About 125 Bradford residents got wild at the First Presbyterian
Church Saturday night.

The second annual Wild Game Dinner made nearly $1,000, according
to the Rev. LeRoy Beckes, with proceeds going to One Great Hour of
Sharing Disaster Relief for both Hurricane Katrina victims and
those affected by the recent Pakistani earthquake.

Meat on Saturday’s menu included venison (whitetail deer), bear,
antelope, rabbit, wild boar, moose, salmon, pheasant and cougar
(mountain lion), among others.

To the untrained eye, the cougar meat – white and stringy –
could have been chicken or turkey, and tasted much the same. Each
attendant moving through the line at the buffet-style dinner was
offered a bit of the big cat and most, surprisingly, were takers.
Only a small portion was available of the cougar, however, allowing
each patron to take just a taste.

Most other dishes were offered in abundance, with many patrons
going back for seconds.

There were several different types of venison dishes, including
Swedish meatballs made with venison, Swiss steak (strips of venison
meat cooked with red and green bell peppers and onions), venison
meatloaf, venison burgers, venison meatballs and venison chili.

The wild boar – bright pink, stringy and very tasty – was
prepared with sauerkraut much like the pork and sauerkraut dinner
enjoyed traditionally by local families of German descent on New
Year’s Day.

Roast moose was also a big hit, cooked with apple cider and
spices. The bear, available both in meatballs and as Italian
sausage, was a dense, dark meat and also quite delicious.

Pheasant -ðalso prepared a variety of ways, including baked and
with gravy over biscuits – tasted nutty and had a texture almost
like beef liver. The antelope, breaded and cooked in gravy, tasted
a good deal like venison.

Summer sausage made of venison or goose was also offered at the
tables with bread and butter.

Beckes said during the dinner that all of the food was donated
by area hunters and prepared by a group of men from the church. He
said last year’s dinner was well attended, with about 125
patrons.

The Piscitelli family of Bradford – Brian, Alyson, Kamryn, 6,
and Gavin, 3 – enjoyed Saturday’s dinner much as they did the year
before, they said.

Kamryn said she particularly enjoyed the venison burgers, while
her brother stuck mostly to his plain spaghetti noodles. Her
mother, Alyson Piscitelli, said she enjoyed the cougar and boar,
while her husband, Brian, said he liked the pheasant.

Andy Eschrich of Bradford might have said it best when asked
which was his favorite. “It’s hard to choose,” he laughed. Young
Colton Eschrich said he enjoyed the cougar the most.

Don Graybill of Bradford claimed it was “hard to beat the
pheasant.” He said his favorite dishes the year before were the
goose and the grouse.

Brothers Brian and Scott Orris of Bradford both said they
enjoyed the wild game dinner and planned to attend next year’s
feast. “Buy your tickets ahead,” Scott Orris advised.

The leftovers from Saturday’s dinner, Beckes said, have already
been donated to The Friendship Table.