Barbary For Dinner ?

[cosmic_cowboy]

Hey guys Barbary have been on my Bucket List for a long time now.
And seeing the successful hunters this year makes me want to give it a try next year. I grew up and live in the northern part of the state so have never had a chance to hunt them. My question is how do they taste ?
I'm a deer guy so I like a big fat Muley the best.

I have helped a few friends on WSMR ORYX hunts in the past so have eaten Oryx... I think they are very tender and mild but for my taste you have to put some chlie or something on it to spice it up. So I would think because of similar habitat Barbary will taste similar.
Any opinions on Barbary as table fare ?
Thanks
Jack

 

[dmaxarchr]

Female barbary are decent eating depending how u prepare it. If the sheep is smelly like goat the meat will be gamey. In my experience the old smelly mature rams are very tough. Even your dog will have a hard time chewing it.

 

[5yearcoueshunter]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-10-14 AT 07:55PM (MST)[p]I've been lucky enough to take 3 Barbary's, all of them different ages or sex. These are the only ones I've eaten and all of them were excellent. Like anything else, I imagine making sure they are taken care of properly is the key.

1st sheep, 27 inch Ram - Flavor was excellent if not the best tasting meat I've ever had. Only problem is that I couldn't chew most of the steak. haha My recommendation is to the grind the whole thing. About the best tasting green chile burger I've had.

2nd sheep, 10 in Ram/Lamb - Very tender of course and great eating. Meat was a little bland, but of course could be seasoned to taste. Favorite was chicken fried steak

3rd sheep, 20 inch Ewe - Best of them all. Great flavor and not too tough. Only have had steak so far and it's great. I imagine the burger will be just as good as my bigger Ram.

That's all of my experience with Barbary eating. I recommend to go for it! One of the funnest hunts out there and excellent eating.

Travis

 

[NMPaul]

Agree with comments above.

Flavor is good. This last ram we made fajitas out of the tenderloins and they were not to tender.

Suggest burger, sausage and stews. Steaks tend to be on the tough side.

 

[smarba]

Delicious (mild) but VERY tough. My first ewe that the TENDERLOINS were so tough I had to saw them with a steak knife!

I grind all their meat now (or occasionally slow cook pot roast).

Don't believe the guys who say they are not fit to eat. Just like anything meat care is key.

 

[mozey]

I've had one out of five that was kind of gamey (smallish ram). Two bigger rams and two ewes were all good flavor--just had to chew a little longer than an average deer steak. Flavor is similar to but more mild than the deer I taken from the same areas. I've never done anything special with them, so when I hear people say they're not fit to eat, I have to wonder if they did something out of the ordinary to mess it up.

 

[nmarchr]

I made burger and jerky out of the two rams that i killed and it was good. I gave a lot of jerky to friends without telling them that it was barbary and none of them complained. If you take care of the meat it is pretty good. Not deer or elk good, but it aint javelina nasty!

 

[NMhunter4life]

I have eaten meat off probably 15-20 different barbaries ranging from little yearlings to big old rams. The flavor is always good, much better than deer IMO. Ewes and young rams (25"or less) are usually pretty tender and I would butcher them just like you would a deer or elk. Most older rams still taste fine, but are tough as boot leather. The backstraps/tenderloins are even tough. I would recommend grinding everything into burger and sausage.

My brother worked at a meat processing shop this year and he said you would be horrified at the condition of most meat that people bring in. These are the people who probably say Barbary meat does not taste good.

 

[Phantom Hunter]

I found a raspberry/chipolte sauce went well with the ewe we ate. Most tender and flavorful

 

[NMdoghunter]

I'm with everyone else. Not quite as gamey as deer, much more mild. Grind the whole thing with 10-15% beef fat and use it fore chili and burger. Not a great meat (like oryx or elk) but definitely not bad.