No, it doesn’t taste like chicken! The fact is wild game has a range of flavors that relatively few of us have had the chance to savor. We settle for what’s in the supermarket meat display and never give alternatives a thought. In case you are wondering, you don’t have to be a hunter to enjoy wild game. Got game? Read on!

Many people grew up eating wild game meat. Now, there is ample evidence of the healthful benefits of eating wild game. It is even becoming fashionable to do so as evidenced by the offerings of wild game in fine restaurants around the country.

When people lived in a more rural environment, wild game - pheasant, quail, venison, rabbit - was a regular part of their diet. As we moved to the cities, we began to rely on factory farms for our meats and the choices were more limited. Today, you can still get some special game meats. Here are three highly reputable sources:

D'Artagnan is the choice of many professional chefs because of their selection of buffalo, game birds rabbit and other meats. www.D'artagnon.com

Brokenarrowranch offers some really specialized choices including wild South Texas Antelope and wild boar. www.Brokenarrowranch.com

Dedicated to sustainable agriculture, Cavendish Game Birds produces the finest farm-raised jumbo quail and traditional ring-necked pheasant available on the market today—meeting the demands of top chefs and adventurous home cooks nationwide. www.vermontquail.com

More supermarkets are selling frozen game, but the selection tends to be limited. The best way to ease into preparing wild game is to consult one of the specialists listed above. You might want to start out with farmed wild game. Farmed game is more tender and less gamey in flavor than the truly wild variety. 

In general, game meat is leaner than meat from domesticated animals. The amount of fat on game meat may have a slightly stronger taste, so you should remove it before cooking. For maximum tenderness, cook slowly – either braise in liquid, or roast and baste frequently. Game meat usually contains fewer calories and less saturated fat making it a good choice for a healthy heart.

Wild game contains more than five times the amount of polyunsaturated fat per game meat than is found in domestic livestock, according to Dr. S. Boyd Eaton of the Emory University School of Medicine. About four percent of wild game fat is polyunsaturated, Eaton reported, whereas domestic beef has an undetectable amount. Recent studies have shown that polyunsaturated fats (or “good” cholesterol) – are actually beneficial, and can help offset the negative impacts of saturated fats (or bad cholesterol).

The following is the nutritional value of a variety of game meats compared with beef or pork.

Nutritional value of game meat (3 ounces/85 grams)*

Enjoying exotic fare is not a matter of slapping it on the grill and downing a brewsky. There’s an art to cooking wild game and a number of very good cookbooks devoted to the subject. One of the best is The L.L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook by Judith B. Jones. It contains all the information needed to prepare hearty game and fish meals at home. There are more than 800 recipes and detailed and illustrated instructions for all procedures needed to prepare and cook game and fish.

Eat Like a Wild Man, by Rebecca Gray is a collection of some of the wildest, most delicious wild game and fish recipes from the pages of Sports Afield magazine.

Ready for something different? Try wild game. Don’t worry, it won’t bite you!