I hope i'm not stepping on the toes of any purists out there. If I am, i'm sorry, but I'm only 35 and I dont know any better. Anyway, do these guys taste as good as a gemsbok? And are they as spooky? I'm going to whack one in TX in Feb and although I've never whacked one I've done a lot of research on them. Any advice would be appreciated........wapiti7

I got one a couple of years ago in TX, and the meat is excellent. It is, by far, the best tasting game meat I have ever eaten. The ones I hunted were pretty spooky, but not a very challenging hunt because of their color. They just do not blend in with the Texas landsape. They are also, to date, the toughest animal I have ever hunted.

I'll let you know on Friday, I have some clients trophies due in tomorrow, FedX, there is Scimitar Horned Oryx meat in the shippment. He's giving some to me. Can't wait to try it!

I'll let you know, by the way, it's from Texas.

Never shot a Simitar, but if the meat is as good as a muflon sheep, it will make you slap your mama, if she tries to get a bite! The meat was tough, but made some of the best smoked Polish sausage I've ever slapped a lip over! I have an idea that Simitar will be good as well.

We have many Mouflon running wild all over west Texas, and they are hard to hunt in the mountains out west where fences are only to keep domestic sheep in! Not many of the free roaming Simitar though. Where are you going to hunt your simitar?

I've shot two scimitar-horned oryx, and they are delicious, much better than gemsbok!

Try to save the backstraps whole, and make "Oryx Wellington".

George

Your kidding me, right? Mouflon? Good to eat?

Maybe I am not a very good sheep chef.

I have some Scimitar in the freezer. Must try some soon.

Wendell,

Pure-blood mouflon is tasty (I had some in Europe). The mixed-blood stuff often sold in Texas is nowhere near as palatable.

George

quote:

Originally posted by GeorgeS:
Wendell,

Pure-blood mouflon is tasty (I had some in Europe). The mixed-blood stuff often sold in Texas is nowhere near as palatable.

George

Darrell York has, or at least HAD, pleanty of pure Mouflon in the Davis mountains. None of the wooley stuff listed as real Mouflon in the hill country. They are mixed with domestic sheep, and the meat is greasy. One other difference, I think is, the ones found on High fence, besides being mixed, feed from cattle feeders on commercial cow feed. The ones in the western mountains feed the same as the Muledeer, on natural food sources. In any event every one I have taken there are fine table fare!

I've never found any ram I could force past my nose. Orxy,at least that I've eaten was indeed good. Eland is suppose to be really good but the orxy was better IMHO.

Thanks for all of the input guys. I'm going outside of Austin,TX in February. I've shot 3 Gemsbok in southern NM and the meat is killer. I'm trying to get my oryx grand slam, so the scimitar is next in line. Hopefully a cow over 40in!!!....................wapiti7

Corsican Rams, Black Hawaiins, Texas Dalls (Barbado sheep hybrids) are probably similar to mouflon.

And yep the meat on barbado hybrids is tough, extremely lean but very tasty. Overcooking it makes it practically (if not completely) inedible, it's best cooked medium to medium rare. Don't try and grill it, it's way too lean. Grilling it will dry it out. Dried out sheep steaks are nasty (understatement).

Best bet is to dust the steaks with garlic salt, rosemary and some red pepper flakes. Sautee them in about an 1/8" of olive oil till medium to medium rare doneness. You can tenderize the meat some by putting it in a ziploc bag and soaking it in Guava or Mango juice (sold as Jumex in the ethnic section of american grocery stores). Let it soak in the bag in the fridge a couple days, season and sautee the steaks. The same tenderizer trick works great with wild boar pork chops. It's darn good, honest. I eat lots of different kinds of game and the barbado hybrid stuff is better than decent if cooked right (I know probably a tired cliche but it is the truth). I had eaten every scrap of a Texas dall I killed a couple years ago in 3 months.

The ground sheep meat requires a pinch of salt in it to help the patties stick together. You can't grill the patties either. They will just dry out and fall apart. Dust them good with Montreal seasoning from Mccormick and sautee the patties in olive oil. I like to serve both steaks or patties with sauteed mushrooms and onions.

I would not hesistate to put another sheep in the freezer.

I hunted a ranch in Texas last year and the guide there places the scimitar horned oryx just below Axis deer for table fare. I was surprised he thought more of the oryx than red deer (which I personally think are outstanding) but he assured me they are better.

One day I aim to personally find out

My father shot one in Texas in October, and I got some of the meat in November.

I found it much tougher than I would have expected.
We gutted the animal as soon as we shot it, and got it to the processors meat locker within an hour.

The Fallow deer I shot was good, however.

Now is a good time to shoot a scimitar horned oryx. There is a suit in the Federal court system to stop the hunting of captive bred SC oryx and addax. There is a good chance the anti's will win this one, due to the language of the Endangered Species Act.

Garrett

quote:

Originally posted by N. Garrett:
My father shot one in Texas in October, and I got some of the meat in November.

I found it much tougher than I would have expected.
We gutted the animal as soon as we shot it, and got it to the processors meat locker within an hour.

The Fallow deer I shot was good, however.

Now is a good time to shoot a scimitar horned oryx. There is a suit in the Federal court system to stop the hunting of captive bred SC oryx and addax. There is a good chance the anti's will win this one, due to the language of the Endangered Species Act.

Garrett

Pity about the oryx lawsuit. When exotic breeders no longer have a market for these animals things will get worse for the species not better.

quote:

Originally posted by N. Garrett:
Now is a good time to shoot a scimitar horned oryx. There is a suit in the Federal court system to stop the hunting of captive bred SC oryx and addax. There is a good chance the anti's will win this one, due to the language of the Endangered Species Act.
Garrett

I believe that issue has been dealt with. In the last issue of an exotic game magazine I received before leaving Texas (I forget the name of the mag) they wrote that the game ranchers were going to be able to continue to sell SH oryx hunts. The ranchers were able to convince those that matter that if the animals had no value (ie trophy fees) then nobody would keep them on their ranch, and since Texas has the largest population of SH oryx in the world, their argument carried some weight.