
3-Goose

[FirstFreedom]

Man I can't wait to taste elk & moose - everyone seems to love them.

[artsmom]

Deer Heart.

I get bent out of shape if someone brings in a deer and I find out they left it in the gut pile.

[BUSTER51]

let's hear more about how to prepare beaver,my method is to feed them margarita's wash um up real good soak them in budwiser and dive in .

[Smokey Joe]

Artsmom--I'm with you there! Will go a step further and say that liver is delightful if not fried to death. You fry bacon. You fry onions in the bacon grease. You fry the liver--only until it isn't red in the middle, not one second more--put 'em on a plate and dive in.

Liver is pretty much liver, I've found, except liver from the sheep family always has that little mutton undertone--which in itself is not bad either.

Deer innards story: Brought a deer heart back to camp for my lunch one time, was slicing it and frying in butter (no bacon to be had) and the whole rest of the camp went from "Oh, yuck, get that thing out of the cabin!" one by one to "Well, it smells so good, let me try a piece." to "Gee, this is good!" and, sure enough, when I was finished frying and handing out samples, I didn't get a bit myself! But I didn't really mind because there were a bunch of food prejudices lying dead on the floor.

[FirstFreedom]

BTW, just as a complete tangent, is it considered bad form to not bury a gut pile? I figured "buzzards gotta eat, same as worms", to quote a line from Outlaw Josey Wales. Beaver preparation...tee hee.

[Mannlicher]

Venison first, squirrel second

[Laser Cop]

Bury a gut pile? The coyotes will have it gone the first night. No offense, but only the French would bury a gut pile.

[Long Path]

Stay away from deer liver if they've been eating "Deer Corn." High concentration of aflatoxin in the liver makes it possibly poisonous.

Re: "Liver is liver." I personally dislike liver, but I've found that rabbit liver, smothered in lemon butter and grilled over wood, is a different kind of liver. Lighter. Tasty.

I have to admit that I've never cooked deer heart. Guess I ought to try. Why not? It's solid muscle.

[cuate]

It ain't beef & bean burritos........'cause you don't know whether the beef is dog, cat, jackass, possum, or whatever!

Seriously, I think BobWhite quail are about number one but
due to the fire ants they are getting fewer and farther between. If they don't make a comeback, I wouldn't shoot them.

[Smokey Joe]

Long Path--Re heart: If frying, cook it gently, no more than done, then stop and eat.

BTW, my mom used to cook up beef hearts in the pressure cooker w/gingershaps when I was a kid. Haven't done that in a million years--They were quite tasty, and heart is heart.

Rabbit liver, Hey, anything you smother in lemon butter & cook over coals oughta be mighty tasty. Will have to procure me a rabbit & try that!

[artsmom]

Smokey Joe, I carry a gallon zip lock bag in my pocket for both the heart and the liver.

You are right about overcooking the liver, it doesn't take but a few minutes to go from delicious to inedible.

For those of you who are going to try deer heart, make sure you remove ALL the fat. Deer fat has a different texture than beef fat, and it is darn near wax.

[Shell]

When my ex brought home a spike elk, we didn't buy beef the whole winter!
My favorite is my homemade deer jerky. The last batch was was smoked in my own cinder block mini smoker with peach, pear and black walnut wood strung on a coat hanger in the chimney. You can't find anything like it in the store!
I am ashamed now to admit I cut my deer heart up for catfish bait. I might do something different next go round.

[MeekAndMild]

only the French would bury a gut pile.

Dude, I hate to tell you, but they don't.

"Moreover, the Gauls are not afraid to eat anything. Kidney, brain, sweetbreads, tripe, blood sauces and sausages, sheep's foot, tongue, and intestines are all common in French cooking and hold equal standing with the meat of lamb, beef, pork, poultry, and game."


It gets worse, but you get the point.

[Springer45]

Venison (especially backstrap), seasoned with Lowry's (or equivalent), wrapped in bacon and cooked on the grill. Do not overcook.

bill k, I want to know more about that deglazed wine sauce you mentioned on page 1...

[Dogjaw]

Stay away from deer liver if they've been eating "Deer Corn." High concentration of aflatoxin in the liver makes it possibly poisonous

If this were true, darn near every deer hunter in the Midwest would be dead right now. Corn is a staple of deer. It's so bad, that around here, deer eat, sleep, screw in the corn, and poke their heads out once in a while to see if it's still daylight.

[Fat White Boy]

There's a butcher(or used to be) in King City, Cal., that made the best wild pig sausage I ever ate. My wife and son went through a load of it in less than two weeks. Now, when I shoot a pig, I keep the loins and ribs, the rest I get ground up into sausage. Italian, Polish, BBQ Links. Good Stuff...

I like most gamebirds; Water fowl, quail, chukars, huns, dove. For Dove, I marinate 'em in KC Masterpiece or Bullseye BBQ sauce with a good dose of Frank's Red Hot mixed in. Grill 'em up!

..."Wrapped in cornmeal, fried in butter, it tasted sweeter than the kisses of Esmerelda." Richard Brautigan

[Long Path]

If this were true, darn near every deer hunter in the Midwest would be dead right now. Corn is a staple of deer. It's so bad, that around here, deer eat, sleep, screw in the corn, and poke their heads out once in a while to see if it's still daylight.

With respect, Dogjaw, may I suggest that you do some research on the subject before dismissing it entirely based on your anectdotal observations?

Please note that I said "'Deer Corn.'" Deer Corn is usually feed corn (corn that was raised to be sold as feed to livestock) which came from a batch that tested too high in parts per million (ppm) of aflatoxin, which is kind of toxic mold that grows in mealy corn with a specific moisture rate. As it cannot be sold for animals to be eaten for human consumption, it's sold as Deer Corn, for drawing wildlife. This information was told to me directly by none other than the local Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, while I was taking him on a hunting trip. (Mental note: that man could cook til the world looked level. Take him hunting again!) While it's fun to make fun of the ignorance of Government Bureaucrats, I've got to say-- this guy is sharp. He knows more botany than any other human I know, and loves to get into the field. He's also a heck of a man in general, and I'm frankly proud to count him as my friend. (I've known him for 29 years, and only in the last 5 have really known what he does.)

At any rate, I'm afraid that I will need to trump "anecdote" with "expert." Don't eat the livers from deer that have been eating corn regularly from feeders stocked with Deer Corn-- you're bound to be increasing levels of toxin.

[Rojoe67]

I always get my corn at the co-op feed mill......... cheaper by 10-20% and it helps out the local farmers whom are bringing it in from the local farms. I would think this corn is more than safe right? It is used by livestock farmers everyday - I think. I didn't know or ever hear about that toxic information before. Thanks for sharing it with us liver eaters....
Last season we had both bear heart and bear liver.... First and last time for me.......not near as good as deer or beef liver...... Just my taste

[Dogjaw]

With all due respect, here's my "anectdotal observations" Long Path. Corn mold from improper moisture content, i.e. greater than 15.5% will lead to mold when stored as shelled corn in a grain bin or piled where air can not reach it . Short term storage in cold weather can be had at 18% moisture. Stored corn as with hay can be checked with a thermometer in interior of the pile. A rise in temperature means too much moisture and too little air movement, and cool dry air is forced through the grain to remove moisture. Corn strewn out will not mold in this way. If it did, all corn would normally mold in the field. An extremely wet warm fall can cause mold in corn on the stalk. The last time that happened in Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana (which means a much larger sector of the Midwest) was in 1971. How do I know? I spent the fall of 71 till the fall of 72 grinding alfalfa into corn from 1971, and mixing it with what good corn was left from 1970 to feed the dairy cattle. I spent that same time pumping semi milk solids from 55 gal barrels and grinding into hog feed for extra nutrition.
If you look at some small farms, you will still see corn cribs. High moisture content (anywhere from 16 - 30% depending on variety and conditions) corn is picked and stored on the ear in a wood building with slats, or a round bin made of heavy gauge mesh wire. This corn is exposed to the elements for up to a year and more. The gaps in the ears makes for natural air circulation that keeps moisture from collecting, and heating up the corn, thus preventing mold, or spontaneous combustion. This basic method of storage has been practiced for thousands of years, and we're all still here. I doubt someone throwing a bucket of corn on the ground and letting it sit a week or 2 is doing anything more than turning the ground yellow. If it was dangerous, why would farmers use it themselves? Why isn't this a warning in any DNR publication? 47 years on a farm enough research for you?

[Lokmdwn]

Moose, Deer, Wild pig, Wild Turkey, Duck, Quail, Dove, Rabbit, Squirell.
In that order. Here is a simple recipe that I use every now and again.

In a cast iron skillet, using medium heat, fry (in butter) "medalion sized steaks" (use any type of meat, steaks should be no more than 1/4" thick and not much bigger that a silver dollar) Turn steaks as soon as you see the blood coming out on the top of the meat. Season with salt and pepper only. Cook meat to your liking (mine is medium rare).
In between pans of meat. Saute a finely chopped green Bell pepper and a medium sized onion (also finely chopped).
When you are all done, sprinkle pieces of the bell pepper and onion on the steaks and enjoy.

Cook whatever else you want to eat with this.

Cook a bunch because you can't stop eating them.

Just so this stays gun related, The first time I had this was a couple of years ago after I took a 750 Lb (dressed) Bull moose with my Remington, Model 760 30-06, using handloads from my own bench. My son was also with me which made it even more exciting.