The worst game meat I've ever eaten was from the 1st big mature buck I shot, a 155" 16pt that still weighed 208 1/2lbs at the end of our rut in late Nov. He was all leaned out and not an ounce of fat on him from running does, and you could smell him long before walking up to where he dropped where I shot him standing over a bedded doe at first light. He looked like the bulldog from old Bugs Bunny cartoons, all huge head, neck, front shoulders and tiny hind end. Except he wore a big rack on his head, instead of a hat cocked at a jaunty angle :lol:
I'm glad he had a nice set of antlers, and although I never tried eating them I bet they'd be better eating and more tender than he was! I'm pretty sure the old felt insole in my hunting boots, marinated in Tinks #69, would taste better than that buck. He may have made edible sausage, but I wasn't into sausage making back them. Despite various preparation methods I couldn't find a way to cook that deer that made it palatable. Sadly the most of that deer became compost.
I attribute it simply to his size/age and condition at that point in the rut. From the way his antlers were worn down and various stickers broken off I'd say he was definitely the dominant buck in his area and had spent the last month and a half or more doing little eating but plenty of running, sparring, fighting, and romancing. He was just in poor condition at that time. I've shot larger deer at the beginning of the season, when they were rolling in fat, and they were the best eating deer I've ever shot.
We don't have a lot of deer, but we do have long, generous seasons when all weapons are considered. We can hunt deer from mid Sept starting with early bow while bucks are still in bachelor groups, and right up until the late/post rut in mid December ending with archery and muzzleloader. Next Saturday is the last day of our 2016 deer season.