Yes, we ate game most nights. Gemsbok tenderoin grilled over coals for lunch one day
was just outstanding, excellent flavor, typical tenderloin melt in your mouth tenderness. We
had gemsbok steak, too, also very good. IMO, whitetailed deer is OK, needs to be cooked
right to be good, my wife doesn't like it at all, why I don't hunt deer so often. OTOH, elk
(cow, at least, never shot a bull) is just superb, wife likes it, too. Actually, if I could buy elk in the grocery, I
believe I would get it instead of beef. IIRC, we had kudu and impala, both good, too.
Here is a shot I took just after that BBQ lunch. The truck rig is what we moved around in,
the dog is a blood tracker hound. We rode in the back until tracks were crossed, then tracked
upwind on foot to find game. Lost a lot when the wind shifted and we heard hoofbeats
in the distance.
The meals were all very good, fancy sauces, complex meals. Our cook was just outstanding,
and that may unfairly bias me on these exotic meats. I remember kudu as excellent. But
none except the gemsbok tenderloins were just grilled, so in a complex dish, it can be more
difficult to figure out how the meat will work in general use. Our outfitter had a huge walkin
cooler and a refrigerated truck picked up half carcasses every couple of days, destined for
their grocery stores! Lots of game is turned in to biltong, basically SA jerky. We drove around
RSA for a week after hunting and stopped at a shop that had about 20 different kinds of biltong.
We bought several kinds, all were quite good, but again, dried with spices and such, hard to
be sure. At worst, they are at least decent eating. At best, they may be just wonderful all
around.
We had barbequed warthog at a friend's place in the country near Kruger, really excellent, easily as
good as the best coal braised pork that you ever had. I was warned by Americans that zebra was
horrid, but one famous friend (you would know the name) told me that he had superb zebra
steaks. My other American friend told me that perhaps the South Africans substituted some beef
or something, and that zebra is bad news. We never ate zebra, as far as I know, didn't
ask about it at the time, so don't know. Horse is supposed to be good, never tried it.
Bill