

The animal is a product of its environment, and like sheep, moisture and a protein-rich diet make for the best-eating meat. With no open water, it would be challenging for moose to stay hydrated, especially if there wasn’t any snow. There is little to no moisture in their diet of dry twigs come November.

My theory is the moisture content of their diet-green leaves, aquatic vegetation, and other green plants-in the warmer months makes for better tasting meat.

Late-season moose can be more challenging to keep tender. Early moose, in August and September, are the best. They rank high on the list for both quality and quantity. Where moose are hunted regularly, they are highly sought after to fill the freezer. The flavor is earthy with a hint of the trees and shrubs it browses. If you have ever tried moose, you will remember it. Moose is long-grained meat with a unique and robust flavor. Living in Canada, I consider myself spoiled for having moose in my freezer every year for over two decades. We are what we eat, and by eating the elk we become in a very literal sense, a part of those wild, clean mountains.” Moose Moose bring a lot to the table, in terms of quality and quantity. It is a product of virgin wilderness soils, crystal clear waters, the flowers, grasses, and trees that grow there, and the rain and snow that falls. The meat of an elk from the mountains is a part of the mountains. It is a symbol and treated as such, no matter how it tastes. In his book Elk Country, Geist summed up what many hunters feel about incredible tasting, hard-earned meat, saying: “The elk roast in a hunter’s house is more than meat. Valerius Geist was a specialist on the biology, behavior, and social dynamics of North American large mammals and was an avid hunter. On the other hand, a big, old bull usually heads for the grinder and a big batch of bologna or something where the meat is emulsified.ĭr. The same is true for domestic meats if we look at beef, cows and heifers are excellent table fare, and castrated males, or steers, rank highly as well.

Not that a bull isn’t good, they just don’t finish at the level of an antlerless elk, which holds true for most species. Elk is a lean, fine-grained meat that has a sweet side. Brad FensonĮlk would top the list for many hunters, strictly because more people have had the opportunity to try it without knowing there was something possibly better. Elk Cow elk are trophies for meat hunters.
