Question for you Mule deer Guys

[PA BEN]

When I was 18 I shot my first and only Mule deer, it was the 27th of Nov. he was in the rut. 24" 4x4 w/a very large body. I hung him for almost 2 weeks. He was very gammie and the smell would run you out of the house when you cooked him. Mom and Dad wouldn't eat him, but I would. So my question is, are any of these big mulies make good table fair? This one was living on top of a Mt. I guess the ones eating alfalfa might be ok. I've had spikes and 2 points from the same Mt. that were good eating. 

[MtnMuley]

It's 100% how you take care of the meat in my opinion.  Some of the best eating deer I've had were big bucks in the rut, and muley coming out of the high country. Some of the games I've had were whiteys shot out of the wheat fields in the Palouse. Get that skin off and into a cooler or cool place to hang asap and trim the meat to perfection when processing. Any piss or gut touching that touches the meat is a bad thing.

[PA BEN]

I handled the meat the same as all my deer. I've never had a w/t in rut that gammie. He wasn't gut shot and was cleaned and hanging with in 2 hrs of the kill.

[Todd_ID]

I think it's partly how the animal died (stress/adrenaline)/was cared for and partly the individual animal.  I've had one doe that I could hardly stand in pepperoni while the majority are better than most whitetails with no change in the meat care or area they lived (next to my house).  The worst critter I've shot and eaten was a corn field whitetail buck in November rut; he was an older buck and amped for a fight.  That's the one in my avatar.  He died in 80 yards with a double lung shot and was cared for properly.

[MtnMuley]

Also,  I hang mine for 3-4 days before processing.

[JBar]

Did you possibly handle the tarsal glands without realizing it or have the bladder leak during removal? I've shot a couple rutted up mountain muleys that tasted great. I did have a late season yearling cow taste like doo doo that I ended up giving away to guys at work(they thought it was great) smelled like and tasted like piss covered rutting bull

[PA BEN]

My Dad taught me to use 2 knifes, one for balls and glands, the other gut and skin. I try not to pop the bladder but it happens sometimes. My kids have gut shot a few deer over the years, I clean them out good no problems. BTW, I live where I hunt and the deer are cared for soon after the kill. I use a hose and wash them out real good, open up shot up areas and wash out the blood shot. My family are farmers and butcher cows and hogs. First and foremost w/deer in my family is to take care of the meat.  

[JBar]

I've heard the same as what Todd had mentioned with stress and adrenaline. This may be the case with my elk as it was in the Nile area where animals are under heavier pressure. I'm positive to this day I handled and processed that elk properly.

[bobcat]

I'd suspect the 2 week hanging time had a lot to do with the bad meat. Unless you had it in a cooler with a constant temperature in the mid-30's.

[boneaddict]

As you know lots of things contribute to an animals flavor.   Generally speaking a stove up, rancid smelling rutted up buck isn't going to taste as good as your grainfed alfalfa eating specimen in September.  Meat care influences that a ton. Cooling, cleaning, fat removal etc.   That all being said, I have never hung anything for two weeks.

[MightyWhite]

I think it's in the way it's handled...the best eating mulies were from the sagebrush and the worst one was from the wheat and alfalfa..go figure?

[MtnMuley]

I'm not a fan of washing down wild game with a hose. I don't know if that has anything to do with gamey meat, though. Possibly.  I take a bucket of water with a couple wash cloths and soak/ring out then wipe off all blood and hair. When I process I remove the entire outer layer of "dry" skin before I begin deboning the quarter.

[PA BEN]

I'd suspect the 2 week hanging time had a lot to do with the bad meat. Unless you had it in a cooler with a constant temperature in the mid-30's.

Never got above 30 that year for the two weeks. Just a little back ground, I know how to take care of the meat. This must have been just one of those rutted up bucks you hear about, he was with 9 does. My question was are all big mule deer bucks gammie tasting? I guess not from the answers I've gotten. I've only shot one mule deer out of 39 years of hunting, all others have been w/t and one blacktail doe. The mule was the only gammie deer to date. I have never target mules after that. I like to eat my deer and if all big mule deer are gammie why bother.

[jackelope]

The last rutted up buck I killed was estimated at 6.5-7.5 years old, fully rutted up and was delicious. The quarters hung for about 24 hours, froze pretty much solid, then was thawed, butchered, packaged and refrozen. It was great. I was worried about the meat tasting good given his age and condition. No worries for me.

[PA BEN]

I'm not a fan of washing down wild game with a hose. I don't know if that has anything to do with gamey meat, though. Possibly.  I take a bucket of water with a couple wash cloths and soak/ring out then wipe off all blood and hair. When I process I remove the entire outer layer of "dry" skin before I begin deboning the quarter.

Hose washed each and every deer myself and family have shot. Back in the day when all my 5 daughters were hunting we ate only deer meat. Now that most of them are out of the house they call and ask for deer meat. The butcher washes beef w/a hose why not on deer?