A muscox is in fact a cow-sheep. Its appearance is similar to a cow, but it is more related to sheep and goats. Unique for muscox are its muscox-glands and the strong smell it spreads. The muscox is related to the Takin and Yak who live in Tibet and China. They are heavily built and can weigh up to 300 kg.

Habitat
The muscox native living environment is the north pole circle of Canada and Greenland. Muscox have been close to extinction as a result of the hunt by whalehunters who shot them for fresh meat on their hunting trips. In the past, herds of 15.000 animals could be found around the Hudson Bay. Nowadays those numbers cannot be reached, although their numbers are increasing again.

Breeding
Today muscox are breeded 'under supervision'. This means they live in the wild-life and only the stags that live by themselves are shot for their meat. The Canadian government has discovered that muscox are ideally kept on areas that are completely inaccessible to other animals because of the severe cold (-50 degrees Celsius).

Hunting
Eskimo's have always hunted the muscox. They used to make utilities of their bones, coats of their skin and ate their meat. However, whalehunters were the ones who where responsible for the near extinction of the species. Another cause is the muscox defensive behaviour. When they are attacked, the herd will form a circle with all horns directed to the outside. Even if one animal is shot the whole herd will still try to protect that animal. Eskimo's used a different hunting method, they shot one animal and then left. As soon as the herd had moved on, the eskimo's returned to pick up their meat. Europeans are always in a hurry. They did not have the patience to wait for the other animals to leave. They also shot the other animals, just to take some animals with them and left the others to rot. There is no real muscox hunting season. Animals are shot after the mating season and only the ones which are repudiated by their herd are shot..

MUSCOX MEAT

Muscox meat is wonderful, sometimes streaky meat. Its structure is somewhere between sheep and beef meat, however its colour is more similar to sheep meat. Muscox meat is exceptionally lean, even though the younger animals are never shot. The goulash is also very well suited for a delicious stew. There will never be a lot of muscox meat on the market, but if you ever get the opportunity to eat it, it is most definitely worth tasting.

Cuts:
The back fillets, striploins, tenderloins and haunch cuts all make excellent steaks. Goulash meat is also imported and very tasty. Muscox meat is very much worth a try!