Hunting Exotics

For any members that have hunted the exotic game(ferel goats texas dall sheep, mouflon rams, etc.) are they really edible or do you fellows just mount them? My son and I want to go on a boar hunt but we might see something else to shoot. Any advice?

I went on one but I shot an Asian water buffalo and huge boar, the boar meat was all but inedible the buffalo was tough but had better flavor than any other game animal I've shot and it was better than most beef. The ranch I was on also had several varietys of sheep, goat and deer and my friend/taxidermist that went with me said he has them made into hot dogs and sausage and that they are very good but then again he also gave me some cougar meat that I couldn't bring myself to eat but he swears it's also excellent.

Take it fom me Ram meat is beyond HORRIBLE. Goat is OK, Yak, Water Buff, and Nilgai are good. But the sheep/ram meat, my dogs will not even eat.

that to bad rod you didnt eat the cougar it is very good i dont
like a lot of wild meat but that is not to bad
larry

I would have to be pretty dam hungry to chew on a big kitty! As for the Ram/sheep. I will just take Franchise word for or it, or his dogs! LOL

I think alot of it is how you cook it! I love Venison, to tuff if you grill it to long. Out of a Mason jar, down right good eatn'!

I agree with Franchise on the Ram. Wild Hog, on the other hand, is better than store bought pork, to me. Although a large boar's meat can be like eating an Army combat boot. If you want some of the best meat you can eat, kill you an Axis or Sika, they are FINE!!!

I have also had very good experiences eating axis, fallow, and sika deer as well as oryx and yak, but those animals are also going to be more pricey than the goats and sheep. Hogs and javelina can range from delicious to awful depending upon how they're handled and how they're prepared/cooked.
Although I've taken 2 cougar, I've never eaten the meat of one. I'm told the meat is good...I'm also told it's awful...depends who's doing the telling. I did eat some of the backstrap of an african lion I shot 14 years ago. The taste was fine...but I think I'm still chewing it.

Thanks guys. It seems like the popular opinion ii that the boar is good to eat. Never shot anything other then deer. I appreciate your opinions.

I think the consensus is that boars are good if they are under 100 lbs. Sows can go a bit larger...

with domestic hogs the boars need to be castrated or slaughterd before they mature to prevent hormones from effecting the meat i would think wild boars would be the same way. shoot a smaller one fror some tender pork chops.

if you are hungry enough anything can taste good just don't eat for a week or two;)

I had a friend almost die from eating cougar. Apparently the meat was tainted from something the cat had eaten. This guys insides were a mess for several weeks until they got him straightened out.

As for hogs...I eat none of that stuff...even store bought. Nasty stuff.

I kind of beg to differ. The only wild boar I've shot was around 250lbs and the best parts of it were delicious when cooked correctly. There were less than tender parts as well though.

On the ram issue: given that even domestic ewes - which normally don't get that old - have a pretty nastily flavored meat I can only imagine what a 5-7 year old wild ram would be like. I remember I donated the meat of the ram I shot in April to a nearby church group for the needy and that was perhaps not very generous after all...

Oh yeah, I've bagged a few exotics. I guess some were edible, just make sure they're clean. The mounts are very memorable. Oh wait, you're talking exotic animals, I was thinking exotic dancers. Sorry that's something totally different, well....

The one place my son and I considered hunting at they said that the boars are gelded so the meat tastes better.

That would make the difference. A 100lb feral boar can be pretty stinky.

My 225lb russian is some of the best meat I've ever eaten, cook it slow or use a pressure cooker.
My buddy shot a 300lb Merrino, it also is good, just gotta know how to cook it.
Denny

If I was starving, I might eat a ram. I tried to eat the Karakul Ram meat I killed in Sloppy Joes. It tasted like sheep urine smells. There is NO way to fix that up. Some people in Europe eat horses, not me. Some people in the far east eat dogs. Not me. This southern boy will stick to deer, hogs, cattle, buffalo, and similar. Not rams, leave the lamb and rice to dog food!

Ive eaten Fallow and Sika deer. They were pretty good. Hogs can vary. If im shooting a pig to eat I want him under 100 lbs. A 75 lb sow is about perfect. Feral pigs living on crops and acorns are usually pretty good, but Ive killed pigs out in the marsh that were living on chordgrass roots and fiddler crabs that were inedible. We trap hogs then feed them out for a couple of weeks before slaughter. Theyre just like domestic pork and fatten up pretty quick. Most game on a preserve is living off of feed, not natural foods, so they'll taste alot different than a free range animal. Eurasian hogs are pretty picky. I cant get them to eat corn like ferals do. Theyre usually fed dog food.