Mmmmm, that IS a tasty burger!

[WapitiTalk1]

A great movie quote from Samuel Jackson starts off this thread. OK, from what you've consumed more than a few times that you have a pretty good memory of, what do you feel from top to bottom, is/are the best eating table fare of the North American big game critters? I do believe big game critter palatability (yikes, how's that for a 4 bit word) is affected by multiple factors (browse, age, health/condition, etc.) but overall, how do you rate them?

For the purpose of this ultra scientific ranking (grin) let's just talk about the two big species of elk (Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt), moose, deer (WT, BT, MD, others if you wish to rank them), bear, bison, sheep, goats, antelope, caribou and whatever I didn't think of.

Let's hear your ranking from top to bottom from your perspective!

[Roosiebull]

pronghorn
moose
blacktail
elk (only eaten roosies)
bear
mountain lion (I enjoy them, but I am not a pork fan, and that is what it reminds me of, hence the last place rating)

bighorn, and mountain goat were excellent too, but have only eaten them in pepperoni and jerky form, so tough to rate.

[>>>---WW---->]

Elk, Muley, or Whitetail Swiss Steak in either brown gravy or tomatoe gravy with mashed tatters. Makes your mouth water. MMMMMMM Good!

Pronghorn: Mix 1 pound of pronghorn and 1 can of Alpo. Maybe your dog will eat it and maybe he won't! Some people love it but personally I can't get past the smell of it.

Just about anything fried in bacon grease (Except pronghorn ) is good. Bacon makes everything better!

[Elkduds]

antelope, caribou and whatever I didn't think of.

IMG_2553.JPG

You forgot the gator.

IMO...

Bison
RM elk
Muley

Haven't had the others enough to opine.

[Grousewit]

1.Moose
2.Elk
3.Whitetail
4.Bison
5.Mule Deer

I think these should be seperate from the venison. Just my opinion-its all good.

1.Black bear cured like ham(had 2 of them done this way-wife an i like better than ham)
2.Beaver
3.Bobcat/mtn lion
4. Baked young raccoon-guys at work thought it was rabbit!

[TimeOnTarget]

Elk takes the cake for me long and away.

Next would be midwest whitetails. My Ag field fed deer taste a heck of alot better than ones ive shot out west that have been gnawing on sage brush.


Antelope isnt bad either. Might as well through some pheasants in there as well. Pheasant whoops chicken anyday.

[N&N Waterfowl]

1. Elk
2. Waterfowl...best is speckle belly goose followed by Mallard, gadwall, then teal
3. Whitetail
4. Mule Deer

[Heartwood]

Elk
Mule Deer
Whitetail Deer
Antelope
Mountain Goat (tasted ok but was the toughest meat ever)
Bear

[Lefty]

1. desert sheep is my families favorite, hands down. followed by antelope. Smoked/cooked skin on duck or goose score high too
2. moose and white-tail go either way. While at number 2 A is also beaver meat. For years and years that was my freezer filler
3 elk next , but some moose and whitetail cold drop down behind some elk. Most waterfowl fits in here somewhere most times


4 Mule deer are a bit down the line too
5 Ive had bear twice,.. just wasnt right, big old boars,..




47. I shot one huge bodied black tail , super rutty, hide off and in the locker with in hours, on cold morning,..worst meat ever, I tried a back strap . At that time we had the meat processed,.. ended up donating to the Mens shelter. The worst bag was a brace of wood ducks,.. they had been eating acorns all summer,.. nasty

[Grousewit]

IMO the ranking is based on age and diet of animal, how quickly meat was cooled down after harvest,how it was prepaired, and in most cases(bear,coon,beaver.etc) if all the tallow was removed b4 cooking.

[Tigger]

1. Elk (next I will violate protocol by listing some birds....)
2. Wood Ducks (I don't understand your lack of love Lefty! As Tony the Tiger would say, "They're GREAT!"! My kids love them. They taste like great steak.
3. Ruffed Grouse
4. Pheasant
5. Moose
6. Whitetail
99. Geese and the rest of the duck family. We make them into sticks.

[saddlesore]

Best
1. Pronghorn,
2. Bighorn sheep
3. elk
4. corn fed whitetail from eastern Colorado

Worse.
1. Pronghorn
2, Javelina
3. Mountain Goat
4. Sage brush mule deer.
5 Canada Geese
6. Fish eating ducks

[Lefty]

2. Wood Ducks (I don't understand your lack of love Lefty! As Tony the Tiger would say, "They're GREAT!"! My kids love them. They taste like great steak..

It was just one group of wood ducks. I drove by them all summer. One day while checkin traps I drove by, jump shot them on the upper reaches of the Rush river, actually there it was a ditch.
BUT I'm wondering about your taste buds, or maybe mine ditch chickens are on you list, in breaded cream sauce ,so they taste like , breaded cream.
And then my beloved goose, so low on your list, the pain, the pain!!!!

Just to rub some salt in the wounds
My brother in Mankato said you had a few cool nights this past week
I just crawled in my sleeping bag, 68 degrees


OK I had to leave Idaho, my wife said some place warmer

[Tigger]

Just grilled up some whitetail backstrap with some Alpine Touch last night. mmmm-mm. tasty. Almost as good as wood duck!

We are slowly getting warmer Lefty. But man, the wind! the Cabelas main sign blew off and landed in their parking lot a couple of weeks ago. the big huge one by the road. Hard to grill in that wind!