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Is elk liver safe to eat?

33K views 24 replies 22 participants last post by  Chukrchaser 
#1 ·
My hunting buddy and I got a cow elk last Thursday above Jordon Creek. I will post photos and the story when I have time in the next several days. My partner has a book that was published in 1985 on the subject of game preparation. The book says that elk liver should be discarded due to parasites. Is this true. I have consumed plenty of elk liver and never had a problem. Can anyone shed some light on this subject? I haven't had time to call the game commission and ask.

Thanks :smile:
 
#3 ·
This is why you cook it. :flowered:

Definetely look it over. If it looks fine, eat it. If it doesn't, toss it. If you want to know what it should look like, got to the grocery store and look at a cow/calf liver.

Slice it in 1/2" stips, smother w/garlic salt and lemon pepper and toss it in some flour.
Chop up at least one large white onion in 1/2" think slices (or thicker). Preheat a frying pan w/bacon grease, throw the liver in the pan, cover the liver with the onion and then put a lid on the pan. The steam will cook the onion. After a couple minutes, flip the liver (kinda tricky w/all those onion on top). After a couple more minutes put the cooked liver on top of the onions and continue cooking till the onions are soft.

Eat! mmmmmmmmmmmmm


M-Y
 
#4 ·
Yes, you can eat it. Here are the tips....1) Fresh is better one or two days old....liver does not keep well. 2) It must have good color, purple, pink, and look good, no spots or any funky looking things attached to it. If it does toss it or leave it with the gut pile. If it looks good it will be good if you like liver. I personally dont go there. I left my elk liver, and heart in the field this year for all the little forest friends to munch on.
 
#7 ·
Some say you can eat it (over my dead cold body IMO), the hunting regs say it isn't edible and can be left in the woods without wasting - that is what I subscribe to. For some reason my liver always seems to be missing :wink:

For those who eat it - that's cool. For those of you with Gout, it has some high concentrations of stuff that is real bad for Gout.
 
#11 ·
The last Elk I got, a big Rossie bull, was gutted about 10ft from a stream. I tossed the liver out in the moss and once I caped the bull I tossed the hide in the creek because I thought I would come back for it and it was full of ticks. I came back for the hide a few days later (being in the cold creek it held fine). The rest of the guts had been consumed, intestines, kidneys, everything, there was not a scrap left EXCEPT the liver! That Liver was right out in the open, the yotes, the ravens and the bear that had been on that gut pile all left it alone. Is it safe to eat? By the way the wild animals treated it I would say no, at least not to me.
 
#12 ·
Elk liver
Venison liver
Beef liver

ANY LIVER

All liver should have a lable on it so the first thing you see when it comes out is this.

NOT FOR HUMAN COMSUMPTION / THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CREAT VOMITUS CONDITIONS

IMVHO liver should not even be left for the wild critters I believe that would fall under animal abuse for giving them even the option to eat such a thing.

Yes I have had liver of all kinds cooked lots of ways. Some say liver and onions then throw out the liver but I say then the onions have been lethaly contaminated and should also be thrown out.

:sick: :noway: :sick: :noway: :sick: :noway: :sick: :noway: :sick: :noway: :sick: :noway: :sick: :noway: :sick:
 
#13 ·
Elk and Deer Liver are awesome. Non of the chemicals that end up in beef liver. Slice it thin (1/4"),roll in a little seasoned flour, fry it in the skillet 3 minutes to a side. Serve smothered in sauteed onions around the CAMPFIRE with close friends. It does not get any better than that my friends !!!!!!
 
#15 ·
I with you on the liver issue...Gross! I cannot bring myself to eat a filter...
The only time I have eaten elk liver was when my huntin partner killed his first archery elk. We celebrated by taking a big 'ol bite "Dances with Wolves" Style. I nearly puked, but being the macho guy I am I held my own.

I can still taste it. And it doesn't taste good. :sick:
 
#18 ·
[/quote]

The only time I have eaten elk liver was when my huntin partner killed his first archery elk. We celebrated by taking a big 'ol bite "Dances with Wolves" Style. I nearly puked, but being the macho guy I am I held my own.

I can still taste it. And it doesn't taste good. :sick:

[/quote]

That would have flew back the other direction so fast - heck I'd still be puking - I almost did just reading the post Oh man garb the bag - few :redface: - much better now

- As we say around camp - You sick kemosabe:sick:
 
#19 ·
I've never seen a bad liver, well a few have been shot up! I prefer deer liver over elk, but both are fine. Yes, liver and onions is a favorite! I will post up a new thread, since we are talking about eating body parts. :dance:
 
#20 ·
I don't think there is any better liver than that of the coastal blacktail deer...the only deer liver I've ever eaten.

Elk on the other hand, for me, is a leave it in the gut pile situation now. I say now...because before my Dad passed away a few years ago, if we didn't bring home the liver from any deer or elk we killed, we would have been considered sons not worthy to be carrying his name. He loved elk liver and the heart too. We always figured it had something to do with having been a teenager and young married man during "The Great Depression" as to why he let nothing go to waste.

One meal of fresh elk liver, if prepared right, and set before me, is OK..but I leave those lobes most of the time for the scanvengers of the woods, even if it could be considered animal abuse.
 
#21 ·
I've had elk liver and onions quite afew times. But I take it or leave it!

We've always soaked the liver in COLD saltwater at least overnight before even trying to consume it!

My uncle used to eat elk brains with scrambled eggs all the time, but being young and picky, I couldn't bring myself to try it :noway: Now that I'm older and not nearly as picky, I still have no desire to try it! :noway: :noway:

sliverpicker
 
#23 ·
Brian, that seems just amazing to me . . . . did the liver "look bad"/"smell bad"/something, when you first removed it???
No looked fine, at least to me. I am no butcher, or vet, so I can't say for sure if it was bad or not.
 
#24 ·
Interesting story that reminds me of the time my dad and I shot a couple of blacktails and had them hanging from a tree near camp. That night while we slept, a bear or perhaps a small family of bears raided our camp. We found the cooler drug off into the bushes the next morning. Sitting there in the dirt were a heart and liver with perfect bite marks where the bear had lifted them out and spit them in the dirt. All the candy bars and sausage links were gone but it did not want the heart and liver.

Incidentally, the bear also climbed the tree, swung one of the deer over, and chewed it up quite a bit. In the morning, it looked like a chewed corn on the cob on a rope still hanging from the tree limb.

Anyhow, we eat the heart and liver from all our deer and elk unless it looks spotted or is from an old bull.
 
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