"aem" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Charles Gifford wrote:
> > > > Elk is deer.
> > >
> > A moose is sometimes an elk too and, of course, the other way around
> as
> > well. Common names are notoriously unreliable. I certainly would not
> hunt
> > anything, as I find it barbarous, so I know nothing about licenses to
> kill.
> >
> > Charlie.
>
> They are all hoofed mammals, if that is as closely as you want to
> classify animals, but they are not the same, any more than sheep and
> goats are.

I prefer to be much more precise in mamal classification.

> Even a non-barbarous non-hunter wouldn't claim that a deer
> looks like an elk, looks like a moose.

Not all deers look like other deers except superficially. I'll grant that
the difference between the appearance of a White Tail and the average moose
is greater than most.

> And if you had eaten them you'd
> know they are different, too. Their diet also makes a very big
> difference in taste. Deer from Southeast Alaska and, say, Wyoming
> won't taste the same. Aficionados know beyond doubt that the Sitka
> blacktail deer is the best tasting venison in the world. Aficionados
> is defined, of course, as our friends from Southeast Alaska.
>
> -aem

Heh, heh! But of course! I agree that the animal's diet makes a huge
difference in the flavor. I have eaten deer, though it was New Zealand farm
raised. I'm not an Aficionado of venison. I'd love to visit Sitka, but
probably wouldn't eat many blacktail deer. My best friend vacationed in
Sitka and other towns in the general area a couple of years ago and loved
it. He has raved about salmon ever since.