Courtesy Rep. Broun's office

Political candidates often eat their words, but less often jungle cats. Congressman Paul Broun is an exception to that rule.

Broun, R-Ga., said in an interview published this morning that he once hunted and ate a lion.

"The lion wasn't particularly tasty," he told the National Review. "It was kind of chewy, but I ate it, too."

The "too" referred to the roast warthog he cooked "in a French style."

The article mentioned no location for his culinary adventures, and his office has not responded to a request for comment.

Broun announced in late January that he was eying the vacant Senate seat to be left behind by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., in 2014.

Chambliss, one of the original Gang of Six charged with finding a bipartisan solution to deficit and debt reduction in 2011, announced his plans to retire before a tough primary challenge earlier this year.

Broun, 66, is no newcomer to the national political scene. He ran in two failed House elections and one Senate before coming out on top in a special election in 2007. He ran for re-election to his House seat uncontested in November 2012, representing the district in the eastern part of Georgia, including Athens.

Broun has often differentiated himself as one of the more unconventional members of Congress.

This election cycle, Broun said the theory of evolution was a lie " straight from the pit of hell," earning 4,000 write-in votes for Charles Darwin against him in November.

In the fall of 2011, he called Occupy Wall Street protesters an "attack upon freedom," and said the 2012 presidential election would determine whether America would "go down the tube financially" on ABC's Top Line.

He also took heat for not condemning a crowd member who shouted out, " Who is going to shoot Obama?" at a Broun town hall event in February 2011. He later apologized for the incident.

"I deeply regret that this incident happened at all," Broun said. "Furthermore, I condemn all statements - made in sincerity or jest - that threaten or suggest the use of violence against the president of the United States or any other public official. Such rhetoric cannot and will not be tolerated."