Mostly, the perceived quality of the meat is in the preparation; but some meats are just harder to make edible than others.

About the worst I've ever had was Nilgai antelope roast. So tough you need a serrated knife to cut it and so dry you could choke just from licking it. Maybe all nilgai isn't that way, but the sample I had was sure discouraging.

How about it? What kind of game have you had that was less than salutory?

Turtle. I have had several turtle dishes, and they were flat out horrible. I'm sure like an old leather boot sole, if you prepare a certain way it can be good, but it sure wasn't turtle when I had it.

Antelope from the sagebrush of Eastern Idaho in the Persimeroy(SP) Valley where Elmer Keith's ranch was. To hunt there after reading him and about him was great but the local antelope had to be made in to German sausages etc.

Have yet to try the Nilgai, but from all reports its supposed to be better than Elk. I have this quirk about trying new food....Have cooked dogfish (grinnel), gar, rattlesnake, turtle, elk, deer, buffalo, racoon, squirrel, duck, goose, pigeon, alligator, carp, whitehorse suckers, smelt, crawfish, and have eaten monkey, ostrich, most seafoods including raw oysters, octopus and squid but have yet to try fresh water eel, mountain lion, muskrat, groundhog and stingray but I will get my chance.

Overall, the dogfish (grinnel) was the hardest to make a meal out of. Had to put it in a smoker untill it was almost crisp to eliminate most of the cotton taste. Canadian goose makes great jerky, carp patties taste like salmon patties, saltwater catfish taste like catfish, go figure. Its all in the prepartion. ....call me crazy, just don't call me late for supper. Hey Fish30114, was the turtle a snapper or a softshell...Softshells taste better, snappers have to be kept alive for a couple of days to flush their system, kind of like carp. If its out of a rock or sandy bottom lake or stream, it should be good to go. Need a recipe, just let me know

Don't know if it qualifys as game but, when I was much younger and we were in our mountian man mode we cooked and ate a bluejay. It was disgusting

Antelope that feed mainly on sage brush ... just too much of a sage taste for myself. On the flip side some of the best meat I've even eaten is antelope that feed mainly on agricultural crops, absolutely no game taste. It is all in what they feed on in my opinion.

Boar hog with testicles larger than soft-ball size.

My guess is that a couple of the bad experiences were the cook rather than the meat. In Venezuela I had turtle soup that was delicious. And as far as the bluejay goes, most 9 year old boys are pretty lousy cooks.

I've never eaten a "bad" antelope that I took care of after the kill. I've eaten very few that other people "took care of" after their kills that were fit for the dogs.

The worst thing I have ever tried was a mature wild hog from the Kaliphornia Coast Range. The dogs ran away for three days after we tried to cook it in SOME way that was fit to eat...never found one...

I agree with the "how the meat was handled" aspect.

Some years ago, a few antelope steaks and roasts were given to us while I lived in Tucson. Yes, they were AZ antelope.

We cooked them up like we would any other roast and had to throw out the whole thing. It was the most disgusting meat we'd ever had. It didn't even smell right.

My assumption is that the meat was left in the hot sun too long. I've eaten every antelope I've personally killed from WY with a smile on my face.

But I'll tell you, it was VERY difficult that first time after our Tucson incident back in 1994.

Lost Oki, the turtle was in fact snapper on two of the ocassions, on the third I'm not sure, just that it was from fresh water in Colorado.

There are so many other things to eat, I think I'll just pass on turtle for the forseeable future.....

If you have been around a live camel to smell it,and then someone serves you some on a plate, you will know what it is without having to be told.It wasnt bad, but it was distinct.

So far the worst tasting meat is was a SE Montana sagebrush antelope. I took all of the precautions, didn't spook him, made a quick, clean shot, and got the meat cold fast (within the hour). Second was a muley buck that I shot not more than 10 miles from where I shot the antelope.

I chalk them up as "RUT" tasting!

You can chalk another one up for the sage brush antelope. YUK!

Snapper done correctly

Jim

How about Javelina???

The worst tasting game meat I had has to be antelope burger as the steaks were not all that bad and the buck was in the rut. I know this subsistance hunter up near the arctic circle and he will not kill any bull caribou during the rut because of taste. I have also found that mule deer does taste better than the bucks.

Rad

quote:

Originally posted by Lost Oki:
....Have cooked dogfish (grinnel), gar, rattlesnake, turtle, elk, deer, buffalo, racoon, squirrel, duck, goose, pigeon, alligator, carp, whitehorse suckers, smelt, crawfish, and have eaten monkey, ostrich, most seafoods including raw oysters, octopus and squid but have yet to try fresh water eel, mountain lion, muskrat, groundhog and stingray but I will get my chance.

Overall, the dogfish (grinnel) was the hardest to make a meal out of. Had to put it in a smoker untill it was almost crisp to eliminate most of the cotton taste. Canadian goose makes great jerky, carp patties taste like salmon patties, saltwater catfish taste like catfish, go figure. Its all in the prepartion. ....call me crazy, just don't call me late for supper. Hey Fish30114, was the turtle a snapper or a softshell...Softshells taste better, snappers have to be kept alive for a couple of days to flush their system, kind of like carp. If its out of a rock or sandy bottom lake or stream, it should be good to go. Need a recipe, just let me know

Wow, eating dogfish is quite an accomplishment. I wont even touch those nasty things, eating one has never even crossed my mind, and I eat about anything.

I had a whitetail buck that was shot in the evening and recovered in the morning and was rutting. The dog would'nt even eat the backstraps. Southwestern Idaho mule dear was almost as good.

No one mentioned "grinners" or possums. Has no one tried one?

One evening in graduate school we shot a possum with a .22 pistol under a freezer that lived out on the porch at a buddy's house.

We actually cleaned it and cooked it. Other than being incredibly fatty, it was not bad. Never did it again ... the little beasties are notably unappetizing in life.

Have not had bad venison if I took care if it from the field myself.

The meat I was most disappointed in was Impala ... had a strong taste I had not expected. Not bad, but not what I'd hoped for. Would be better in sausage.

I've eaten possum, awful greasy shit. I've also eaten some other unusual game, beaver, muskrat, etc. The worst African game I had was a steenbuck, best was zebra or smoked gemsbuck. As far as fish goes, gar is no. 1 for worst, undoubtedly, crappie is the best. I am surprised by the antelope, it is one of my favorites, but all mine were from Wyoming, maybe those Az antelope are bad.

Without a doubt Persian Ibex. Smells like a rank ole billy goat in life and the meat smells like a rank ole billy goat when you cook it. never mind the taste I couldn't get it to my mouth without gagging.

Javalina is right up there as is big mature boar feral hog.

Mine would have to be a toss up between Aoudad Sheep and Mountain Goat. The goat came from the Collegient Peaks Wilderness area in Colorado and the Aoudad from Pearsall Tx. Both animals were killed cleanly and boned as soon as we could get to them. They had alright flavor, but on both the meat was so tough you could hardly chew it. I made most of it into jerky. Since I will never shoot another one of either species, I won't be able to tell if this is representative of them or isolated incidents.

Once when in the Middle East, I ate a pizza with goat milk cheese and camel meat. If anybody ever offers ou a bite of this treat, pass on it. I found camel to taste just about the same way they look. UGLY!!!

Lots of people complain about antelops, but I've never had a bad one even if they were shot in the middle of a sagebrush flat. We always carry a couple coolers full of ice in the back of the truck and as soon as we can get the animal to the truck, we bone it out and put it on ice. You can't run all over the countryside with an unskinned pronghorn in the back of the truck. The hollow hair on them insulates really well and since they are usually shot in warm weather, it make prompt cooling critical. Not many people seem to carry coolers full of ice with them on an antelope hunt and I belive it makes all the difference.

Cheers

Mac

It has to be a tie between Nevada Mule deer and Nevada Jack rabbit.They both feed soley on sage brush.Their rainbow trout even tasted dusty.I hated that place counldnt hunt and hardly any fishing.A friend gave me the two mule deer I finally feed them to the dogs they were so bad.I have not wanted to taste mule deer scence that day or even try to shoot one.My pronghorn from Montana were yummy I loved them.Tough pheasants are not high on my list either.

quote:

Originally posted by mousegun:
[
Wow, eating dogfish is quite an accomplishment. I wont even touch those nasty things, eating one has never even crossed my mind, and I eat about anything.

If you ever come to England and get a fish and chip supper be sure to order 'rock salmon'! sounds a lot better than dogfish don't it!

quote:

Originally posted by Riodot:
How about Javelina???

I'm no expert, as I've only been around and eaten parts of two javelina. Both were pretty large boars, and both tasted just fine to me. Like antelope, these guys are usually hunted when the temperature is mild. I think proper meat care is critical for warm weather hunts. Both javelina I was around (one my buddy killed and one I killed) were cooled on ice within an hour of their deaths. We cooked his several ways like we would pork. Though a bit drier than feral (and especially domestic) pork, the flavor was just fine. The second one (mine) we cooked whole in a pit BBQ with red chile. That was pretty awesome stuff.

Oh yeah, another tip to keep in mind when handling a dead javelina is to not let any part of you or your tools touch the little "nipple" on the top of the rump. Their unique aroma, and resulting off flavor (in my opinion), originate there.

By the way, I think soft-shelled turtle was probably the nastiest thing I ever ate, though a big ol' Kalifornia boar hog runs a close second.

I'll try most anything, but when we were in Tanzania one night my PH got the cooks to serve up something he wanted us to try..."Tongue and Tail" from a cape buffalo we had killed earlier that day. The buff's tail had been cut into links like you might cut a sausage but of course it had the bone inside. The tongue, well, it was like a tongue and I just couldn't get past that.

One winter my brother and I came across a well-chewed deer carcass. As the crows flew off I shot one down. We tried eating the breast meat, sauteed in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. It was awful!! (Of course I have had to dine on crow in a figurative sense under even less appetizing circumstances!)

The first "waterfowl" I ever shot was a coot. After cleaning, cooking and trying to eat the thing, I realized why they don't get hunted that hard!

quote:

Originally posted by Lost Oki:
Overall, the dogfish (grinnel) was the hardest to make a meal out of. Had to put it in a smoker untill it was almost crisp to eliminate most of the cotton taste.

What I know as "dogfish" is a name for Sand Shark... which if very fresh makes excellent "fish and chips"

If not fresh cooked shark has the consistancy of fried particle board.

If you are refering to bowfin they are simply inedible.

quote:

Originally posted by 1894mk2:
If you ever come to England and get a fish and chip supper be sure to order 'rock salmon'! sounds a lot better than dogfish don't it!

To my understanding when an englishman Says: "Dogfish" he is either refering to a sandshark (like an east coast american) or a species of saltwater catfish.

The absolutely worst thing I have ever put into my mouth was a piece of Duck breast from a scooter duck... it didn't stay there long.

And it took half a bottle of cheap mezcal to get the taste out of my mouth.


Close second was raccoon, my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth just thinking about the gummy greasy texture.

AD

I had to think a bit about the worst I've had. It was from the first whitetail buck I shot with a bow. Thru the lungs, ran about 80 yds and piled up, quick recovery. However, I was not into processing my own game so took it to a processor. Bad mistake. And, while field dressing the buck, I found a large abscess about the size of a tennis ball on the rear leg, full of a creamy, light green pus. Probably should have stopped there. Ended up tossing the whole thing, as even the backstraps were awful.

The 300+lb boar was so bad we threw the pan out we cooked the pork chops in stunk the whole house up that was the first package of a freezer full of meat tossed it all.

Also up there is sage grouse and band tail pigeon.

A friend caught a shark somewhere off the continental shelf from New jersey. I have no idea of the species. He cooked it...it tasted like piss smells. Never again!

Has to be porcupine. Tasted like a mix of rancid flesh and lysol (and I took good care of the meat). I could barely keep it down. I don't care how hungry I am - never again.

The worst game meat I've ever eaten was black bear steaks cooked on the grill, just tasted nasty and was dry as all get out. We also had black bear swiss steak that was out of this world, all from the same bear.

Opossum; Sewer rat cooked in Vaseline. Raccoon, on the other hand, is excellent.

Proghorn Antelope
Duck
Boar Hog

Are about the worst I've gotten ahold of. I just give em away.

Reloader

this is easy - we got trapped in NW alaska one year by the weather. we ate all the stuff we had in camp, which was by a river. it was a spring bear hunt, and there were some ducks flying down the river, we had duck every which way you can imagine, until they got to smart and wouldn't come near anymore. then we blasted a cormorant, which, believe it or not if you hang it for awhile, and are hungry enough, becomes somewhat palatable, but then we finally ended up shooting aseagull or 2. that is the worst. there is no way to make seagull palatable.

quote:

It has to be a tie between Nevada Mule deer and Nevada Jack rabbit.They both feed soley on sage brush.Their rainbow trout even tasted dusty.I hated that place counldnt hunt and hardly any fishing.A friend gave me the two mule deer I finally feed them to the dogs they were so bad

X2

The worst I've had was an old fighting cock chicken we had running around our yard many decades ago. My younger brothers caught it, cleaned and fried it. It was so tough you literally couldn't bite into it. Even the dog couldn't.
The best were the hams from a wild boar I took from the hills of San Benito County, CA, and the elk I killed in the Wasatch Mtns of northern Utah.

Well my worst experience from meat that I harvested, cut wrapped and cooked myself was my Bighorn Sheep ram. I shot him at 10:00am Sept. 26th just spitting snow with a front moving in. After the shot and pictures I boned him out being careful to not touch the hair to the meat and hung meat bags in the trees nearby as the snow increased. I made the first trip out that night with the Backstraps, tenderloins and head and hide, finished packing him out in 8" of new fallen snow and packed him in a cooler with snow and took him home (2.5 hr drive) and cut and wrapped him the following day.
When you got the meat out of the package it smelled like an oily old musky Sheep and that smell was so strong it was in-edible. My dog would even hesitate before eating it which was incredible. I tried back straps and tenderloins a variety of ways and tried a small roast in the crock pot all of which you could not eat. I had heard great things about Sheep meat but my old ram could not be eaten.