Nutrition of Wild Game Meat

Buffalo has 138 calories per 100 grams of meat, about half the calories and a fraction of the cholesterol of lean ground beef.

Hunting for wild game contributes to a very healthy life style, according to nutritionists and physicians. Game is typically lower in saturated fat and calories than domestic meat. Alaskan game generally feeds on wild plants, shrubs, and trees that don’t contain pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, or growth hormones. Both exercise from hunting and eating game meat in moderation contribute to a healthy life. The following table clearly shows game meat is high in protein, low in calories and saturated fat.

Eating meat is good for the environment. A survey of the energy used to produce and distribute various foods has found that wild game meat is among the most energy-efficient — and least polluting — foods in our diet. The analysis includes the manufacture and application of fertilizers and other chemicals, harvesting, processing, packaging, transport and waste disposal. Coffee, salad vegetables, and white fish, on the other hand, are relatively environmentally unfriendly.

The protein and fat are listed below by by percent; the cholesterol is listed as mg/100 g (100 grams = 3½ ounces); and Calories are Kcal/100g:

Species Protein Fat Cholesterol Calories

Bear (Black) 20.1 8.3 ** 163

Beef (lean) 17.7 20.7 75 264

Beef (Choice) 22.0 6.5 72 180

Buffalo 21.7 1.9 62 138

Caribou 22.6 3.4 67 127

Chicken 23.6 0.7 62 135

Deer (Mule) 23.7 1.3 107 145

Deer (Sitka) 21.5 2.7 18 117

Elk 22.8 0.9 67 137

Goose (Canada) 22.8 7.1 84 161

Sharptail Grouse 23.8 0.7 105 142

Mallard 23.1 2.0 140 152

Moose 22.1 0.5 71 130

Ptarmigan 4.8 2.3 20 128

Rabbit 21.8 2.3 81 114

Wigeon 22.6 2.1 131 153

** Not available