Sheep meat
- Thread starter YELUM
- Start date
ColoradoBob
Active Member
- Messages
- 467
My Rocky Mtn Bighorn was better than elk---IMO. Used it in place of elk meat in recipes.
Bambistew
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 1,962
LAST EDITED ON Oct-23-11 AT 10:43PM (MST)[p]I've been lucky enough to eat the flesh of about 30 diffrent animals. My favorite is dall sheep, followed closely by eland and caribou.
Olive oil, salt/pepper and rose marry on the grill and it melts in your mouth. Matter of fact I had some about an hour ago along with half a slab of sockeye.
I hate Alaska...
Olive oil, salt/pepper and rose marry on the grill and it melts in your mouth. Matter of fact I had some about an hour ago along with half a slab of sockeye.
I hate Alaska...
littlebighorn
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 5,400
Ditto,
I have to agree with the first two posts. It is at the top of my wild game eating list. I like it fried in a little butter with some seasoning salt and pepper. I would not jerky it, although I am sure it would make wonderful jerky, just because it doesn't need anything to hide the flavor. Jack O'Connor really liked it!
I have to agree with the first two posts. It is at the top of my wild game eating list. I like it fried in a little butter with some seasoning salt and pepper. I would not jerky it, although I am sure it would make wonderful jerky, just because it doesn't need anything to hide the flavor. Jack O'Connor really liked it!
ridgetops
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,843
My sheep has been wonderful. My wife and kids love eating it. You can subsitute it with any beef dish and be just fine. I was worried about mine being tough, so I aged it for about 3 weeks and it has been very tender. The meat is very lean, so it is easy to over cook it.
There's always next year
There's always next year
P
patientlywaiting
Guest
I had it many moons ago in the NWT on a dall hunt. I remember it being fantastic and surely wouldn't waste much of it making jerky.
You guys must have been born with different tongues in your heads. Or else I hunt in the wrong units. I've eaten 4 rockys and they were terrible, worse than terrible, equally worse than terrible, and fair to middlin'. Only one edible was a treeline WY sheep, the others were high desrt terrain, one was rutting one was august one oct- all sucked bad. We made italian sausage and you could still smell/taste it. For what its worth I cant stand domestic sheep either...
Zeke
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 10,603
I've eaten meat from over a dozen different sheep and the thin-horns are better to me but the bighorns are good too. I've seen how some folks take care of elk and how they can make it inedible. I suspect the issue of meat care would apply to wild sheep as well.
I'm not suggesting you didn't take care of them but I guess one of us is missing something.
There's no doubt that some sheep are better eating than others, based on a number of factors.
Zeke
I'm not suggesting you didn't take care of them but I guess one of us is missing something.
There's no doubt that some sheep are better eating than others, based on a number of factors.
Zeke
D
DougW
Guest
I love to hunt 'em but my Rocky from S CO in 2009 ate mediocre. I haven't finished the sausage yet and just the other day my memory was refreshed on how gamey it tastes.
wymoosehunter
Active Member
- Messages
- 134
I have eaten a Dall that I shot. It was fantastic, right up there with a good moose or Oryx (and they are my favorite by far). I have eaten a California bighorn that I shot, tasted just like a rutting, old buck deer. I have eaten quite a few different bighorns, all fresh the day of, or day after the kill, and some where better than most deer, but not as good as elk. Never had desert or Stone, but sure hoping to do so soon.
Enjoy the meat any way you want, just remember, it is probably over $100 a pound.
My favorite recipe is a little basalmic vinegar, a little olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, and black pepper. Marinate for about 10 minutes in the above. Add more black pepper to the meat (to taste), make sure it is up to room temp, grill on very hot BBQ (charcoal) until it is rare to medium rare, add a little pat of butter that melts, salt to taste and enjoy.
WyMo
Enjoy the meat any way you want, just remember, it is probably over $100 a pound.
My favorite recipe is a little basalmic vinegar, a little olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, and black pepper. Marinate for about 10 minutes in the above. Add more black pepper to the meat (to taste), make sure it is up to room temp, grill on very hot BBQ (charcoal) until it is rare to medium rare, add a little pat of butter that melts, salt to taste and enjoy.
WyMo
I just finished my Desert last weekend. I made salami out of the whole thing with exception of the backstraps and loins. I did this because of all the whore stories I had heard about how bad they were. I will tell you that the backstraps and loins were amazing! I wish I had made more of the animal into steaks!
I think that the key is in silver skinning all the meat before it is frozen regardless of the animal you harvest. This has made all the difference in the world for my friends and family who usually don't like game. Most of them are now enjoying these critters too.
My favorite Marinade: 1 cup of olive oil, 1 cup of dry white wine, 4 cloves of garlic minced, add some soy sauce, couple shakes of onion powder, teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper, couple shakes of worshcheshire sause, juice of 1/2 a lemmon.
Let it marinade for two hours. I love my meat medium rare. Then I slice for appetizers if I have company.
I think that the key is in silver skinning all the meat before it is frozen regardless of the animal you harvest. This has made all the difference in the world for my friends and family who usually don't like game. Most of them are now enjoying these critters too.
My favorite Marinade: 1 cup of olive oil, 1 cup of dry white wine, 4 cloves of garlic minced, add some soy sauce, couple shakes of onion powder, teaspoon of salt, fresh ground pepper, couple shakes of worshcheshire sause, juice of 1/2 a lemmon.
Let it marinade for two hours. I love my meat medium rare. Then I slice for appetizers if I have company.
treedagain
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 6,764
3tags2010...P.M sent
U
ultra300mag
Guest
My Desert sheep from last year is great tasting. Especially the roast that my wife cooked a while back. The reason this one was even better was because when I went to cut into a piece of roast my fork hit something hard and at first I thought, BONE? When I checked further it was my Barnes triple shock that had entered the left front shoulder and had apparently ended up in the left ham. The bullet had only lost one of the x petals and weighed very closely to what it had oridinally weighed performing perfectly. All that aside I really enjoy the meat.
B
billrquimby
Guest
My desert ram was nearly inedible, and it wasn't because of a lack of care of the carcass. IMHO, it ranks at the bottom of all the many types of wild game I've eaten, one notch below bear meat. At the top is moose and most species of African antelope.
Bill Quimby
Bill Quimby
T
TOOTHandTINE
Guest
Out of the North American game I've tried, it is bar none the best meat out there. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
azbullhunter
Active Member
- Messages
- 384
I just ate some chili and sloppy joes from my Rocky Mountain ram and it was excellent. I took some to a bunch of friends and they all liked it.
alaska_bou
Active Member
- Messages
- 161
Nothing IMO beats african game. Backstraps from my dall sheep were better than anything I have had from North America. I really regreat not shipping the sheep meat back home...
M
marvin_j
Guest
My sheep was ten years old and kind of tough to chew. Really did not have much flavor at all - it was good just not anything to write home about other than the fact that it was unusual. I did, however, make some fantastic jerky out of some of it and that seemed to get the best reviews from friends.
T
tawstaxidermy
Guest
I killed a ca. bighorn , he was 11 years old and the best game I have eating. then there is moose , pronghorn , elk, deer . thats my list . I think the biggest thing was getting past the tought of farm sheep, I never had it and never will, but big horn sheep yumyum. any way you cook it you cant go wrong. but sometimes there is rank game out there, field care, meat market scewing it up, this happens more times then not. or the animal just was eating bad food.
littlebighorn
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 5,400
Interesting that Taws bumped this thread because last night I took out a package of Dall sheep and a package of Caribou to cook. Both were excellent, even after sitting in the freezer for a year. But we all actually preferred the sheep, even though I think caribou is very good to eat.
I also agree that what an animal eats makes a difference. My wife got a half beef from her brother a while back, which was a range cow and not fattened in a feed lot. I thought it tasted pretty much like an elk. Not bad eating, but certainly wilder tasting than over the counter beef.
I also agree that what an animal eats makes a difference. My wife got a half beef from her brother a while back, which was a range cow and not fattened in a feed lot. I thought it tasted pretty much like an elk. Not bad eating, but certainly wilder tasting than over the counter beef.
Y
yukonjacko
Guest
Nothing much better than fresh sheep ribs cooked over an alder fire. I've always thought sheep meat was the finest eating that could be had, of course it could be the memories of the hunt adding a bit to the flavor.
I shared some once with some non-sheep hunter friends and they just didn't seem to appreciate it as much as me, so I quit that practice, ha ha
Don't overcook or over season; a little flour, salt, pepper, fry in butter with a little olive oil, not much better than that. If you're going to use all the spices and sauces to hide the flavor, you may as well cut your boot leathers up and add to the pot.
I shared some once with some non-sheep hunter friends and they just didn't seem to appreciate it as much as me, so I quit that practice, ha ha
Don't overcook or over season; a little flour, salt, pepper, fry in butter with a little olive oil, not much better than that. If you're going to use all the spices and sauces to hide the flavor, you may as well cut your boot leathers up and add to the pot.
greatwestern
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 1,101
I think summer-fattened high country sheep is one of my top favorites of the game meats...the Deserts I've had, not so much eh!
Overall, oryx is hard to top. I killed a pronghorn buck several years ago up in the aspen parks around 10,000 ft that was just phenomenal...'twas the primary reason I hunted high (that and get away from the circus down in the plains), as I've tasted some pretty nasty goats from the sage and rabbitbrush country
I am also a major fan of fat cow elk, and early season alpine muley...I usually dry age everything if possible, but if it must be frozen quickly, I'll do a 'reverse' wet age in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks on a plate with a tight sheet of plastic wrap after thawing and getting rid of any blood (keep checking every day or two, and wipe up any new blood as it appears, blood don't age too well). The meat just gets better and better, provided proper field care, rapid cooling, and thorough trimming before sealing and freezing.
Simple is best with the high quality cuts, and I don't grill a lot of it because it is so lean...I prefer a pan sear in a bit of bacon grease with salt, pepper, and a light dusting of Hatch red chile (chile molido). Mmm-Mmmm
Now I gotta go tap this prime reverse aged cow elk roast I've been carving steaks off for the last 3-4 days, this topic has made me hungry!
Overall, oryx is hard to top. I killed a pronghorn buck several years ago up in the aspen parks around 10,000 ft that was just phenomenal...'twas the primary reason I hunted high (that and get away from the circus down in the plains), as I've tasted some pretty nasty goats from the sage and rabbitbrush country
I am also a major fan of fat cow elk, and early season alpine muley...I usually dry age everything if possible, but if it must be frozen quickly, I'll do a 'reverse' wet age in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks on a plate with a tight sheet of plastic wrap after thawing and getting rid of any blood (keep checking every day or two, and wipe up any new blood as it appears, blood don't age too well). The meat just gets better and better, provided proper field care, rapid cooling, and thorough trimming before sealing and freezing.
Simple is best with the high quality cuts, and I don't grill a lot of it because it is so lean...I prefer a pan sear in a bit of bacon grease with salt, pepper, and a light dusting of Hatch red chile (chile molido). Mmm-Mmmm
Now I gotta go tap this prime reverse aged cow elk roast I've been carving steaks off for the last 3-4 days, this topic has made me hungry!
azbullhunter
Active Member
- Messages
- 384
I had backstraps last night from my 2011 AZ Rocky Mountain sheep. They were great. I cooked them in olive oil in a frying pan lightly seasoned. I had chili and sloppy joes a couple of weeks ago.
adirondack
Active Member
- Messages
- 204
I agree and feel luck to be able to chime in. My 4 kids (3 yrs to 10 yrs) love it also. It is almost like christmas to them. But it could have to do with them all being in MT. with me.
HunterHarry
Long Time Member
- Messages
- 5,003
I've eaten Stone Sheep on two occasions.
Excellent!
It's absolutely nothing like domestic sheep or lamb....yukkkk.
Excellent!
It's absolutely nothing like domestic sheep or lamb....yukkkk.
wymoosehunter
Active Member
- Messages
- 134
I just ate Barbary sheep for the first time. We cooked the tenderloins the same evening it was harvested in some bacon grease and lightly seasoned. Fantastic, but they were way chewier than what a loin should be. They did have a "sheepy" smell to them when cooking (and cooked), but there was not a gamey taste. Everyone had warned me that they could be extremely tough, so I cooked a backstrap steak before butchering it. Tough doesn't even come close to describing it. So everything got ground (without any suet) and made into jerky. It is fantastic as jerky (but what isn't).
A friend just gave me some steak from a Stone that he got this year and it was equally as good as Dall.
Taking the segue from 3tags2010, I think the secret to good meat is to cool it quickly in the field (skinning immediately), keeping the meat clean in the field, really cooling when you get the meat to the truck (ice it down in coolers), then really taking your time to trim the silver lining and all fat from the meat. I end up with smaller steaks because I separate every muscle group from one another to make sure the silver connective tissue is trimmed off. Since I started doing the above, I have never had a bad tasting animal (some are of course a little better than others, but that is by species, sex, and age). Even a nasty rut buck deer was very good. I thought that it was going to be all burger, but after tasting a sample steak while butchering, it was really good.
Unfortunately, I think you have to butcher it yourself to get that quality of meat. Not banging on commercial butchers, but they don't have the time to do that. They butcher wild game just like domestic beef. So inter-muscular sinew and fat are in the wrapped meat, spreading the gamey taste to the meat while stored in a freezer.
Good luck in the draws, they have started.
WyMo
A friend just gave me some steak from a Stone that he got this year and it was equally as good as Dall.
Taking the segue from 3tags2010, I think the secret to good meat is to cool it quickly in the field (skinning immediately), keeping the meat clean in the field, really cooling when you get the meat to the truck (ice it down in coolers), then really taking your time to trim the silver lining and all fat from the meat. I end up with smaller steaks because I separate every muscle group from one another to make sure the silver connective tissue is trimmed off. Since I started doing the above, I have never had a bad tasting animal (some are of course a little better than others, but that is by species, sex, and age). Even a nasty rut buck deer was very good. I thought that it was going to be all burger, but after tasting a sample steak while butchering, it was really good.
Unfortunately, I think you have to butcher it yourself to get that quality of meat. Not banging on commercial butchers, but they don't have the time to do that. They butcher wild game just like domestic beef. So inter-muscular sinew and fat are in the wrapped meat, spreading the gamey taste to the meat while stored in a freezer.
Good luck in the draws, they have started.
WyMo
1FastGambler
Active Member
- Messages
- 983
Dang man, ya'll are making me hungry!
I wish I could comment on Dall, bighorn, desert, or any kind of sheep other than the white wooly type... Hopefully this is the year I draw a tag!!
The big fat cow elk my son shot last fall in the Gila was the best tasting elk I've ever had.
My personal preference list is...
Oryx
Antelope
Elk
Deer
Although a young high alpine archery buck can be mighty tasty!
I wish I could comment on Dall, bighorn, desert, or any kind of sheep other than the white wooly type...
Hopefully this is the year I draw a tag!!The big fat cow elk my son shot last fall in the Gila was the best tasting elk I've ever had.
My personal preference list is...
Oryx
Antelope
Elk
Deer
Although a young high alpine archery buck can be mighty tasty!
