High grocery prices have some turning to wild game like alligator and venison for their holiday feasts

• Some families are ditching traditional turkeys on Thanksgiving in favor of wild game meats.
• Whole smoked alligator and stuffed venison backstraps are among the unique alternatives.

While many Americans will be roasting a traditional turkey this Thanksgiving, others will be digging into something a bit more adventurous: smoked alligator, venison backstrap, or wild ham.

Christopher Shane Smith, the owner of Red Antler Processing in Yazoo City, Mississippi, said for many people in the Southeast, it's a family tradition to have wild game for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any big family gathering. This time of year is one of the busiest for his company, which processes wild game meats into desirable cuts, sausages, and other products.

"Hunting is really a way of life in my community and so many other communities in the Southeast," he said, adding that especially around this time of year families are out hunting together, harvesting the meat, and eating it together.

Many of Smith's customers bring in animals for processing that they've personally harvested, but he also gets meat donated from hunters who have extra. Smith said Red Antler regularly processes meat and brings it to local homeless shelters that use it to feed hundreds of people a day.

This year Smith has seen more people looking for game meat for the holidays.

"Just because of the high prices of groceries, some people that don't normally lean towards the venison or the wild hams" are seeking them out this year, he said.

Wild game can be especially economical when you're feeding a large crowd of 30 or 40, Smith said, noting it would take a whole lot of store-bought turkeys to feed that many people.

For one family who came in this week looking for an alternative to a traditional turkey, Smith set them up with smoked venison hind quarters. For those who've never had venison, Smith said it's a red meat, like beef, but has a richer flavor and is leaner.

Another man drove all the way from Tennessee to Mississippi this week just to pick up an alligator, which he planned to smoke whole. As far as alligator goes, Smith said it's a white meat with a flavor that can best be described as a combination of chicken and fish.

Smith personally said his family is having stuffed venison backstrap on Thanksgiving. He takes the loins of deer that he harvested, stuffs them with salted cream cheese and jalapeños, and then wraps them in bacon.

And it's not just the South where people are seeking out unique meats for the holidays. The Wall Street Journal reported that for one butcher shop in Queens, New York City, exotic meats made up 25% of their Thanksgiving orders. Although, those orders included animals like kangaroo, ostrich, and rattlesnake.

Smith said he prefers wild game meat because, like many people in his area, he grew up eating it. Many prefer wild game because they know it's free from hormones and chemicals that may be used in commercial meat production. But also, there's just something about knowing where an animal came from that makes you more grateful.

"It's a fine line there of being saddened when you harvest an animal versus being appreciative," he said. "I respect wildlife and I spend thousands of dollars every year to preserve it and make sure that that renewable resource is here for many years to come."