North Idaho Wild Game Cook-Off Recap
By: Kyle Maki, IWF Sporting Partnerships and Policy Manager
What a way to wrap up our 2026 Wild Game Cook-Off Series!
On Saturday, August 1st, sportsmen and women from across North Idaho and Washington came together to celebrate wild food, conservation, and the traditions that connect us. After the great food at the first wild game cook off in Boise earlier this summer, we had high expectations for our next one in Coeur d’Alene, and let me tell you our North Idaho cooks didn’t disappoint! Held at North Idaho Archery, five cook teams found great ways to highlight our amazing wild game animals in dishes ranging from Wild Game Potstickers to Elk Pastrami Rueben Pizzas.
In the end, a couple dishes stood out from the rest on the judges' score cards with Black Bear Mac and Cheese from Nicole and Jeff Davis of Big Boar Bear Baits winning best overall dish! Beginning as classic comfort food, they built upon it with the addition of ground bear and it went from a quick and easy lunch cooked out of a box for kids to something I would be more than happy serving (or eating!) to any group of friends getting together to enjoy a great meal!
The other big winner was the Idaho BHA team lead by Melissa Hendrickson who won the most wild and creative dish including Turkey Neck Marmalade, deer burger sliders on a fried potato, and homemade spruce tip and huckleberry syrups.
After the judging, those attending got to go around to each cook team to eat some samples, perhaps learn a tip or trick, and hopefully swap a good hunting story or three…. I know that’s what I did!
A huge thank you is owed to all that attended, cooked, donated prizes, and North Idaho Archery for hosting. Exo Mountain Gear, Argali, Vortex, OnX Hunt, and Ammo Squared all donated great prizes both for cook teams and our raffle giveaways.
Finally, an extra thank you goes to our great judges Jake and Mason Mushaney of Unknown Munitions, Unknown Suppressors, Shoot2Hunt and Ryan Avery of Rokslide and Shoot2Hunt. After sampling all of these great dishes I think all of us can agree with Ryan when he said, “I was born to judge a wild game cook-off!”
Just a heads up for everyone, while this is the first, it won’t be the last IWF cook off! Keep an eye out for next year's locations and dates. Going off of the food from this year, you better start testing and refining your dishes now if you want a chance at one of the elusive winning team aprons!
