Buffalo Bob's Peppered Elk with Beef Stick, a Decade Later 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1EhRoqyxBk

By Martin Peyruc

The Reckless Gastronome

Life News Today

It is not surprising that Buffalo Bob is still selling elk sticks, people have been eating elk since somebody first thought “betcha a pointy stick would make this easier, dontcha know” (what, you give our earliest hominid ancestors a different, but equally unlikely accent?), but what has changed are the views around it. Game meats went from the only game in town (see what I did there?) to noble luxury, to poor person meal supplement and all the way back around to exotic treats.

Buffalo Bob’s really hasn’t changed their packaging, but what has changed is the dog eat dog (I really hope that’s not literal) market around preserved meat snacks. Now everything is about being high protein, keto friendly, and avoiding the dreaded carbo-glutens (not a real word, but I’m going to make it happen even if “fetch” didn’t.) Here in the States, dried meat snack sales reached about $3.3 billion in 2024, and the global market is expected to nearly double over the next decade.

This has opened a wave of competitors that either didn’t exist or were much smaller when the original review was written. Brands such as Chomps, Archer, and Tillamook Country Smoker (not related to the Tillamook County Creamery Association who I’m still mad at for the “butternaise” debacle) now all vie for shelf space. Buffalo Bob’s has at least one big advantage over everyone else, their snacks are interesting and conversation starters. You don’t win friends with salad, but you also don’t win them by hiding behind a bunch of nutrition numbers either.

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Buffalo Bob's Peppered Elk with Beef Stick

The Reckless Gastronome

Tues, July 8, 2014

One bite of this and you'll immediately notice the unmistakable elk flavor that has won fans from around the world. That's a huge lie. My pants may very well be on fire at this moment. It is said that elk is the sweetest of deer meats. If that is true, then it really doesn't benefit from the meat stick process. Of course, it could be said that nothing really benefits from the meat stick process, but I'll stay out of that argument. It didn't even come across as particularly peppery either. The pepper is there, just not to the degree that I think it should get billing on the label. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination, just that it's not very distinctive either.

Found at Pepper Palace

Donated by my Mom