BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[tim]

I have had caribou that is excellent and caribou that i wouldn't feed to the dog. It has been 50\50 i have shot 4 caribou and 2 where good, 2 where so bad.

[Hammer1]

Nothing nicer than knowing the caribou steak in the sizzling frying pan is romantically garnished with onions as a supply of mushroom gravy lurks next to the pot of steaming potatoes, as you hear the words that will be undullably etched in your mind forever. " Get up, your breakfast is ready" :thumbsup1:

[TheGreatwhitehunter]

Ahh do I smell someone Griling caribou steaks

[Makwa]

I have hunted three species of caribou so far and taken a few dozen in total. I like caribou meat as long as it is taken prior to the rut. During the rut the bulls are terrible.

I would also have to say that barren ground caribou are better to eat than mountain caribou or woodland.

[buckrod73]

My son and I hunted Caribou this fall. We took a hindquarter to camp with us from the previous hunt. We then killed two nice bulls. Ate the backstrap and tenderloins from ours along with steaks off the hindquarter. It is the only meat we had for two weeks except for moose we killed late in the hunt.

It was about like good beef or good venison. Very flavorful and relatively tender consider we killed herd bulls. Fried mostly, although we made some stew. The quarter had been aging and was tender. I am a red meat eater.

The moose was a big bull and was killed early in the rut. Tasty, fairly tender as we ate only backstrap and tenderloin. The only complaint was I found with the moose was it seemed to have a lot of connective tissue within the meat. Even tenderizing did not fix this. It was good though.

[NH Hunter]

I went to the local outdoor show a couple weeks ago and talked to an outfitter selling woodland caribou hunts. I just popped in to this forum to see if there was any info on how it tastes.........question answered. Thanks guys! The way the prices are going on guided hunts, I may never be able to afford one. :sad:

[gohip2000]

muskrat wrote: I agree with Chester and Maine.... I like moose meat better than deer meat. Caribou is the best I have had (big game). Black bear was so-so.... not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but not wonderful either. Partridge just fried is great. I grew up in NB, then lived in Maine - I agree about the meat hunter thing..I made a similar comment in another forum...big deer, small racks....
I had bear this weekend. I didn't get the animal, but the bar I went to was serving all wild game dishes and bear stew was one of the best I tasted

[atomikall]

I also heard caribou is the best tasting of the big game deer family!!

Still waiting to get one so I can tell you guys lol.

[Ungava]

Caribou meat is undoubtedly the best venaison meat there is!

Important to note since it is not a ''fat'' meat ,grilling will not be the best way to cook it (unless you take the time to rap bacon arroud like chicken tenderloin)
You could also make some ''brochette'' (meat on stick) with bacon slice next to the meat follow by mushroom,red and green peper ,baby tomato and oignon.

Like any of your venaison the worst thing you could do is ...over cooking-it, rare or medium rare or forget it , If you like your meat well done stick to cow meat :D :D

I also like to simply stear fry the caribou meat in a pan,remove it and prepare the sauce by adding oignon or shallot deglace with red wine then a bit of gravy base and cream 35 %(add sweet)
A other important thing wend it come to venaison meat it is a good idea to add a bit of sweet to your sauce (honey,fruit jam or mapple sirop) the sweet will remove the excest stong taste of wild meat and give it a milder taste.

At camp, I prepare a wild red berry jam that I hand pick for the sauce...my client appreciate.

Ungava
Cook at Willie Caribou camp (Arctic Adventure)
Nunavik Québec

[atomikall]

Thanks for the advice man Im gonna try it out next time I eat some but Ill leave out the sweet taste I like the wild taste in my game.

[TimH]

My only experience with caribou was pretty badly-preserved meat (spent several 70-80 degree days waiting for pickup, frozen overnight in Iliamna, thawed in the Alaska Airlines cargo hold because I didn't know any better) and it was still better than any but the best beef I've had. Maybe because the guy had been feeding on ripe blueberries for the week before we met. My few elk experiences with elk were ranched animals, little better that most beef. I can take or leave bison, have never had deer I liked. Would love to try some moose.