How much wildgame does your family eat?

[Laramie]

I have actually broken this down and studied it to make sure we aren't having to buy meat at the store. Our household eats 300lbs of wild game meat/fish in a year. We also host friends and family about once a month (20-30 people) so we figure another 100-150lbs towards those events. We typically will shoot 4-5 deer on years we don't draw elk to provide a good % of that meat. The remainder is made up of wild turkeys, ducks, geese, antelope when we draw, upland birds, and fish.

Keeping that much meat in the freezer requires organization and a good rotation to make sure we are not wasting anything. Nothing stays in the freezer longer than about 18 months.

 

[Geewhiz]

Last year we ended the season with 1 bull elk, 2 cow elk, 1 deer, 2 antelope, and 1 wolf backstrap in the freezer. It will all be gone by this september.

2 adults, 2 small children.

 

[SaltySailor]

Family of 6, any meal that would have beef is substituted with moose. A nice sized bull will only last us until around July-ish if we supplement heavy with salmon/chicken/pork main-entrée meals. Ideally, a nice bull and a half would be perfect. A few years ago my son drew a cow tag that he filled and I got a good sized bull. When I started the next hunting season we canned the last of the roasts and steaks, there wasn't much left. We burn through burger like its nobody's business.

 

[bow_dozer]

My wife and I (baby nursing).
We go thru about 5-7 lbs/week. Between ground, steaks/roast and sausage.
Also make up around 50 lbs of jerkey for the year.
Thank the lord for elk B tags..

 

[bow_dozer]

"1 wolf backstrap in the freezer. "

That good, you have to settle for one?

 

[Laramie]

Last year we ended the season with 1 bull elk, 2 cow elk, 1 deer, 2 antelope, and 1 wolf backstrap in the freezer. It will all be gone by this september.

2 adults, 2 small children.

That's a lot of red meat to eat for 4 people in a year. Our household couldn't do it.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Four days a week. that includes fish I Have caught on the ocean. Tonight, Elk tenderloin.

 

[Doc Holliday]

We eat it at least once per week. I take backstraps, inner loins, and a couple of roasts, and then grind everything else.

Burgers, chili, stuffed peppers, pasta, taco salad.....I rarely buy beef, and when I do it is a steak

 

[knale87]

My goal every year is to shoot 5 deer. That’ll typically almost get us through the year. We eat venison pretty much every day until it’s gone. My kids are getting older and eating more so might have to up my numbers until they’re old enough to hunt.

Family of 5, 3 small kids.

 

[WTFJohn]

I literally couldn't tell you what a pound of beef cost. Wild game & fish is 99.9% of what we eat.

 

[Holocene]

It's me, my wife, 18 month old, and a pup. We eat mostly wild game supplemented with wild cod and salmon from Trader Joe's and some fantastic pastured pork from a nearby farmer. My father and law sends us grass fed beef from his business partner -- we still like beef.

On a good year, I'll put the following in the freezer or cook fresh and we go through ALL of it:

• 1-2 elk
• 20-30 ducks
• 10-20 upland birds
• 7-10 turkeys (multiple states, spring and fall)
• A few keeper trout, shad during the run, or springer salmon if a buddy invites me on his boat

I've learned we need to eat through ducks within 3 months before the fat oxidizes and big game within 12 months or so. We give away enough to friends and family -- I figure the woods gave the meat to us so we tithe it back to others.

Back in my South Carolina days, I'd put up 5-7 deer per year and 5 was the right amount for a single batchelor eating a ton of deer and sharing with family. 7 was too many.

Here in Oregon, I don't even deer hunt and focus on elk only because as I like to say "An elk is 6 deer big."

 

[robtattoo]

My wife's a vegetarian & we have no kids, so it's literally just me.
I need to put up 3 deer a year, usually supplementing them with a couple of hogs & fish throughout the spring & summer. I don't really mess with jerky/ snack sticks, everything I kill goes to meals.

 

[WCB]

We have a 3 and 1 year old but before the 3 year old was around just me and my wife were probably 4-5 deer, 20-30 pheasants avg, a few grouse, ducks, geese(just put 50 snow geese in the freezer)...throw in 3-4 gallon bags stuffed with pan fish and various other things. 3 and 1 year old haven't made a noticeable difference yet but...

For I think 5 or 6 years my wife and I didn't buy even a pound of store burger or strangely enough beef steak to cook at home (obviously had them while out to eat). Been lazy this year for some reason and haven't ground any venison into burger and haven't brought any in to make sticks or other goodies.

 

[rclouse79]

I try to plan out my wild game dinners so most of the last years meat is consumed before the next season. I do this based on feel, instead of going full nerd mode with a spreadsheet. We would eat a heck of a lot more if I could seal the deal on an elk with my bow. I will tell myself what I tell myself at the start of every season, "This is my year!"

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Same here trying to start the season with an empty freezer, or at least everything processed as I like to have venison sausage and such in camp. Last year wife myself and three sons went through 5 whitetail, 2 antelope, about 4-5 hogs, and a TON of fish. We have a camp down on the coast we spend a lot of time at and load up on fish constantly.

I'll add that this year we have an Elk in the freezer, so throttled down the deer and only took 2 trying to get the timing right. I can already see we'll be short come season so most likely will take a few more hogs to compensate. Oh yeah we usually have some duck and dove on the regular but sometimes end up with grouse and geese but not enough to account for it in the planning.

 

[JLMUELZ]

My family of four eat wild game about six out of seven days a week for lunch and dinner. So far this year we have finished off 7 Axis, 1 Mouflon, the majority of 2 Whitetail, 15lbs of Salmon, and are down to about 30lbs of Halibut out of 70lbs brought back. The freezer is getting very thin, June and July Axis/Mouflon hunts cannot come soon enough!

 

[jacob_ski4]

Single guy in college. At least 2 meals a day have wild game. This season I put 6 deer (Alabama sized, no larger than 160lbs really), a hog, a couple of ducks, and trying to put away a couple of turkeys in the freezer and I’d be surprised if it lasted till October when our deer season starts up again. The roommate will eat off of it a little bit, but very surprised how quick it goes when every meal has wild game.

 

[Huntin_GI]

Family of 4. Around 2 elk. If I don't get a second elk, add in atleast one deer and by that point we will be scraping by until September.

This year the goal list is 1 Bear, 2 Elk, 1 Mule Deer or a 3rd Elk depending on the tags. Figure the bear will be turned into sausage, elk will be a lot of whole meat cuts, and deer will be ground at 10% fat. If I fill all the expected elk tags, the sky is the limit.

 

[elkguide]

Just my wife and I at home now. Haven't bought any meat in at least 20 years. Last year I shot an elk and 5 deer but gave 2 away. My wife isn't a big red meat eater but 3 of our children live close enough to "shop" at Mom and Dad's freezer, so hoping to make it till October.

 

[diamond10x]

i couldn’t say weight wise. All I know is we DO NOT buy meat at the grocery store. we eat wild game and fish every meal, which consists of big game to small game, waterfowl, upland birds, hogs, and fish we catch at the coast or here at home.