What part of animal do you eat

bghunter

Active Member
Jun 23, 2015
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Granite Bay, CA
I just got back from successful ID OTC public land elk hunting and decided to cook the balls, would like to tell you that they are delicious, unfortunately they are very small and there are only two of them. I am wondering if anybody else eats bull balls or what other parts of the animals do you eat? I think that I eat everything, heart, liver, lungs, kidney, balls, brain, tongue, and ribs. What am I missing?
Bull Balls Dish1.jpg
 

JimP

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Mar 28, 2016
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With only two of the oysters on each bull I don't even consider them, too much trouble for a little bite.

I start with the liver, then the heart finishing up the first or second week with the tongue. Meat wise some of the best that I have had is the cheek meat off of the skull, but once again a lot of trouble for a little bite. I also haul out all of the bones including ribs and usually will cut my steaks with the bones in them. The bones add too much flavor to leave them on the mountain.
 

zpooch

Very Active Member
Aug 11, 2016
531
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Wyoming
I just got back from successful ID OTC public land elk hunting and decided to cook the balls, would like to tell you that they are delicious, unfortunately they are very small and there are only two of them. I am wondering if anybody else eats bull balls or what other parts of the animals do you eat? I think that I eat everything, heart, liver, lungs, kidney, balls, brain, tongue, and ribs. What am I missing?
View attachment 19948
Well at least the tomatoes look good....
 

boiler

Active Member
Dec 26, 2015
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Indiana
No organs for me, especially sex organs! There is too much beef in the freezer for me to dig through the t-bones to get to the testicles! Lol I do commend you for giving it a try!
 

BossBrott

Active Member
Mar 4, 2012
488
0
Colfax,CA
I only eat the heart and liver, and last year was my first year eating tongue. I didn't care for it myself.
I understand the heart, liver, kidneys, brains, etc,,,,,but the lungs sounds abit dicey for me.
I've never really considered keeping the bones on, maybe next time.
Great subject.
 

Hilltop

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Feb 25, 2014
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Eastern Nebraska
I'll eat the heart and any other lean muscle tissue. I can't stand the oil filter (liver) on any animal and the other organs just don't sound good to me at all.
 

JimP

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Mar 28, 2016
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I have a brother in law that whenever he would shoot a deer we would ask him about the liver, and his reply was always "I shot it through the liver." We then would ask him about the heart and get the same reply. It was strange that most of those deer would have a single bullet hole in them.
 

ScottR

Eastmans' Staff / Moderator
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Feb 3, 2014
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I have a brother in law that whenever he would shoot a deer we would ask him about the liver, and his reply was always "I shot it through the liver." We then would ask him about the heart and get the same reply. It was strange that most of those deer would have a single bullet hole in them.
Yeah, that is an interesting reply...
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
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I do want to try the tongue, but brains????
The best thing that I could suggest to you is to find someone that knows how to cook it and then pick up some beef brains and even some tripe and have them cook it and see what you think.

I have had brains and can take or leave them. I also tried some tripe and that was a one time deal. Tongue on the other hand is quite good.
 

ScottR

Eastmans' Staff / Moderator
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The best thing that I could suggest to you is to find someone that knows how to cook it and then pick up some beef brains and even some tripe and have them cook it and see what you think.

I have had brains and can take or leave them. I also tried some tripe and that was a one time deal. Tongue on the other hand is quite good.
I have never had the desire to eat brain. Just hasn't been something I thought was a great plan but my formative years were when CWD was first starting to make itself known.
 

bghunter

Active Member
Jun 23, 2015
459
27
Granite Bay, CA
Thank you guys for your responses. Almost every part of animal is good if you know how to cook it. It is usually like mentally people don't want to eat something but when they try it without knowing what it is, they like it. I tested it on my mom, she liked everything I cooked until I told her what it is. You need to eat elk brain if you would like to be better elk hunter, you will think like elk when you eat its brain : )))
 

ScottR

Eastmans' Staff / Moderator
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Feb 3, 2014
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Thank you guys for your responses. Almost every part of animal is good if you know how to cook it. It is usually like mentally people don't want to eat something but when they try it without knowing what it is, they like it. I tested it on my mom, she liked everything I cooked until I told her what it is. You need to eat elk brain if you would like to be better elk hunter, you will think like elk when you eat its brain : )))
Hmmmm, not sure I can use that to justify hauling it out...
 

CrimsonArrow

Very Active Member
Feb 21, 2011
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Minnesota
I eat heart and liver, and just recently tried deer tongue. Didn't care for the tongue. Probably won't be eating brains or intestines any time soon
 

Timberstalker

Veteran member
Feb 1, 2012
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Bend, Or
Deer: backstraps into steaks, the rest into burger. No guts of any kind.
Elk: backstraps into steaks, roasts, the rest into burger. No guts of any kind.
I’ve only shot one antelope and a sheep. They both turned into pepperoni sticks, the only way they were going to be consumed by my family. I still have elk burger from my ‘15 elk.
 

kidoggy

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Apr 23, 2016
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I have never had the desire to eat brain. Just hasn't been something I thought was a great plan but my formative years were when CWD was first starting to make itself known.
x 2 . could be that we were just born with enough brains to not crave more.lol.

I would try most things once but brains is something I would not try