Hunter Todd Hoffman heads downhill in the direction of sounds made by a small elk herd. Photo by Doug Nadvornick/N3

Every five years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service counts how many Americans hunt. That number has fallen steadily since the 1970s, even in the rural West. Some of the decline is due to demographics; more people live in cities and they’re less likely to hunt. But while the number is going down, the hunting tradition remains strong in rural states like Idaho. Recently, Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick spent a day in the field with a fourth-generation Idaho hunter.

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Back in 1942, the famous and often funny food writer M.F.K. Fisher wrote a book called How to Cook a Wolf.  She meant it metaphorically, the wolf as a symbol for the World War that was raging and the food shortages created by that conflict. How to Cook a Wolf was a book about making due during times of adversity. There were lots of recipes, if no actual dishes featuring bits of wolf.

Over the intervening years, many Americans began to see the big-bad-wolf metaphor as outdated; good for story books but casting that was less than accurate in light of studies that showed the wolf as an integral part of wild land ecology and a creature with many apparently admirable qualities.

Wolf advocates likely weren’t thinking of flavor as one of those qualities.

Now that the State of Idaho has opened a hunting season on its wolves, there’s been some less than metaphorical talk about this new game meat.  Here’s a recent Letter to the Editor from the Idaho Statesman that includes a recipe that may be helpful to those with wolf tags and a strong stomach (I particularly appreciate the advice to check for dog collars before proceeding):

You can eat the wolf you kill

We Idahoans, being a sporting bunch that generally eats what it kills, now have a new taste treat available to successful hunters: wolf. Good recipes for wolf are hard to come by, however, so here is one I found in an old family recipe book used sometime before all the wolves were previously exterminated.

Wolf should be cleaned and gutted in the field immediately after being shot. First make sure you haven’t shot someone’s dog by checking for a collar; then, when you have confirmed your kill, clean the wolf, making sure to wear thick gloves to prevent the possibility of being bitten by a wolf playing possum.

Skin the wolf. Then clean out all blood and blood clots under running water. After the wolf is skinned, very little fat remains and it is not objectionable in flavor or odor. Cut wolves into quarters. Dry the pieces and keep cool on the trip home. Wolves may be refrigerated and prepared using your favorite recipe for bear within three days or wrapped and frozen for later. Enjoy with Idaho’s famous potatoes.

GRETCHEN BATES, Boise

M.F.K. Fisher concludes How to Cook a Wolf with this bit of wisdom: “Since we must eat to live, we might as well do it with both grace and gusto.”  Wolf Bourguignon anyone? ]]> http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2009/09/02/how-to-cook-a-wolf/feed/ 0 http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2007/02/01/elk-ranching-in-the-cross-hairs/ http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2007/02/01/elk-ranching-in-the-cross-hairs/#comments Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:20:48 +0000 Guy Hand http://www.nwfoodnews.com/?p=200

© 2009 Guy Hand

Wild elk are a Rocky Mountain icon. When over a hundred domestic, farm-raised elk escaped from a private hunting preserve in eastern Idaho last August, the news ignited controversy. Many fear that Idaho’s relatively new domestic elk industry could threaten the region’s wild herds with disease and genetic impurity. Some are calling on the legislature to ban the state’s 78 elk ranches and hunting preserves.  Guy Hand looks at the domestic elk issue and the philosophical question: Where should we draw the line between the forest and the farm?

Elk Ranchers Roy and Kristy Sternes © 2009 Guy Hand