ELK 101
What's in an Elk?
PHOTO: RMEF
by Vivien Felker
At last, you have an elk on the ground. As you’re skinning and quartering the animal, your mouth is watering as you’re thinking about plating up some hard-earned tenderloins. Most hunters would agree that elk is some of the best-tasting wild game meat, but did you know it’s also one of the most nutrient-dense?
Elk meat is extremely high in protein, which is essential for your body’s day-to-day function and also the building block for the muscle that gets you around the mountains when you’re looking for elk. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, just 100 grams of elk meat (around ¼ of a pound) contains a whopping 30.2 grams of protein; a big jump from the 19 grams you’d get from eating the same sized serving of beef. So, if you’re looking to put on some extra muscle mass before next hunting season, last year’s elk meat in your freezer might be a good place to start.
Averaging just 1.45%, elk meat is also much lower in fat than beef and even other wild game. That’s an even smaller percentage than in pronghorn, which are famous for running many miles in a day at high speeds. Their meat contains roughly 2% fat. The only game meat that has a lower fat content than elk is moose. It contains less than 1% fat on average—a result of having to burn a lot of calories browsing for high volumes of food such as willows and berries to sustain their large bodies.
Because of the low-fat qualities of elk meat, it’s also lower in calories compared to other game meats; a pound of white-tailed deer meat contains 200 more calories than elk, which packs roughly 500 calories per pound.
If these numbers don’t impress you, chicken has a slightly higher protein content and fewer calories than elk. But eating chicken doesn’t start with stalking a massive beast whose deep bellows light the woods on fire, so is it really better?
