Moose Meat Quality

[RFOUST89]

I have a moose hunt booked in BC next fall, given the border opens, fingers crossed. We will be hunting Canadian moose. I have have moose backstrap long ago when I was a kid, before I had a taste for quality red meat. I know that cows and younger bulls/bucks eat much better than a mature bull and this is true for most NA game. I am curious if you have ever killed a large mature bull. How was the taste/tenderness? Would be interested to hear the differences between cows and older bulls. I would love to shoot a large bull, but would be happy with a smaller bull. Let me know your experiences. Thanks.

 

[KJH]

I have only shot yukon moose in Alaska, and most were very mature bulls. Moose meat is excellent fare: old, young, or in between. I believe it's 100% amazing, and I raise and grain finish Angus beef cattle. I've never had bad moose as long as it taken care of in the field. Shoot whatever makes you happy. Enjoy it. Its the closest thing to beef I've found in the wild.

 

[VernAK]

We take 2-3 very large bulls every season in mid September and I can't tell it from cow or spike meat. It's not tough at all.

 

[RFOUST89]

I have only shot yukon moose in Alaska, and most were very mature bulls. Moose meat is excellent fare: old, young, or in between. I believe it's 100% amazing, and I raise and grain finish Angus beef cattle. I've never had bad moose as long as it taken care of in the field. Shoot whatever makes you happy. Enjoy it. Its the closest thing to beef I've found in the wild.

thanks for the input cant wait!

 

[RFOUST89]

We take 2-3 very large bulls every season in mid September and I can't tell it from cow or spike meat. It's not tough at all.

Thank you, glad to hear!

 

[Short Track]

I took a mature Cow. The guide & all the guides at camp said it was a trophy sized Cow. Honestly, besides the backstraps, the meat is terrible. I grilled a sirloin steak last night, very difficult to eat. Meat is very tough. The good cuts are far & few between. The chop meat is good. The roasts, and round steaks I had to grind into sausage. I like a good steak, but I'm not sure I'd go Moose hunting again. Or if i do, I'll shoot a calf.

 

[bradb]

The bull in my aviator tasted fabulous! I also shot a good bull in BC that was very good. My buggies in BC was hit at last light and when we went to it it jumped up, so we left it tell morning and a wolf had took a few bites out of it. That moose didn't taste as good as the other 2 I have had

 

[Coveyleader]

I've been told their meat sufferers later into the rut much like Caribou hence the reason AK shuts down earlier. I've been told that late rutting bulls from Canada can taste a bit off. I've only killed one, the meat was decent, not even close to elk in my mind.

 

[VernAK]

Rutting bulls of any specie should not be harvested for table fare.

 

[Decker9]

Iv taken and eaten a few moose in various sizes, and grew up on it. Iv found the fat to have a taste sometimes, but not always. Ime, if the meat is treated right, it’s all top quality. I generally trim the fat off my moose.

 

[cnelk]

I’ve killed 2 moose.
One Colorado Shiras and one Alaskan.

The Shiras was a much sweeter tasting meat, but both were excellent

 

[Squincher]

My bulls have been delicious, which is fortunate because it takes my wife and I about two years to eat one.

 

[Mudslinger]

I have a moose hunt booked in BC next fall, given the border opens, fingers crossed. We will be hunting Canadian moose. I have have moose backstrap long ago when I was a kid, before I had a taste for quality red meat. I know that cows and younger bulls/bucks eat much better than a mature bull and this is true for most NA game. I am curious if you have ever killed a large mature bull. How was the taste/tenderness? Would be interested to hear the differences between cows and older bulls. I would love to shoot a large bull, but would be happy with a smaller bull. Let me know your experiences. Thanks.

I got a 58" this year and I thought the meat was excellent. I haven't been able to get the roasts down to the way I would like them yet but everything else we have really liked.

 

[hodgeman]

I love moose meat. Treat the meat right in the field and it'll beat beef on the table.

But, you have to know what you're doing in the kitchen. Nothing past medium rare on a grill and a pressure cooker or crock pot gets that most out of a roast.

 

[Nick Muche]

Moose meat is the most consistently good wild game we’ve ever eaten. It’s so damn good.

 

[riversidejeep]

My buddy and I put in for Wyoming moose, He drew a tag and I was camp cook/pack boy. He arrowed a young 2-3 year old bull, best wild game meat we've ever had. Few years later I drew a Wyoming cow tag, now he's the camp cook/ pack boy. I arrowed a cow, you send a tooth to fish & game to age the herd etc., we get home and I'm fired up to eat this cow and you couldn't sink a fork into the backstrap!. Ended up to be 13 years old (probably why I was able to sneak up on her) and we ground the rest to burger. Last year my buddy drew a cow elk tag in my back yard, ( Me pack boy again) and he whack's a cow that we promptly hung at the butcher shop. She's the toughest meat of any elk we've ever had, haven't got the age back from Fish & Game yet. My limited advice is shoot a young bull.

 

[Short Track]

I arrowed a cow, you send a tooth to fish & game to age the herd etc., we get home and I'm fired up to eat this cow and you couldn't sink a fork into the backstrap!. Ended up to be 13 years old (probably why I was able to sneak up on her) and we ground the rest to burger.

My cow was at least 10 years old... so said the guide.. and it was mostly inedible. I still have some in my freezer. Just to finish it is tedious. Maybe it was older than 10 years. All the local newfies were impressed.

 

[AKDoc]

Moose meat is our absolute favorite...take good care of it in the field, and it is worth every ounce of your efforts.
I personally don't notice any real taste or tenderness differences between spikers, full mature bulls, cows, etc.

The hide on a bull moose in rut can smell pretty nasty, especially around the head and neck, so I change my gloves after removing the hide and definitely before touching/cutting any meat for removal, and the meat has been just fine.

A rutting caribou bull is far, far worse in my experience, and that nasty smell is also in the meat.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Moose is delicious, the only time I had one that I didn’t like was when I shot a winter bull, I ended up grinding up the entire thing and adding in all sorts of fat we had from the august bull.

 

[z987k]

Moose is so much better than elk, caribou and other deer that I sometimes wonder why I even bother hunting anything else.