Fellas, I realize that each animal is a law unto itself, but are there any rules of thumb about how old a bison is before the meat gets to be suitable only for burger and jerky? Would a three-or four-year-old cow taken in fall be likely to offer some tender steaks and flavorful roasts?

Bill,

There are people on this site who could probably give you a more concise reply but I would think, particularly if we are talking about ranch bison, a 3-4 year old cow would offer fine eating. As with most meats, I think preparation is the key. MARINATE MARINATE MARINATE. For deer and bison, I like to marinate for at least a day in red wine, olive oil, oregano, lemon juice and Cavender's Greek seasoning. MMMMMM! I have to go eat now!

Best Regards,

JohnTheGreek

[ 04-14-2003, 20:40: Message edited by: JohnTheGreek ]

I've culled several bison over the years. The oldest was 11 1/2 years old. On that bull the only steaks I bothered with were NY Strips, Rib Eye and Tenderloin. The rest was burger. It worked out fine and the steaks I got could be cut with a fork.

A 3-4 year old cow would be good for all of the regular cuts and would not require marinating except for the tougher cuts i.e. round steak.

Cows are better eating than the bulls and a 3-4 year old will be good eating. Enjoy.

Bison, unlike beef and most animals, regardless of its age, if he is "fat" and in good condition, it will eat like veal...

This year, as usual, I shot an 11 year old wild bull and you can cut it with a fork, as has been the case with every Bison bull I have shot and that is a goodly number...You cook it like beef and don't need to do anything to it....fact, not fiction...

Beef raised like these Bison I hunt, would not be eatable and an old Hereford bull is only good for salami...strange but true.

I defy anyone to tell Bison from beef, if they didn't know...That is why the indian preferred Bison to deer and elk...

Hey Ray,
Those plains bison you hunt must be quite different than our wood bison we hunt. Our local hunters avoid the big bulls like the plague! It seems that any bull over about 7 years is so tough that it is only good for hamburger, and even that is more like cube steak. My daughter shot one large bull that was 6 and was barely tender enough for conventional cuts. That bull was hung for two and a half weeks as well.

The buff I got back in Feb. was hung for a week and even after cooking for 7 hours in a crock pot on low was so tough could not even get a tooth in the meat. Thankfully I have about 300 lbs. of hamburger to eat for my money. Next time I try some steaks I'm going to marinade 24 hours in a mixture of pineapple and orange juice and see if the citric acid will break the meat down good enough to enjoy.

Well, Haney I don't know how you picked 7 years old as the turning point, but that makes little since....

I have eaten a ton of buffalo and never had a bad one, but I never shot one in poor condition or one that was not fat...I only hunt them in their prime, so maybe that is why I never got a bad one, the other thing is maybe some do not know how to process an animal.

At any rate a few have had a different experience than myself or ANY my clients have had....I find that interresting.

Someday I too will gain that vast wisdom which allows one to intuitively understand all hunting- even in areas and under conditions never encountered. Until then, I will have to suffer through the handicap of only commenting on what I have actually experienced.
Haney

jhaney, if you want one that breaks down the meat
try the cheapest coke/cola you can find,we use it alot here in south VA. weather is to warm most of the time to hang,and we use dogs to push them so it tells in the meat,but the coke trick works real well.

jhaney,
If my remark about the 7 yr. old stopping point for good meat offended you, then I withdraw it and apoligise, it was not ment in that since...

The rest of the post was a generalization of why and possible reasons for the difference...also, I have no idea about the Northern Woods Buffalo, what they eat and I suspect they have some hard times in that cold and may not fair as well.

At any rate I am sorry if I got under your coller.

Ray,
Thanks for your reply--You are a gentleman and perhaps I overreacted. Friends?
Jim

All,
Ray set me up with a bison and what he says about the meat is dead on. My wife is amazed. She is a good cook and we intertain often and she has announced that I can give away anything and everything else including beef, but keep the bison, even the burger, it's the tops.
Take care

I shot a 1800lb bull and the meat was great! Bison meat is tricky to cook well as it is so lean. But once you get the feel for it and my wife had plenty to practice with its great. I think if its aged properly makes a huge differance. But its hard to hang a huge bull in the correct conditions.
dean

I think that proper care and ageing of all wild meat makes a differance. If improperly cared for/butchered, Bison/Deer/Squirrel will ALL be tough and gamey tasting. However properly cared for, hung and butchered is the best meat avaliable.

I have spent a bit of time fishing as well and have proven the following to a number of folks that didn't like fish because it always tasted fishy....
When I clean a fish I ALWAYS fillet and skin it and to this day have not had a problem with fishy tasting catch, fresh or salt water game fish, it dosn't make a difference. However when I cook a fish(Trout and panfish come to mind) where I scale them and leave the skin on, even if they are alive when I start the cleaning process, they always have a fishy taste.

In all the wild game I have eaten I can only remember a couple that tasted gamey and they were taken care of by friends or relatives, and I am not sure teh conditions of care as I have stated above. ALL the wild game I have taken have been wonderful and my wife was VERY unsure about wild game at first but is now a convert!

i shot a 10+ year old bull last fall with by bow. was worried about the meat being tough so i had most of it ground into hamburger, but just to try it i had my butcher cut a few steaks. those were some of the most tender steaks i have eaten, could cut them with a fork.

I think that a lot of this post comes down to meat care, hanging time and keeping the cooking to medium rare. If you like your meat well done you will have tough Buffalo steaks. With the meat being so lean after medium rare your just drying out the meat and it gets tough quickly. I was able to take a really nice bull with my bow this year on a cull thanks to Canuck and it's been awesome. As Ray mentioned animal condition is a big factor. This bull was a huge but in great shape.

470 Mbogo

Jeez, I hate to say it but Ray is right. Even an old baloney bull bison is pretty decent eating. 470 Mbogo is right too...most people manage to screw bison up by handling it poorly or cooking it too fast and too long.

Cheers,
Canuck

okay boys, (and ladies)

Boar tastes WAY different than sow (hog) buck tastes different than doe, just about any species's i've taken, even if dropped to the shot and cleaned/chilled/frozen in 30 mins (in texas, you gotta work fast), and bull states different than steer or cow (for those what don't know a steer is a cutbull)

do bison bull taste stronger than bison cow? I ASSUME it does, but I am not certain

jeffe

How do you haul a few hundred pounds of meat for 8-10 hours drive without it getting hot? Do you get it frozen first or just pack with ice? I'm going to be in Lincoln,NE in October and am thinking it would be fun to shoot a meat cow/bull.

jeffe,

Bull bison do taste different than cow bison. Bison is pretty mild tasting in general, but the cows are milder yet. I also notice that cow tends to be a little more tender on average, even the older ones. I think their muscle fibres might be shorter, or at least it seems that way. (I had a bison cow New York steak just last nite...mmmmm,mmmm)

Mike Scott,

I have done just that type of trip with a bison in the back of my truck. My dad sells bison meat and I retail some of it on the side. To save on shipping I met my Dad "halfway" which usually meant my Dad would pick the bison side(s) up, travel 500km, meet me, and then I would turn around and travel 800km back home with the bison. I would just put a layer of 3" styrofoam insulation on the bed of the truck (to insulate against the heat from the muffler under the bed), and then put a couple bags of ice on top of the meat. Worked nicely every time.

Cheers,
Canuck

Mike,

Get a small chest freezer (even if you have to rent one for a few days) and place it in the back of your truck . Plug it in at the ranch while hunting and after it is freezing place your frozen and wrapped meat in it and head home.

[ 04-24-2003, 00:20: Message edited by: DennisHP ]

Having bison spaghetti today. Can't tell the difference from beef.

[ 04-28-2003, 16:44: Message edited by: T ]

Mike Scott,
I let my bison cool 24 hours in a cooler, then it was quartered...I laid it in my covered Pickup bed in plastic garbage sacks and covered it with 30 bages of block and bagged ice...Drove 16 hours home, slept 6 hours and took it to my butcher, it was still very cold..pack the ice around and on top of the meat.

A kids swimming pool in back of the truck and filled with bagged ice would be a good idea also.

the ranch i hunted in south dakota, culls their bulls at 5 years

I still have the Bison roast shared by a co-worker.
He asked about it today and I just said, "I hate to follow any one recipe and goof it up."

Ok, it is one 3 pound roast, from a fairly young cow, I only get one chance, so what to do?

All say it is lean and it looks like it is.
All say NOT to overcook it.
Some say marinade, some say fat like bacon laced in the meat.

One chance to do it right , one shot . . .
What do I do?

Something over charcoal, kinda like a brisket?

LouisB

TCLouis--cook it like you would a similar beef roast, just be sure that you stop at rare or med-rare at most. Where you from in NM? I'm from L.A.

NealRea--citric acid won't do much, but the bromalin in the pineapple will break down the muscle fibers. The problem is that it mostly is external, as it can't reach the internal part of the meat. You can improve the action by injecting. Don't cook it too slowly or the bromalin will make it into mush. Once you get it above about 105F, the enzyme will quit working, and indeed most of the action will be between 75F and 105 F. Papain does the same and works well.

amosgreg--You hit the nail square! It is care (proper) that makes good meat, and improper care that makes poor meat!

Canuck--Not that it is a big deal, but the cow doesn't have shorter fibers, but smaller diameter fibers with less membrane around them. It is this membrane that makes meat, any meat, lacking in tenderness, not the muscle protein itself.

I shot a 5-6 year old cow on the henrys last December. Best burger I've ever had. The steaks were another story. The tenderloins were great but everything else was like chewing on a tire. Even the cube steaks were tough. This animal hung in the cooler for 10 days. It hadn't been run before it was shot or anything. Just one example but they can be tough.

4-41/2 best for steaks. over that--grind it