Best tasting bucks?

[348Winchester]

Deer from the high plains of Montana taste differently than Tennessee forest deer. They are both good but different.

 

[DMD]

IMO there are some things you can do to help ensure the best tasting deer meat:
1. Handle it properly in the field. Get deboned quickly and cooling down. Keep it clean as possible
2. As mentioned in above posts- get every bit of silverskin, grizzle, and fat out wgen processing..it seems like waste, but makes huge difference in taste and quality.
3. After processing and freezing, prior to cooking, Let meat soak in a pan of water overnight, draining and refilling several times. This gets blood out and really tames the wild taste
4. Do NOT over cook the meat.

 

[BSK]

I know for a fact there's a big difference in taste of deer from different parts of the country.

Absolutely. Animals from the arid regions of the High Plains, like CO or WY often have a pronounced sage taste, as that's what the animals have been eating. I can also often tell the difference between woodland deer eating acorns, and deer from farm country.

 

[MickThompson]

Does taste the best.
As other people have pointed out, gut shots make all deer taste horrible no matter how fast you recover the deer !

My hunting buddy gut shot a doe on accident once and we were able to track her and put another killing shot in her and even with recovering her quickly, the whole deer was green on the inside. We couldn't wash or cut the green off the meat no matter how hard we tried
I'm not sure if he ate it, I'll have to ask him how it tasted

How do you taint anything besides the tenderloins, flank, and ribs on a gut shot? How would that affect shoulders, hams, backstrap, and neck?

 

[Ski]

Do NOT over cook the meat.

That one is PARAMOUNT!!!

Venison cooks differently than beef. There's no marble fat inside the muscle fibers that renders at cooking heat to keep the meat juicy and tender. This makes it far easier to overcook and that creates a chewy, dry, leathery experience. Not pleasant. 135* - 140* internal with a hard crispy sear on outside is about perfect for me.

 

[Ski]

How do you taint anything besides the tenderloins, flank, and ribs on a gut shot? How would that affect shoulders, hams, backstrap, and neck?

I think the problem comes from field dressing. You have to open the meat on both hams to cut the pelvic tunnel in order to get innards out, and on a gut hit deer it's impossible to keep the juices from coming in contact with meat, and once that bacteria is introduced it rapidly expands throughout. The longer you wait to debone the meat the more of it will be tainted.

 

[MickThompson]

I think the problem comes from field dressing. You have to open the meat on both hams to cut the pelvic tunnel in order to get innards out, and on a gut hit deer it's impossible to keep the juices from coming in contact with meat, and once that bacteria is introduced it rapidly expands throughout. The longer you wait to debone the meat the more of it will be tainted.

Why not go gutless on a deer that was known to be gut shot?

 

[Ski]

Why not go gutless on a deer that was known to be gut shot?

I 100% would. It's the only way I'd eat a gut hit deer. But I've more than once seen folks field dress a gut hit deer. It's gross.

Once that gut bacteria gets out, it attacks literally everything organic and expands exponentially. You're talking a bacterial concoction literally designed by God to rapidly decompose organic matter in a matter of hours, and its designed to be contained inside the stomach and intestines. When it's no longer contained it becomes a no holds barred free for all of disgustingness lol. Time is not on one's side if they want to save meat.

 

[GumbyGuy]

Where it's ground up and in sausage mixed with cheese and jalapeños or pineapple it not as noticeable
Someone has already said it " doe meat " is the best

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

In the last several years I have not worried too much about getting every piece of fat and silver skin removed. My only complaint is the meat curls when you sear it.

Cooking roasts in an Instapot surprised me also. Fat and silver skin turns soft just like on a beef roast and in my opinion doesn't affect the taste at all. It actually tases good to me (fat).

The last 30 deer I killed on my property were all processed by me and never field dressed. I'd drag them with my Grizzly 700 back to my truck, hoist them with a hitch mounted gambrel. I would skin and debone them and have them on ice in under two hours. I wore gloves and cleaned and rotated knives to keep the entire process clean.

Of the 30 deer age, size, sex didn't affect the taste or tenderness at all. I kept all of them in an iced cooler for 10 days; which is essentially keeping them at a constant 32 degrees.

IMO field processing is the key. Get them on ice asap.

 

[Crow Terminator]

In the field care and processing care makes all the difference in the world. I would also say, how you handle them in transport does too. Hauling them in the back of the truck, utility trailer, for hours after the kill can't be good on em. Guys on my end of the state used to do it all the time when we couldn't kill does over here. They'd travel to west TN and kill a bunch...hang em on a pole til they killed several and then throw them on a trailer and come home to have them processed.

 

[backyardtndeer]

The biggest thing I've seen that makes any difference in flavor is how the deer was handled between the moment of death and the moment the meat hits your tongue.

^^^^This^^^^

How the deer are handled has everything to do with how they taste and how tough or tender they are.

 

[lafn96]

The last 30 deer I killed on my property were all processed by me and never field dressed. I'd drag them with my Grizzly 700 back to my truck, hoist them with a hitch mounted gambrel. I would skin and debone them and have them on ice in under two hours. I wore gloves and cleaned and rotated knives to keep the entire process clean.

The last doe I shot was the first one that I didn't gut in the field my entire life. Able to drive the truck right to it, and had it hanging within 20 minutes of it being shot. Good shot, just above the heart through both lungs. If it was gut shot I wouldn't have done this. Gutting while hanging made it at least twice as fas,t and easier since gravity is getting all the guts and organs out of the way for you. Almost zero blood on my hands/sleeves for the same reason. I'll be doing this for any deer I don't have to drag, and isn't gut shot from here on out.

 

[kaizen leader]

Wow, a lot of great feedback. Thank you all.

 

[.243 Deer]

How do you taint anything besides the tenderloins, flank, and ribs on a gut shot? How would that affect shoulders, hams, backstrap, and neck?

Good question. Here's the answer from someone that can explain it better. I definitely think gutless might help in a situation where you are able to quickly put another round in the gutshot deer to kill it quickly. But as Ski mentions, that gut bacteria gets everywhere and leaks into places you wouldn't think it would like the neck.

A deer that dies from sepsis due to gutshot to the point all you see is black veins when you peel the hide taste awful because the same infection making black veins is also in the meat.

I think the problem comes from field dressing. You have to open the meat on both hams to cut the pelvic tunnel in order to get innards out, and on a gut hit deer it's impossible to keep the juices from coming in contact with meat, and once that bacteria is introduced it rapidly expands throughout. The longer you wait to debone the meat the more of it will be tainted.

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

The last doe I shot was the first one that I didn't gut in the field my entire life. Able to drive the truck right to it, and had it hanging within 20 minutes of it being shot. Good shot, just above the heart through both lungs. If it was gut shot I wouldn't have done this. Gutting while hanging made it at least twice as fas,t and easier since gravity is getting all the guts and organs out of the way for you. Almost zero blood on my hands/sleeves for the same reason. I'll be doing this for any deer I don't have to drag, and isn't gut shot from here on out.

Just for clarity, I didn't gut any of the deer I mention in my post.

 

[AT Hiker]

I've shot rutted up older than dirt mule deer bucks that eat nothing but sage that tasted great.
I've shoot early season whitetail does feeding on prime green plots that were tougher than leather.

Each one handled equally but more often than not they all taste equally as good.
I did kill an early season KS buck fresh out of velvet and before acorns fell. In my mind it was the best whitetail I've ever had.

I adhere to getting them as cool as possible and allowing them to go through rigor before deboning. Seems to mostly work out pretty good.
I'm also a believer in dry aging. A 14 day dry aged deer sirloin taste better than a 1-2 day old back strap, imo.

 

[Ski]

I'm also a believer in dry aging. A 14 day dry aged deer sirloin taste better than a 1-2 day old back strap, imo.

The dry aging is something I've not tried. I really need to build myself a cooler but haven't yet.