JARACAL

What are the top 5 species when it comes to the quality of their venison?

Obviously there are various factors that affect the quality of venison so, in an effort to make the comparison slightly more meaningful, could we put in some qualifying factors.

Taste, smell and texture are probably all important when rating food so let's eliminate biltong, wors, drywors, salami, russians, patties and mince as one can no longer assess the texture of the unprocessed meat. Also, fat and sometimes meat from other animals often gets added to the above so that would affect the ability to assess the venison itself.

Thinking of the venison you have eaten (other than biltong, wors, drywors, mince, salami, russians, patties and mince) which are your top 5 species in terms of the quality (taste, smell, texture) of their venision?

If possible, think of venison that came from animals that:

1. were female or youngish males
2. were not overly stressed prior to being shot (e.g. chased around)
3. where the carcass was recovered and gutted promptly
4. hung in a refrigerator for at least a few days

The system only allows me to list 10 species (10 options) so I have tried to list the more commonly hunted game animals. If one or more of your top 5 is not one of the options then please list it in the comments.

Ill take a shot at this.
In no particular order
Gemsbuck
Waterbuck
Eland
Kudu
Springbuck

Gemsbuck
Springbuck
Eland
Kudu
Fallow deer

Carlc wrote:Gemsbuck
Springbuck
Eland
Kudu
Fallow deer

Die is die regte lys...ek sou ook die een kies.


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Carlc wrote:Gemsbuck
Springbuck
Eland
Kudu
Fallow deer

Dog ons praat inheems. Daai Fallow deer is lekker vleis.

Sal nog een opsit.....Bosvark

Eland en gemsbok hap hap so na sy gat

Ek sal die koedoe uithaal en ribbok bysit...

My lys
1. Bosvark (sog of jong vark, nie beer nie.)
2. Ribbok (mountain reedbuck)
3. Eland (Nie n blou bul nie)
4. Gemsbok
5. Waterbok (Slag net op die regte manier)


Takbok is lekker maar maak nie my lys nie want hy is uitheems


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Eland
Blouwildebees
Koedoe
Rooiribbok
Rooibok

Koedoe
Springbok
Gemsbok
Rooibok
Eland

Add Waterbok

Ek sien nie dat iemand praat van Njala nie. Wil self nog bitter graag n mooie oes,...het gehoor sy vleis is lekket

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At this stage 179 votes divided by 5 votes per person = 35.8 people voted (1 or more people may not have used all 5 of their votes).

Some comments:

1. The TOP 5 according to votes received are:

Eland 34
Springbok 30
Gemsbuck 28
Kudu 26
Fallow Deer 19

2. If you didn't already know how highly eland venison is rated, then you do now.

3. Blesbuck and Warthog/bushpig have received the lowest number of votes thus far (only 4 each). I expected blesbuck to be low down on the list but I am surprised that there aren't more votes for Warthog/bushpig

4. Only about 25% of voters rated Blue/Black Wildebeest in their Top 5 i.t.o. quality of venison. Yet, Blue wildebeest, in particular, must surely be one of the Top 5 or 6 species i.t.o. how sought after they are by SA hunters - probably because they offer good value for money R/kg. I rate wildebeest in my bottom 5

5. Only about 20% of voters had Common/Mountain Reedbuck in their Top 5. I have found their venison to be superb and I think that the low number of votes received probably has more to do with them offering relatively poor value for money R/kg and therefore there are less hunters that have shot and eaten that species. If you get a chance to shoot one, you won't be disappointed in the venison.

jdpretorius wrote:Ek sien nie dat iemand praat van Njala nie. Wil self nog bitter graag n mooie oes,...het gehoor sy vleis is lekket

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jdpretorius, I have shot only 1 nyala and it was a mature bull i.e. never as good as a female or young bull. Yet, I found the meat to be nice.

Dimitri wrote:
4. Only about 25% of voters rated Blue/Black Wildebeest in their Top 5 i.t.o. quality of venison. Yet, Blue wildebeest, in particular, must surely be one of the Top 5 or 6 species i.t.o. how sought after they are by SA hunters - probably because they offer good value for money R/kg. I rate wildebeest in my bottom 5

Most people would make biltong from them and not table meat. I like the biltong, table meat not so much.

Dimitri wrote:

jdpretorius wrote:Ek sien nie dat iemand praat van Njala nie. Wil self nog bitter graag n mooie oes,...het gehoor sy vleis is lekket

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jdpretorius, I have shot only 1 nyala and it was a mature bull i.e. never as good as a female or young bull. Yet, I found the meat to be nice.

Thanks Dimitri, I would probably end up shooting a nice mature bull (i hope) and not a female....defiantly high on my bucket list, as one of a handful of species that I would harvest for a trophy and not purely for the meat.

Plaashaas wrote:Add Waterbok

Stem saam, definitief van die lekkerste Wildsvleis wat ek nog geeet het!

Dimitri wrote:At this stage 179 votes divided by 5 votes per person = 35.8 people voted (1 or more people may not have used all 5 of their votes).

Some comments:

1. The TOP 5 according to votes received are:

Eland 34
Springbok 30
Gemsbuck 28
Kudu 26
Fallow Deer 19

2. If you didn't already know how highly eland venison is rated, then you do now.

3. Blesbuck and Warthog/bushpig have received the lowest number of votes thus far (only 4 each). I expected blesbuck to be low down on the list but I am surprised that there aren't more votes for Warthog/bushpig

4. Only about 25% of voters rated Blue/Black Wildebeest in their Top 5 i.t.o. quality of venison. Yet, Blue wildebeest, in particular, must surely be one of the Top 5 or 6 species i.t.o. how sought after they are by SA hunters - probably because they offer good value for money R/kg. I rate wildebeest in my bottom 5

5. Only about 20% of voters had Common/Mountain Reedbuck in their Top 5. I have found their venison to be superb and I think that the low number of votes received probably has more to do with them offering relatively poor value for money R/kg and therefore there are less hunters that have shot and eaten that species. If you get a chance to shoot one, you won't be disappointed in the venison.

Ek het Ribbok gestem, niks so lekker as Ribbok sosaties met blokkies skaapvet tussen in nie! Maar ja hulle is malduur!

Eland is altyd great, maar 'n vet Kudu Koei is self lekker. Maaaar ai jai jai as jy so gis Gemsbok koei kan skiet vroeg môre en so 4 dae in vel laat hang. Dan sal net 'n Springbok fillet my verlei of 'n Impala sin.

Wildsvleis is vir my altyd baie lekker. Daar is sekere snitte en dier kondisies wat wel sekere liefdes stimuleer.

Unfortunately, I cannot add waterbuck to the poll as a maximum of 10 options is allowed.

So far 274 votes divided by 5 votes per person = 54.8 people voted which I rounded up to 55.

This is the order from highest to lowest. Species (votes) % of voters who voted for that species

1. Eland (53) 96.4%
2. Springbok (50) 90.9%
3. Gemsbuck (48) 87.3%
4. Kudu (41) 74.5%
5. Fallow Deer (24) 43.6%
6. Impala (23) 41.8%
7. Common / Mountain Reedbuck (13) 23.6%
8. Blue/Black Wildebeest (11) 20%
9. Blesbuck (6) 10.9%
10. Warthog/bushpig (5) 9.1%
11. Waterbuck (4) 7.3% (from votes in the comments)

JD, njala is lekker jy kan maar gooi hanteer net die karkas goed soos 'n vleisbok met njala is die trofee mos gewoonlik belangriker as die vleis.

Ander spesie wat ek ook baie geniet is bosbok.

Frederik wrote:JD, njala is lekker jy kan maar gooi hanteer net die karkas goed soos 'n vleisbok met njala is die trofee mos gewoonlik belangriker as die vleis.

Ander spesie wat ek ook baie geniet is bosbok.

Dankie Frederik, so mooi Njala trofee roep my al lank maar hierdie kant is hulle altyd peper duur....het laas jaar amper my self begewe in een maar hy was so mak daar by die kamp rond dat dit net verkeerd gevoel het.
Die plaas waar ons die jaar al gou gaan jag het sny die boer die bosbok op amper soos skaap, met tjoppies...dalk moes ek hom nog bietjie rum gevoer het Ek hoop maar ons kry later in die jaar weer kaans.

Andrew Zimmerman is a TV celebrity who has traveled the world for the last decade tasting weird and wonderful things in many different countries. I don't know whether he ever tasted eland, springbok or gemsbok but according to him, kudu from South Africa is the best tasting animal he has ever eaten.

He describes a kudu as "a small, hooved animal". ? So it was probably a kudu from the E Cape . Also, the one he ate was "freshly killed" so perhaps we hang our meat for too long.

Anyway, there you have it, kudu meat is the best in the world https://thetakeout.com/andrew-zimmern-p ... 1798251700

Niemand sê iets oor Rooi Hartebees nie
1 Rooi Hartebees
2 Eland
3 Springbok
4 Blouwildebees
5 Springbok
Dis maar wat ek van weet wat ek self al geeet het het nou die dag die eerste keer takbok geeet maar ek glo hy was nie reg gaar gemaak nie baie droog gewees

Dalk het baie se voorkeure te make met die area waar jy jag en die tipe veld wat die diere eet...ek wil my nek uit steek en sê dat die tipe veld 'n effense impak het op die smaak van die vleis, soos bv. Karoo lam wat anders smaak as ons lokale lam.
Die rhb wat ek in Steenbokpan/Buffelsdraai se area gejag het was nou nie rerig uitsonderlike nie, het al die selde agter gekom met bwb van sekere streke. Boere wat diere reg deur die jaar voer se wild is vir my ook 'n rapsie sagter vleis.

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Dimitri wrote:At this stage 179 votes divided by 5 votes per person = 35.8 people voted (1 or more people may not have used all 5 of their votes).

Some comments:

1. The TOP 5 according to votes received are:

Eland 34
Springbok 30
Gemsbuck 28
Kudu 26
Fallow Deer 19

2. If you didn't already know how highly eland venison is rated, then you do now.

3. Blesbuck and Warthog/bushpig have received the lowest number of votes thus far (only 4 each). I expected blesbuck to be low down on the list but I am surprised that there aren't more votes for Warthog/bushpig

4. Only about 25% of voters rated Blue/Black Wildebeest in their Top 5 i.t.o. quality of venison. Yet, Blue wildebeest, in particular, must surely be one of the Top 5 or 6 species i.t.o. how sought after they are by SA hunters - probably because they offer good value for money R/kg. I rate wildebeest in my bottom 5

5. Only about 20% of voters had Common/Mountain Reedbuck in their Top 5. I have found their venison to be superb and I think that the low number of votes received probably has more to do with them offering relatively poor value for money R/kg and therefore there are less hunters that have shot and eaten that species. If you get a chance to shoot one, you won't be disappointed in the venison.

The difference in taste between black- and blue wildebeest is substantial. I would have favored black wildebeest above blue wildebeest. My top 6 would be (no particular order:
Eland
Reedbuck
Gemsbuck
Fallow deer (like mutton)
Springbuck
Black Wildebeest.

What I also do like as a table meat is Rooihartebees.