How much wildgame do you actually eat?

[go_deep]

Just curious how much wildgame do people actually eat every year? Don't include how much you give away and donate, just you immediate household.
Our family we make it a point to have the freezer empty of wildgame before each season starts. From steaks, roasts, burger, plus all the various seasoned and cured meats at the most my family of 4 can eat 2 elk, 2 deer, and 2 Antelope in an entire year, and then through in some fish, a few grouse, maybe a turkey or 2, plus a few rabbits.
The average week we average over 50% of our meals include wildgame.

So how much wildgame does your family actually eat every year?

 

[mallardsx2]

Honestly, we have 2 chest freezers. 1 small one that only holds ground and one big one that holds steaks, fish and everything else. WE dont keep any ground or steaks in our refrigerator freezer either. That is saved only for grocery store bought stuff...

If we fill those chest freezers up by the end of deer season we are good for 1.5 years. Generally speaking, we eat 6 + deer a year. In the event we kill an elk we wont shoot any whitetail does and only hunt for horns with the whitetails. We still have some of my elk from 2 seasons ago. That will be gone this summer for sure. We try to make the elk last a little longer than the deer because we can always get more deer meat on any given weekend.

Last year we got 5 bucks and 2 does. That filled us up pretty good. We are about 1 1/3 of the way through it with grilling season upon us.

We dont give any meat away any more. Had a bad experience with trying to help some people out years ago. Its a bit of a long story but I wont go down that road again.

I did find a pack of moose steaks the other day from several years ago and I grilled those up. That concludes that entire moose as far as I know. Somehow they got mixed in with the MD steaks....

Everything in the freezer is segregated or at least it should be and the stuff from this year will be placed on the bottom so I use the stuff from last year first. I'm OCD about that...

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

There are just my wife and I and occasionally our son stays for up to a month, taking time off from his trucking business.

We eat everything I get. Deer, elk antelope, upland game and fish. We usually can eat a mule deer and an antelope every year. If I get an elk, it takes a little longer and I won't take anything else. I do butcher everything myself. Grind burger, breakfast sausage, make brats and smoke my own pork and fish.

2 years ago we spent a month in Alaska and brought home 100# of Halibut, Salmon , clams and shrimp. Did give about 20# away, took us a year to eat it all (along with venison).

We usually buy some pork and beef in partners with our neighbors, at the county fair auction of FFA animals grown by neighbor kids.

Been that way all my life (I am 80) as my Dad & Mom did almost the same as my wife and I do. My wife's family didn't hunt big game as much, but ate lots of quail, pheasants, waterfowl and fish.

 

[LCH]

I probably eat about a half pound per day. Nearly every day for lunch, supper a couple times per week.

My wife and daughters might eat another pound per week combined. They are small people.

I'm about to finish up my last deer from 2020, then will start on my meat from 2021. I have eaten meat that was 6-7 years old from the freezer before though, and it was perfectly fine.

 

[dan maule]

Our family of 5 typically eat 7 deer a year. It is very rare that we have any wild game left in the freezer at the end of summer going into the fall. We would probably consume more if we harvested more. Still waiting for that elusive elk to fill the freezer with.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

My family of 5 will eat 6-7 deer each year, plus half a dozen wild turkeys. Add in an average of at least 10 honkers and 20 ducks. Plus we eat fish probably 50-75 meals. I would eat fish way more frequently, but my wife doesn’t like it quite as much as I do.

 

[Slugz]

2 times a week for 6 months out of the year I eat moose and elk.

Geese we make jerky out of it.

Ducks we usually eat within 48 hours

 

[ScottR]

Depending on what meals we make, probably 4 dinners a week.

 

[Muley bound]

My family usually goes through 4 deer a year. Prolly could eat more! A good amount of fish too.

 

[kidoggy]

can do an elk and a deer pretty easy. I like variety so I always trade with friends and siblings. pretty much always have deer ,elk and antelope on hand . occasionally moose. in those rare years when no one is successful I will buy a beef.

 

[Turbodude]

Just finished my 2nd Whitetail from 2019 SD hunt & getting ready to dive into my mule deer I got in Wyoming this fall. I am the only one in the family that enjoys wild game. Good for me bad for her.. then there are the 50-80 ducks and about 10-15 specs I get each year.

 

[JimP]

I used to go through quite a bit. A elk would last a year with a deer thrown in along with ducks geese, upland birds and rabbits.

The last dozen or more years a elk will last 2 or 3 years. I have deer from 3 years ago. A lot of it gets ground up for jerky.

Anymore I am picky on what animals I shoot and pass up more than my fare share unless I'm starting to see the bottom of my freezer.

 

[gonhunting247]

We eat a lot. Usually 5 or 6 meals a week. With leftovers used for lunch when available. We give the (grown) kids' families a fair amount also, but with multiple bear, deer, elk, turkeys per year most years and with javelina, antelope, moose, sheep, goat, hog and even a gator mixed in sometimes we usually have plenty to use up. We do really like game meat though, so we don't mind having a lot to use. Sometimes we like to buy some good pork loin or a little chicken just to mix it up, but not too often. I cut all my own game meat and I'm super picky, so it's definitely not hard to give away if we ever get behind .

 

[Timber Stalker]

I’d say less that 10% of what we eat is wild game. I even have to blend ground elk with beef burger to get my wife to eat it. I typically find someone to donate venison to, I got burned out in it when I was a kid. I don’t hunt much else so we typically do buy a half of a beef and buy alot of yard bird for the wife. On average I’ll kill an elk every 3-5 years and I’m down to one deer every 5-6 years. Definitely not a staple for keeping us fed.

 

[Prerylyon]

It just depends on what tags I get/fill and how much time I'm able to hunt. Life between a large family and my work is busy, but I'm grateful for those times I get some wild game from a successful hunt to put on the table

I have 7 kids, and they generally like wild game; so it doesn't last long! Case in point, I made a batch of deer jerky last Sunday night and by Monday evening just 2 grisly pieces were left for me! All good. I'd rather the kids eat a snack of that after school than junk food.

We have a chest freezer and I think right now, from last season's haul of an antelope and a deer, we have ~ 1/2 of each left. It will be gone within the next 2 months.

As far as big game: 2018 we had one antelope, 2019 nil since I failed to tag my deer, 2020 I was sick with COVID and didn't get out, 2021 got lucky and got 1 ea deer and antelope.

Aside from that, some bunnies, an odd duck here and there, doves, pheasant might make it to the kitchen; but it's more a welcome treat/windfall from the hunt. Fresh trout and panfish sometimes too

We've had some good recipes posted recently and some processing discussion from the forum members; hopefully more to come.

 

[buckbull]

We don't eat a whole lot, I'd say 2 deer a year. I mostly make summer sausage and snack sticks; and I'd say someone in the house eats on that 4 days a week. I'm the only one who likes steaks so I'll keep a few backstraps for me. All of our wild game dinners that we have are made with ground venison, mostly chili, shepards pie, spaghetti etc. I actually think my wild game consumption will go up once the youngest goes away to college. Then It'll just be cooking for myself and can make what I like.

 

[Mr Drysdale]

Usually put one Whitetail per year in the freezer. My wife uses the ground for chili and tacos. I will carry most of the steaks and back straps to Talladega (which is next weekend). We will put some on the griddle for every meal (including breakfast). I marinate it in a 50/50 mixture of Dales sauce and Italian dressing. My grandkids keep my kids freezers full if I want more.

 

[DoubleDropMuley]

Depends as of last year we would have starved lol, hopefully this year gos better, I’d like to try and make summer sausage and snack sticks for a first time!!

 

[Prerylyon]

Depends as of last year we would have starved lol, hopefully this year gos better, I’d like to try and make summer sausage and snack sticks for a first time!!

I can vouch for the Hi Mtn, Con Yeager and LEM kits for making snack sticks and summer sausage. A real, true Wisconsin summer sausage with a natural tang from a fermentation process is a bit of work, but many guys figure out how to do it, or you can sorta fake it with encapsulated citric acid or an additive called fermento. A really delicious and easy sausage just about everyone seems to enjoy is trail bologna, or 'deer stick' as they call it in some parts of western PA. I use the LEM seasonings and a mix of 70/30 wild game to pork shoulder and make delicious trail bologna. I say go for it. You won't regret it or turn back.

 

[D_Dubya]

We eat wild game 4 or 5 meals/week. Usually 5 or 6 deer per year, plus a bunch of wild hogs and since I have figured out how to cook Javelina and make it edible this year well probably eat a lot more of them. Plus doves and quail, the occasional rabbit. Every couple years I bring home an elk. We have family and friends over quite a bit and usually there is some kind of wild game on the menu either as appetizers or main course. We gave away a bunch of deer this year - probably should have kept another one or two since it looks like we’ll be out of meat by June.