Pronghorn meat

[Texas Star]

Have any of you eaten pronghorn "antelope"? Was the meat about like deer venison?

I've heard widely varying reports on whether the meat is even fit to eat.

In fact, discuss and evaluate all game meats that you've eaten. This extends to African game, and to "exotics" here, like blackbuck antelope from India and Axis deer/chital. I've heard the Axis deer venison is better than our native deer. I like venison, but it can retain the flavor of what the animal was feeding on. I had mule deer meat that tasted of sagebrush...I think. Good, but different.

Of course, any wild meat depends on how well the animal was field dressed and processed.

 

[kwselke]

Have any of you eaten pronghorn "antelope"? Was the meat about like deer venison?

I've heard widely varying reports on whether the meat is even fit to eat.

In fact, discuss and evaluate all game meats that you've eaten. This extends to African game, and to "exotics" here, like blackbuck antelope from India and Axis deer/chital. I've heard the Axis deer venison is better than our native deer. I like venison, but it can retain the flavor of what the animal was feeding on. I had mule deer meat that tasted of sagebrush...I think. Good, but different.

Of course, any wild meat depends on how well the animal was field dressed and processed.

I have taken a Pronghorn and eaten the meat. I was not impressed with it. I personally field dressed it immediately after the kill, but had to take it to a processing center for further processing. It was a warm day and it took too long to get it to the processing center. I'm sure it would have been better eating if I could have cooled it down faster.

 

[Bullet Bob]

I quit hunting them the five years I lived in western South Dakota because I don't like the taste, but friends felt differently. Supposedly the taste is tied to their diet.

 

[vonn]

My pronghorn experience matches kwselke but perhaps adult males aren't the best choice for the table.

 

[arjay]

I've had lousy tasting pronghorn and very good pronghorn.The good meat came from one that my BIL snuck up on at dawn.It stood up and he shot it-delicious
The mulies I've killed in the mountains here have all had a strong flavor.I had some venison a few years ago from a whitetail that had been shot on a farm in Missouri (she shot it from her front porch [emoji1]) that was very good.
The worst venison was a mulie doe I arrowed at dusk at the end of August.Couldnt find her in the tall grass,but walked up on her the next morning.That one was funky!

 

[walkinghorse]

In addition to field dressing properly, processing, including cooling down of the carcass as already mentioned, a great deal depends upon what the animal has been eating. Antelope tend to be in country where sage and other non desirable vegetation is predominate. Age of the animal and sex also play into meat taste. Horns or antler size do not contribute to the best taste, nor does how long the animal ran after being hit.
Antelope can be OK at best, terrible at worst.
I once took a young 3 point whitetail that had been living and dining in apple orchard, day was very cold, and he dropped where he was shot! Very tasty! A deer dining on sage etc. not so much. Best was a young cow elk in Oregon, though a moose ran a close second.

 

[steelslaver]

If I want an antelope I go to country that is more farm than ranch. Hunt near hay fields and winter wheat fields. A lot of farmers see them as a pest. Drop them in their tracks. Gut and skin em. It is often to warm outside at the start of the season here.
Also it is very important to trim ALL the fat off the meat very well. Sliced up thin, with onion between the slices then slow cooked. MMMM

Running some old buck antelope across a sage brush flat after you blow one leg off him and them dragging him around in the truck to show everyone isn't going to work out at the table.

 

[Inusuit]

My Dad was a young man during the Depression. His firm rule when I was growing up: "You shoot it, you eat it." The only wild game he finally fed to the dogs was pronghorn that had apparently been chased with a vehicle before he shot it. It was rank. I had a friend who described a difficult situation thusly: "It's like eating antelope meat. The more you chew it, the bigger it gets."

 

[twodog max]

I have shot and eaten a lot of antelope. I like it a lot. I have shot them in sage and in agri areas and I really can't tell much difference if any. Here is how I do it. I field dress immediately and start them cooling. As soon as I can get them to the truck they are skinned, boned and put in meat bags on ice. Next hunt I go on if I am any distance from the road I am boning them out where they fall and packing the meat to the truck and then on ice. care when skinning is needed for two reasons. They stink and are oily and this can get on the meat if you are not careful and secondly they can be full of cactus thorns so be warned.
I find that generally antelope is a little more tender than deer. We find it very good for anything we want to use it for.
Going back to Wyoming next year to get a few more.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

It's super lean meat!
Often compared to goat.
Needs to be cooked with wine- spices.

 

[Bill Bates]

I've never eaten or hunted pronghorn. I drew a permit here in Utah this year. Hopefully this Fall I can voice my opinion on the meats flavor.

 

[Erich]

In fact, discuss and evaluate all game meats that you've eaten.

Let's talk oryx . . .

Might be the best meat I've ever had.

 

[JayCeeNC]

I've had pronghorn fixed "Slim Jim" style while visiting a friend in NE Wyoming. Tasted a bit gamey.

 

[kthom]

How an animal tastes is very dependent on what it has been eating, it's age, and whether it has been running a lot prior to the shot (mating season is in my experience not the best time to get good tasting meat!). How the meat is handled in the field and following is also a critical factor. Most pronghorns are taken during warm to very hot weather. I have enjoyed most of the pronghorn meat that I've had. As mentioned it is very lean, but how the meat smells and tastes is very dependent on how quickly that meat gets the body temperature cooled down.

My practice with most any game animal, but specifically and always with pronghorn is to immediately remove the innards after shooting and bleeding the carcass, then to remove the skin from the body down to the neck area, and then to bone the meat from the skeleton and place it in unsealed plastic bags which are placed on ice in a couple of coolers. I don't like to stack these bags on top of each other if possible, but I will do so in two layers with some ice below and on top of the layers. This requires some preplanning, but it will be worth the effort, and this with any field dressed meat. As I said, lots of factors influence how good the meat tastes on any animal, but getting the body heat from a carcass and keeping the meat cool till finally packaged or used is critical in my experience.

 

[30-30remchester]

I have shot several truck loads of pronghorns. Unlike many hunters, I eat every package of meat I harvest. I have also shot and eaten many, many deer and elk. I have not bought a package of red meat in 44 years. To say I have experience eating wild game would be an understatement. I shoot a couple pronghorn each year. My kids, mother, wife and myself all think it is the best wild meat available. We treasure the stuff, eating it on special occasions. It is the only wild meat my mother will eat. While I enjoy elk, love mule deer that have lived in sage and cedar, the pronghorn is just superb. I have never shot huge bucks, but I have shot many in the 14" range, they were all so tender, a fork could be used to cut the small steaks. I take no special care of the animal than I do any other head of big game. Gut it, skin it soon after the kill, hand it in a cool place for 8 to 10 days and the butcher. The wife cuts the steaks in 3/4" thickness, pounds the meat and chicken fries it. We don't usually grill large chucks on the Barbie. Now my mouth is watering for the little speed goat and I have only one package left in the freezer. If only the prairie goat was the size of an elk.

 

[Wyo]

I've taken many antelope over the years, and I've had mixed results with the meat. It depends on what's happened before you shoot it, how well the carcass is handled afterwards, and how quickly the meat is cooled. And, of course, whether the cook knows anything about cooking it properly. I have to say it's my least favorite big game meat. I used to take a lot of mule deer in northern Wyoming off sugar beet and/or corn fields, and those were like eating good, tender beef. No strong taste at all. Some I've taken off the desert were a little stronger but not bad at all. Elk is better yet unless you take an old bull at the height of the rut. Then you won't be able to stand 50' downwind of him, let alone eat him! The best elk meat is a dry cow or a spike bull. I've never had bad elk meat. My favorite, though rarely had, is big horn sheep. Most people think it must taste like domestic sheep or mutton. Not at all. It's tender and almost a little sweet. By far the best big game meat I've ever had. Sheep hunting here is mostly a once-in-a-lifetime deal, but it's well worth it for the meat, never mind the trophy!

 

[30-30remchester]

I've taken many antelope over the years, and I've had mixed results with the meat. It depends on what's happened before you shoot it, how well the carcass is handled afterwards, and how quickly the meat is cooled. And, of course, whether the cook knows anything about cooking it properly. I have to say it's my least favorite big game meat. I used to take a lot of mule deer in northern Wyoming off sugar beet and/or corn fields, and those were like eating good, tender beef. No strong taste at all. Some I've taken off the desert were a little stronger but not bad at all. Elk is better yet unless you take an old bull at the height of the rut. Then you won't be able to stand 50' downwind of him, let alone eat him! The best elk meat is a dry cow or a spike bull. I've never had bad elk meat. My favorite, though rarely had, is big horn sheep. Most people think it must taste like domestic sheep or mutton. Not at all. It's tender and almost a little sweet. By far the best big game meat I've ever had. Sheep hunting here is mostly a once-in-a-lifetime deal here, but it's well worth it for the meat, never mind the trophy!

I grew up in the west when elk were scarce. My dad fed 2 families on mule deer that had lived in sage brush field. Buckskin, biscuits and gravy was a common breakfast on the ranch. I grew accustomed to sage flavored meat and prefer it to grain fed deer. My dad shot 17 mule deer in one year to feed the ranch. In the Piance basin mule deer were EVERYWHERE. Five thousand were counted in one 40 mile trip to town in one valley. This next statement will make a few scratch their heads. He used only a K-22 to take all those deer. Now elk abound and I use it as filler meat between the deer and antelope that we prefer. To each his own I guess. I will have to take your word on mountain sheep as I have never drawn a tag in 25 years. A moose tag also eludes me. I have applied for 31 straight years with no luck. I guess I should have just shot the big old cow moose that was munching my lawn a couple weeks ago.

 

[Iggy]

Pronghorns have scent sacs down near their hocks on their rear legs.
Those need to be removed immediately upon shooting. Don't let the hair come in contact with the meat neither.

That being said, when I use take an antelope on occasion, I had it made into summer sausage. I've eaten too many steaks that tasted like sage brush.

Like WYO, I liked cow and spike elk. First elk I killed when I was 14. It was a big ol bull and you could bend your fork on the gravy. From then on it was cows or spikes for me. Mule deer was a major menu item during college.

Moose ain't too bad, but it can be pretty gamey too.

Beaver, bear, mountain lion, rattlesnake, and sage grouse is another story entirely.

 

[BearBio]

Never shot one but my buddy got one from the Red Desert of Wyoming. He couldn't stand it (He hates cilantro also!). Tasted very "sagey". I traded him and elk roast for his whole "goat". Made great breakfast sausage!

Pretty much had everything: elk (lived on it and mule deer for 2 years in grad school=couldn't afford beef!), boar, caribou/reindeer, mule deer, bison, whitetail, antelope, blacktail, moose, and bear. My brother has eaten a lot of kudu and gemsbok (comparable to elk, he says). The larger ungulates all taste pretty much the same to me==cow elk being the best. Best deer meat was blacktail from an abandoned apple orchard in Washington. Worst was a "burro deer" from along the lower Colorado. Reindeer was in sausage=too spiced to tell how it tasted. Bear was in sausage=ditto. Moose was in jerky=pretty well covered up the taste.

 

[df06]

I have eaten pronghorn back strap and thought it was better than whitetail. I shot it and got it gutted and hung to cool in a short period of time. Then I cut it up the next day.
I gave away the rest so can not comment on other cuts or burger.