Sure, I savor the friendships, the rituals, and the opportunity to reflect on this or that, but first and foremost I hunt to fill the freezer. Chicken is cheap and beans are even cheaper. But I love to eat game. One reason is taste. To me, game takes on the flavor of its surroundings.
Venison tastes like oak woods.
Pheasant has the flavor of farm fields. Duck tastes like a wild rice marsh in Manitoba. After you've dined on the dark, firm breast of a ruffed grouse whose crop bulged with aromatic alder buds, commercial chicken tastes as flavorful as tepid water. I'm an ordinary cook, but lay venison on the kitchen counter and my hands work like Julia Child's. For years I didn't care for duck or venison.