Eating crow is usually associated with being wrong, but Thursday night it seemed like the right thing to do during the Alabama Wildlife Federation’s Wild Game Cook-off.

This year’s cook-off was held on Water Avenue in front of the historic St. James Hotel, and the competition had a record number of teams and a record crowd to try all of the wild game dishes.

Twenty-one teams took part in this year’s cook-off, including teams from Selma, Marion, Montgomery, Lake Martin and the surrounding area.

“This is the best turnout and the most teams that we’ve ever had here in Selma,” said Tommy Tidwell, the Wild Game Cook-off organizer for the state. “I can already tell by looking that this is the biggest crowd. I don’t have an estimate, but just by looking at it, it’s by far the biggest and best we’ve ever had.”

The cook-off featured fowl, fish and wild game, and the dishes didn’t disappoint. Crow curry kabobs, turkey tamales, alligator boudin and catfish beignets were just a few of the dishes teams served up.

“Most of these guys are just here to support the local community and have fun, but we’ve got some guys that are pretty serious about this stuff,” said Tim Wood, one of the organizers of the cook-off. “These guys are cleaning out their freezers, and they spend a lot of money preparing food.”

The overall winner was Trailer Park Gourmet for their duck au vin, which was a combination of wood duck and mallard duck braised in red wine and served over parmesan grits.

Chonita’s Cookers won the fish category, Trailer Park Gourmet won the fowl category and Team Pepsi won the wild game category. Chonita’s Cookers won best presentation, and Baby C’s won the youth division.

“I’m always amazed at the creativity and the talent that these people put into these dishes. You’re talking about food that most of these tables that you would have a hard time finding in a good restaurant,” Tidwell said. “You never know what they’re going to come up with and how they’re going to present it.”

The cook-off serves as a fundraiser for the AWF, which is the oldest and largest non-profit conservation organization in Alabama.

“This is one of the major fundraisers for the Alabama Wildlife Federation,” Wood said. “It helps support the nature center over in Millbrook and also the nature-plex. AWF touches, and I mean physically touches, probably 70,000 kids and adults every year.”

While most cook-offs focus on chili or barbecue, Tidwell said this one focuses on teaching people about wild game and how it can be used.

“One of the purposes of these wild game cook-offs is to introduce people to wild game and let people know that wild game is good table fair and that harvesting a wild game is a necessary and ethical part of the overall conservation process,” Tidwell said.

The winners, Trailer Park Gourmet, will compete in the state competition in August against other winners from competitions around the state.