Best tasting deer I've ever had

[yoyodoc]

I assassinated Bambi for the first time in 1984. And the meat was OK but I never got a chance to hang the quarters because the weather was always too cold or too hot. This year a friend's 13 year old got his first deer. The mom, a florist, has a walk-in cooler (think of a basement room with a window AC unit going full blast. On my advice, they hung the meat for 3 days. It came out pale and tender and delish.

I have brought back corn-fed, 9 month old white tails that didn't taste that good. Deer so small my wife said, "You mean that was the biggest one between here and there?" The closest one was a mature buck that someone else had gut shot at 184 yards with a round ball the night before and had been slowly bleeding, so that there was no blood left in the meat. I have left skin quarters in the fridge for 4 days.

(How would I know if I didn't see? It's a story.)

I understand hanging helps with tenderness. But it also helps with flavor. And nothing else is gravity.

 

[GM54-120]

You realize when beef is "aged" its hung much longer and quite often has mold growing on the outside. If you saw a side of aged beef i dont think most people would even eat it. It looks pretty nasty until all the mold and outer fat is shaved off. This near rotting is what makes good beef so tender. That and a nice fat marbleing. Deer dont have much of that even if you got a corn fed pen raised animal.

Deer meat gets funky from diet, age and hormones/adrenaline. You can help it some by a good bleeding but short aging does virtually nothing. Its needs much longer like 3 weeks or more for the natural enzymes to do their job.

A big old buck thats been fighting, chasing does and eating acorns all his life is probably gunna be one funky tasting steak. He wont be half as tasty as a 2yr old doe that lived off of mostly corn and good food plots.

 

[Okie Hog]

i'm not an advocate of "hanging" deer.

In the 50s and 60s in WV all the hunters bled their deer kills. Vast majority of hunters in OK don't bleed the animal: That failure affects meat quality. i quickly cut the animals throat then hang it upside down.

For 30 years i took my deer to a local processor. One time she commented that i was one of very few hunters who bled their deer and hogs.

 

[GM54-120]

Same here and if we want the skull we cut the whole head off. Let it bleed out as best you can. Some deer are just gunna be better eating than others. Strong venison works better for stuff like chilli and curry. That funkiness goes better with the strong spices. Nice fat younger does are usually gunna be the best tasting.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

My wife asked me to stop shooting bucks because the, to her, does taste so much better. I feel the same but its tough to pass up a nice buck.

 

[GM54-120]

I grind up more of the bucks. You wont even notice it in chilli. Does i do about 50/50. Roughly half is ground up and the rest in steaks/roasts. Bucks pretty much all i save is the loins and tenderloins. Maybe a roast or two and those get braised in chilli mix with beef fat added.

When we had a "deer camp" with a few guys it almost never failed one guy would pop a yearling and we would eat a bunch of it at the camp. That is some super tasty venison. Kinda sad to pop a spike the size of a goat or large dog but its fine eating.

 

[Matthew323]

Growing up in a family where I was the only person hunting, I learned from my adult hunting mentors that if you wanted the best tasting wild game, that field dressing it as soon as possible after the animal dies is always going to result in the best tasting meat.

This included emptying the abdominal cavity, as well as cutting the throat to drain the blood.

This applies to any size animal, rabbit, squirrel, birds, deer, bear, or elk.

 

[snapbang]

Its a little crued but we say the bigger the spots the better the meat. A young doe fed with corn, beans, and alfalfa is good eating. I butcher my own mostly. I leave it hang until its a convenient time to butcher it. Sometimes three weeks at temperatures just above freezing. Im not sure if I get the same deer back when I drop it off at the processor. They always come back a little lite, like I didn't get all my deer back.

 

[Matthew323]

From all of the stories that I have heard about meat processing plants that are licensed to handle wild game, it seems that it is the exception to the rule to find a plant that doesn't keep an illegal percentage of a hunter's animal for themselves. Although they are being paid, usually pretty well, to skin, butcher, portion, and package a hunter's big game kill; many of these processors seem to believe that they are entitled to a portion of each animal that they butcher. I have heard, and read, accounts of sometimes as much as 15% an animal being pilfered by one of these processors. With them stealing/keeping as much as half of all the prime, best tasting cuts for either themselves, or to sell on the underground market.

I find this kind of egregious behavior to be reprehensible. When one takes into account all of the added on monies that such a processor can make from the sale of blood, bones, hooves, and hides; they can easily double, if not triple, whatever fee that they charge for their services on a per animal basis.

Stealing meat on a per animal basis from several dozen, to several hundred, hunter's, depending upon how much of a stranglehold they might have as far as the meat processing business is concerned, within the geographical location that they operate in; in addition to the value of the added on items mentioned in the above paragraph; can mean one hell of an income stream for the duration of a particular state's hunting season(s).

 

[Makinsmoke]

When you shoot your deer, and it falls over, within sight or a 100 yards away. The heart isn't beating, cutting the throat ect does basically nothing to bleed it out, don't need to. The bullet/ arrow has already done that. My friend is owns a butcher shop. He shuts down for our deer season to do deer.. I help him cut, grind, ect every year ( 200-300 + a year ) you want the best tasting meat, get it gutted and cooled ASAP, if it's warm out get it skinned, quartered, and in a refrigerator, cooler with ice ( drain open so the meat doesn't soak )trim every bit of fat, silver skin, dried out meat ect. Don't over cook it. We kill and eat 10-15 a year in my house and can honestly say I've never had a bad tasting deer. A few tough bucks, but run the steaks through a cube steak machine, and your good to go. Just my personal opinion/experience.
With beef/hogs a pop to the head more or less stuns them, so bleeding them works as the heart is still beating.

 

[snapbang]

Overcooking. I think that's a real problem. Some folks seem to think you have to kill again it in the pan.

Med-rare on the grill.
On our fishing trip my buddy cooked smoked venison meatloaf. Oh my gosh is that good.

 

[Matthew323]

During the two years I spent in Alaska I ate quite a bit of canned moose, caribou, and salmon. Almost all of it had been smoked prior to being canned. None of it was tough.

 

[Okie Hog]

Watch the average hunter field dress and skin a deer or hog; then you will understand the concept of "bad tasting meat".

They haul the animal around prior to field dressing, burst the bladder, allow the the hair to contact the meat and generally make a mess of things.. Very few hunters carry water in their truck to wash out the animals body cavity.

Here in Oklahoma commercial meat processing plants are strictly regulated. Anyone is allowed to open a butcher shop for wild game. In 2008 i drew an elk permit for Fort Sill. Got consolation prize-a very nice sow that field dressed over 210 pounds.

Gave the sow to a close friend, who complained of "strong tasting" meat. Told him to bring me some sausage. Wife threw me out the kitchen as i was frying a couple patties, the stuff was rotten. The so called "processor" kept the animal in his cooler for 19 days before processing a rotten animal. Then i met two guys whose elk spoiled at the same place. One promised to kick the guys butt, and he went out of business.

Hogs are another matter. i kill a bunch of wild hogs. When the temperature is over 80-85 degrees F one has about four hours to get the meat cooled before it begins to go bad. i often observe Bubba hauling around intact hogs in the 100 degree F heat.

 

[southdakbearfan]

This is why I fullly process and package my own game.

I was out antelope hunting a few years back, and it was a hot year where daytime temps were in the 80s. I carried 3, 75-100 quart coolers in my truck filled with frozen 1/2 and 1 gallon jugs. As soon as me or my kids harvested an antelope hunting stopped, skinning, quartering and into game bags work was done so the game was in the coolers before we went back to filling any other tags.

We were in our hunting camp after harvesting and quartering two does one day, with other friends and the discussion of favorite game meat came up where a few couldn’t believe that antelope was my second favorite game meat. They complained how gamey or wild theirs always was. I pointed to their trucks where antelope had been for 24-48 hours just laying with the hide on and said go buy a ribeye at the store and leave it in your pickup for a couple days just like you do with your antelope and see what it tastes like.

It hit home because the next trip they had coolers/ice and later talked how good their antelope was that year.

Anyway, many shops that butcher wild game do not guarantee you get your own game meet back, just equivalent amounts. I don’t want someone else’s spoiled mess.

 

[Matthew323]

I remember hunters back in the 60's & 70's not dressing a deer until sometimes 12, or more hours had passed after it being killed. And, driving back to their home with the deer tied to the hood of the car displayed like some kind of obscene hood ornament.

And, then complaining about how bad venison tasted.

 

[Cobweb]

As a youngn' I worked at a service station on I-70 here in the middle of Missouri. We would watch the annual migration of hunters going west.
Later coming back some, would stop with the elk or deer strapped on the top luggage rack or tied over the fenders, when cars had that type fenders, and I'd ask how long has it been since you left Colorado. Most were 12/14 hour trips with about 8 more hours to reach home. They said just trim off the dried portion of meat and things were good to go. I always though I'm glad I'm not having supper with them!
If the temperatures were in the 50º for the high during the day and lower 30º range at night I would let my deer hang for up to four days checking on it often to make sure the meat stayed in the shade and was cold.
We always hung them head up and washed them out with a water hose. You could watch the front legs graduly lower each day a little meaning the meat was relaxing itself. They always came out good for us. If the temperatures were in the 70º's and 50's at night in the coolers it went to be processed right away.

Big John

 

[GM54-120]

One of the warmer years i got a ok sized buck Nothing great but good eating size. We hung him up and hosed out the body cavity. Then ran into town and got bags of ice. We put bags of ice in the body cavity and secured it closed. Only did this because the deer was harvested within a few minutes of the legal season and we had more tags to fill. The processor was quite a ways away on the other side of town.

That deer tasted just fine. Temps got maybe upto 60F for about 2 days but it was mostly lower 50s and packed in ice the entire time.

 

[user 23626]

My wife and I process ALL of our wild game from the kill site to the table and Antelope is our favorite. We also like a little elk meat but with antelope you don't
have to be out there before daylight and they're much easier to handle once down. Most of our kills are within 20-30 min of home so up the hoist, skin and wash. We trim and grind as soon as work schedule permits or if temps are up. Pic I posted earlier last week. Note the late alfalfa at the kill site. Shot with 45 cal one and done straight down. Trader AKA Mossie

 

[bstorric]

I assassinated Bambi for the first time in 1984. And the meat was OK but I never got a chance to hang the quarters because the weather was always too cold or too hot. This year a friend's 13 year old got his first deer. The mom, a florist, has a walk-in cooler (think of a basement room with a window AC unit going full blast. On my advice, they hung the meat for 3 days. It came out pale and tender and delish.

I have brought back corn-fed, 9 month old white tails that didn't taste that good. Deer so small my wife said, "You mean that was the biggest one between here and there?" The closest one was a mature buck that someone else had gut shot at 184 yards with a round ball the night before and had been slowly bleeding, so that there was no blood left in the meat. I have left skin quarters in the fridge for 4 days.

(How would I know if I didn't see? It's a story.)

I understand hanging helps with tenderness. But it also helps with flavor. And nothing else is gravity.

Growing up in a family where I was the only person hunting, I learned from my adult hunting mentors that if you wanted the best tasting wild game, that field dressing it as soon as possible after the animal dies is always going to result in the best tasting meat.

This included emptying the abdominal cavity, as well as cutting the throat to drain the blood.

This applies to any size animal, rabbit, squirrel, birds, deer, bear, or elk.

The very best deer I ever ate…I pulled the shot with my bow and just clipped its neck…but thanks to hand sharpened broadheads and luck, it severed the juggler and SPRAYED an blood trail for 30yards and fell over. When I gutted and skinned it, it looked like a professionally butcher lamb because the diaphragm area was never punctured and all the blood left neatly through the severed artery. Then I refrigerator aged it for a while (can’t remember how long). Grilled a whole loin med-rare for my in-laws, who had never eaten venison before. Made a nice béarnaise sauce to go with it. One of the best meals I have ever made…and I cook a lot… 4-5 dinners a week. If I could kill all the deer like that… I would, but too much luck was involved to make it repeatable

 

[Matthew323]

My wife and I process ALL of our wild game from the kill site to the table and Antelope is our favorite. We also like a little elk meat but with antelope you don't
have to be out there before daylight and they're much easier to handle once down. Most of our kills are within 20-30 min of home so up the hoist, skin and wash. We trim and grind as soon as work schedule permits or if temps are up. Pic I posted earlier last week. Note the late alfalfa at the kill site. Shot with 45 cal one and done straight down. Trader AKA Mossie

What kind of ranges are you managing to close to before you can take your shots? I keep reading posts online where a scoped inline is a requirement for antelope hunting.

I have always suspected that hunting antelope with an iron sighted sidelock muzzleloading rifle just requires a move back to a more traditional way of still hunting/ground blind hunting where choosing the proper terrain/ambush site is more important than just closing to within 150-250 yards for a shot with a scoped inline.