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Wild game nutrition, compared

One of the rewards of hunting is the meat: leaner, richer in iron, and free of anything the animal was not born with. This compares 13 wild game meats against beef, pork and chicken on the numbers that matter, per 100g, and lays out the cooking-safety temperatures for each. Sort it however you like.

Every figure is the USDA FoodData Central value for the record named on its row: open a row to see which one. The red meats and small game are cooked. The 4 birds are raw meat without skin, because USDA has no cooked record for wild duck or goose, and raw meat holds more water: USDA lists raw venison at 120 kcal per 100g and roasted venison at 158. The headline figures use the cooked rows only. Values vary with the cut, the animal's diet and condition, and how it is prepared, so use them to compare, not to count to the calorie. This is general information, not medical or dietary advice.

Mooseleanest cooked game, 1g fat / 100g
Black bearmost iron, 10.7mg / 100g
15.4gfat in 85% lean ground beef, for comparison
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The pattern is clear: most wild game is leaner than beef and much richer in iron, which is a real nutritional edge, but that leanness also means it cooks fast and dries out if you treat it like a fatty steak. The safety temperatures above matter most for bear and wild boar (trichinosis) and small game like rabbit (tularemia). Turn your animal into good eating with the shot to freezer guide and estimate your haul with the meat yield calculator.

Values are USDA FoodData Central figures per 100g; every row names its record.

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