Lee Youngblood sits at a table, the razor-sharp knife in his hand sawing through the slab of meat sitting before him.

It is a wild hog, and he is making sure it is done before it’s served to the judges at the annual Alabama Wildlife Federation Cookoff Thursday night.

This isn’t just any wild hog. It has been marinated overnight in a special sauce and Italian dressing, among other things. When it is declared ready to serve, it is handed out on small paper plates along with blackberry sauce.

And that is one of the tame entries.

On the table next to Youngblood’s, there are several platters of delicacies including stuffed armadillo. Beyond that, there is deer meat lasagna. At the end, there is an unusual dish known as &uot;Yabada.&uot;

Every year, members of AWF gather together at the old armory in Selma and try to outcook each other using creative means. Think of it as a wildlife Survivor, but instead of facing each other on the hunting grounds, they’re doing it on the grill.

While some of the food was the typical roasted duck, dove and venison, others was just plain elaborate almost to the point of being scary.

Take Bob Green’s Menage A’Cinq. This dish comes from mixing up five meats – ostrich, duck, pheasant, venison and chukker – with beans. It was delicious.

Then there is David Doyle’s Yabada. The recipe is borrowed from a traditional Lebonese one and has venison and vegetables rolled up in a cabbage leaf.

It’s not just the type of food they’re serving, presentation is also judged in this contest.

By far, the fanciest setting had to be Gordo’s High Flauters, featuring everything from white tablecloths to a working champagne fountain.

It was dark and showers were starting to fall, but no one minded. There was plenty of beer and food to go around. Wanted to watch Auburn beat Mississippi State? No problem, there was a widescreen TV set up near a table full of paintings for sale and a band playing old rock and country hits.

As Doyle hands off servings of the yabada to people around him, he talked briefly about his team.

The Chilatchee Creek Hunting Resort team has two members from Birmingham plus himself and his father who came up from Mobile, proving that the event attracts people from out of town.