Post by: WildcatRanger on June 22, 2022, 01:59:02 PM
Post by: zwickeyman on June 22, 2022, 02:07:08 PM
Post by: Jpmiller on June 22, 2022, 02:11:05 PM
Post by: Karl Blanchard on June 22, 2022, 02:24:42 PM
Example I've used before is a hunt from 2018. I shot a high country mule deer in ID living the life on lush mountain forage. With that tag filled I beat feet for a NV muzzy tag. Killed a buck there that was living off sage and mahogany. When I got home I cut the exact steak from each animal. I cooked them medium rare with simple salt, pepper, garlic powder. Nobody in my house (including me) could tell the difference.
Get the skin off the meat and the heat out as soon as possible, keep it clean, and don't over cook and they are all fantastic. I may give the nod to high country deer simple due to how hard you have to work for them :chuckle:
Post by: Stein on June 22, 2022, 02:31:43 PM
I've only had one animal I thought had some really strong flavor, an old boy antelope from WY that wasn't near crops. That was an acquired taste and different than the other two I shot in the same area the same day and all processed together.
Post by: Jpmiller on June 22, 2022, 02:33:52 PM
I've eaten mule deer from every possible habitat you could think of to the tune of probably 100 different animals and my conclusion that the myth of "gamey" venison is 100% poor meat care/preparation. There is no argument I'll accept to the contrary. If your venison is gamey, you didn't handle or cook it properly. Simple as that.
Example I've used before is a hunt from 2018. I shot a high country mule deer in ID living the life on lush mountain forage. With that tag filled I beat feet for a NV muzzy tag. Killed a buck there that was living off sage and mahogany. When I got home I cut the exact steak from each animal. I cooked them medium rare with simple salt, pepper, garlic powder. Nobody in my house (including me) could tell the difference.
Get the skin off the meat and the heat out as soon as possible, keep it clean, and don't over cook and they are all fantastic. I may give the nod to high country deer simple due to how hard you have to work for them :chuckle:
That's interesting that the taste was the same. I completely agree on "gamey" taste being in poor meat care but I feel like I've definitely had deer that tastes different from other deer. I'm open to it being me being not so much or a distinguished food critic.
Or maybe I've just only ever had one or two in the freezer at a time and always from the same general area so I tell myself "this one came from alfalfa it's milder, this years was up in the mountains it's got more flavor"
I really like hearing people's experience with this, it's super interesting and thera alot I don't know.
Post by: Karl Blanchard on June 22, 2022, 02:49:50 PM
Post by: grundy53 on June 22, 2022, 02:54:56 PM
2 seasons ago I shot a rutted up eastern montana scab land mulie that has probably never seen an ag field. My dad said it was the best tasting deer he's ever eaten.
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Post by: Chesterdog on June 22, 2022, 03:01:21 PM
Besides obvious size differences, can anyone comment on a distinguishable taste between blacktail, whitetail, and mule deer bucks? Is the preferred order: whitetail, mule deer, blacktail for most people?
I've only ever eaten mule deer and have always been able to gut and skin quickly and avoid the tarsal gland which I believe is a main culprit of gaminess.
Post by: NRA4LIFE on June 22, 2022, 03:08:38 PM
Post by: grundy53 on June 22, 2022, 03:09:39 PM
I agree with JPmiller this is a really interesting topic.My order would be whitetail, blacktail, mulie generally. But the best deer I ever had was a mulie and the worst was a whitetail. Go figure.
Besides obvious size differences, can anyone comment on a distinguishable taste between blacktail, whitetail, and mule deer bucks? Is the preferred order: whitetail, mule deer, blacktail for most people?
I've only ever eaten mule deer and have always been able to gut and skin quickly and avoid the tarsal gland which I believe is a main culprit of gaminess.
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Post by: Sakko300wsm on June 22, 2022, 03:19:28 PM
But I will say - a few yrs ago we got two 3x4 mule bucks in the same drainage , 2 days apart and handled identically ( I am very picky about taking care of my animals and always butcher my own) and one of them just plain stunk - tasted fine , but that damn thing made the whole freezer smell- it was a weird thing
Post by: Fletch on June 22, 2022, 05:00:26 PM
Its absolutely possible my palate is unrefined :chuckle:Same for me...
Post by: fishngamereaper on June 22, 2022, 05:08:02 PM
Obviously high country varies by y state. But in Washington...deer from above 4-5k are excellent tabel fare.
Post by: WildcatRanger on June 22, 2022, 09:38:04 PM
Post by: huntnnw on June 22, 2022, 10:18:28 PM
Post by: Okanagan on June 22, 2022, 10:32:29 PM
Steak/chop from a high country mature buck. His neck was beginning to swell so we assumed he would be a bit tough and maybe strong, and we planned to make hamburger of all. But we did a test grill of chops from the outer strap that were so tasty and so tender that my wife said to make as much of him into steak as possible.
Post by: rtspring on June 23, 2022, 05:34:54 AM
PS, Two points taste the best.
Post by: hal on June 23, 2022, 08:47:42 AM
We have never had to chase an animal any distance and I think this could make some difference in taste.
Post by: OutHouse on June 23, 2022, 09:21:12 AM
I've eaten mule deer from every possible habitat you could think of to the tune of probably 100 different animals and my conclusion that the myth of "gamey" venison is 100% poor meat care/preparation. There is no argument I'll accept to the contrary. If your venison is gamey, you didn't handle or cook it properly. Simple as that.
Example I've used before is a hunt from 2018. I shot a high country mule deer in ID living the life on lush mountain forage. With that tag filled I beat feet for a NV muzzy tag. Killed a buck there that was living off sage and mahogany. When I got home I cut the exact steak from each animal. I cooked them medium rare with simple salt, pepper, garlic powder. Nobody in my house (including me) could tell the difference.
Get the skin off the meat and the heat out as soon as possible, keep it clean, and don't over cook and they are all fantastic. I may give the nod to high country deer simple due to how hard you have to work for them :chuckle:
That's interesting that the taste was the same. I completely agree on "gamey" taste being in poor meat care but I feel like I've definitely had deer that tastes different from other deer. I'm open to it being me being not so much or a distinguished food critic.
Or maybe I've just only ever had one or two in the freezer at a time and always from the same general area so I tell myself "this one came from alfalfa it's milder, this years was up in the mountains it's got more flavor"
I really like hearing people's experience with this, it's super interesting and thera alot I don't know.
Jpmiller and I hunt a similar area and I can say the lowland whitetails are very mild presumably from the farm crops. However, go up the mountain my bro has taken some mule deer and the taste is markedly different in my mind. I think there is a richer taste in a mule deer living primarily up on the mountain versus whitetails down below. Best deer I ever tasted was a mule doe that lived high up on the mountain. And definitely agree on the meat care being the issue. I heard the myth about sage brush bucks being gamy but they tasted the same to me.
Post by: Fidelk on June 23, 2022, 09:38:37 AM
Post by: Okanagan on June 23, 2022, 09:52:02 AM
The best tasting deer I've ever eaten was a fork horn high country blacktail from the Olympic Penninsula. It had almost a sweetish hazelnut hint of flavor. Second best was a 3 year old high country mule deer 4x4 in southern BC. Two families that ate a LOT of deer meat all said it was the best deer they had ever eaten. Sometimes a particular deer is just better.
And FWIW, I killed a fat, healthy looking high country mule deer doe that tasted so bad I threw away all of the meat after contacting the game dept. about it. It was dropped on the spot in snow, gutted well and immediately, hung in 32 F temp overnight then skinned and aged a few days just above freezing. The bad taste was not care of meat.
It had some scratches on its hind legs as if it had escaped a predator a week or two earlier, plus a seroma on the front of its chest. Game biologist said to cut away the area around the seroma (a type of bruise) because it would not taste good, though it would not hurt to eat it. I'd already done that when skinning. The whole deer tasted AWFUL, and left a bad taste in mouth, even tenderloin cooked with bacon. It might have done for the seige of Leningrad but it was so bad I took it back to the coyotes.
Post by: carlyoungs on June 23, 2022, 10:10:38 AM
Best Deer I have ever eaten and I have ate many! Came from a wheat field out of Dayton. That thing taste like beef. As for gamey, never had the “pleasure” of tasting gamey meat. Cool, Clean, proper care of meat is essential.:chuckle:
PS, Two points taste the best.
Post by: Jpmiller on June 23, 2022, 10:24:32 AM
I've eaten mule deer from every possible habitat you could think of to the tune of probably 100 different animals and my conclusion that the myth of "gamey" venison is 100% poor meat care/preparation. There is no argument I'll accept to the contrary. If your venison is gamey, you didn't handle or cook it properly. Simple as that.
Example I've used before is a hunt from 2018. I shot a high country mule deer in ID living the life on lush mountain forage. With that tag filled I beat feet for a NV muzzy tag. Killed a buck there that was living off sage and mahogany. When I got home I cut the exact steak from each animal. I cooked them medium rare with simple salt, pepper, garlic powder. Nobody in my house (including me) could tell the difference.
Get the skin off the meat and the heat out as soon as possible, keep it clean, and don't over cook and they are all fantastic. I may give the nod to high country deer simple due to how hard you have to work for them :chuckle:
That's interesting that the taste was the same. I completely agree on "gamey" taste being in poor meat care but I feel like I've definitely had deer that tastes different from other deer. I'm open to it being me being not so much or a distinguished food critic.
Or maybe I've just only ever had one or two in the freezer at a time and always from the same general area so I tell myself "this one came from alfalfa it's milder, this years was up in the mountains it's got more flavor"
I really like hearing people's experience with this, it's super interesting and thera alot I don't know.
Jpmiller and I hunt a similar area and I can say the lowland whitetails are very mild presumably from the farm crops. However, go up the mountain my bro has taken some mule deer and the taste is markedly different in my mind. I think there is a richer taste in a mule deer living primarily up on the mountain versus whitetails down below. Best deer I ever tasted was a mule doe that lived high up on the mountain. And definitely agree on the meat care being the issue. I heard the myth about sage brush bucks being gamy but they tasted the same to me.
"Similar" :chuckle:
Post by: WAcoueshunter on June 23, 2022, 10:29:30 AM
Thanks all! Gaging if the reward is worth the effort for high buck. Sounds like it clearly is. Now, how do I work this around my early elk hunt...? ;)
I suspect most would say the anticipated quality of the meat is not a reason to do one hunt versus another. Go on the hunt you want, hard earned meat is good from anywhere, anytime. High country, farms, sage, desert, early season, rut, late season...all good.
Post by: pickardjw on June 23, 2022, 11:04:36 AM
Post by: WildcatRanger on June 23, 2022, 12:24:02 PM
Anyone ever done the 7-10 day cooler aging process? They discussed it on the Exo podcast a few weeks ago. Seems like it’s worth the effort.Looks interesting, I’d like to try it. It is a method of wet aging. Was also talked about on the backcountry hunting podcast. I would like to learn the science behind it.
Post by: High Climber on June 23, 2022, 12:26:13 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/TTryLEb.jpg)That looks amazing, I’ve ate a lot of deer and elk steaks and never seen one cut like that
Steak/chop from a high country mature buck. His neck was beginning to swell so we assumed he would be a bit tough and maybe strong, and we planned to make hamburger of all. But we did a test grill of chops from the outer strap that were so tasty and so tender that my wife said to make as much of him into steak as possible.
Post by: Karl Blanchard on June 23, 2022, 12:28:41 PM
Anyone ever done the 7-10 day cooler aging process? They discussed it on the Exo podcast a few weeks ago. Seems like it’s worth the effort.we talking like iced down in a cooler for 7-10 days, because if so I've definitely done that a time or 20 :chuckle:
Post by: 7mmfan on June 23, 2022, 12:36:58 PM
Post by: pickardjw on June 23, 2022, 12:43:52 PM
https://muleyfreak.com/2018/11/26/the-how-to-and-whys-of-cooler-aging-venison/
And yes, the Hunt Backcountry podcast put on by the Exo guys. Episode 341 with Joseph von Benedikt. They gave the method a ton of praise.
Post by: Stein on June 23, 2022, 12:57:52 PM
Post by: Karl Blanchard on June 23, 2022, 01:14:52 PM
Post by: jkononen on June 23, 2022, 01:27:07 PM
Post by: mburrows on June 23, 2022, 01:50:32 PM
Someone summarize for me. Im not listening to an entire podcast and I'm DEFINITELY not listening to anything put out by muley freak 🤮
:chuckle: :chuckle:
Post by: WildcatRanger on June 23, 2022, 01:54:31 PM
Someone summarize for me. Im not listening to an entire podcast and I'm DEFINITELY not listening to anything put out by muley freak 🤮I haven’t tried it (yet) but you layer meat and ice in a big cooler for 7-10 days, changing out the ice as it melts and draining the bloody water. The rind of the meat develops a grayish tint but supposedly that won’t affect anything. I don’t know about the salt but seems like it could work.
Post by: Karl Blanchard on June 23, 2022, 01:56:05 PM
Marinade quarters in ice and salt for 7 days.thank you sir :tup:
So while I've never done that exactly, back in my commercial fishing days we did a variation of that once. It was the tail end of coho's and we were gonna head back to port the following day. Had a pair of little sitka blacktail bucks feeding on the beach where we were anchored so took advantage of the good fortune. We did a simple gut job, split the rib cage, tied them off and overboard they went. As a lower 48 kid taught that moisture was bad I was a bit concerned. Skipper assured me it would be the cleanest, tastiest meat I'd ever had. When we pulled them out of the ocean the next day he was certain right. Spotless meat. Not a drop of blood left in them.
Post by: Okanagan on June 23, 2022, 06:34:25 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/TTryLEb.jpg)That looks amazing, I’ve ate a lot of deer and elk steaks and never seen one cut like that
Steak/chop from a high country mature buck. His neck was beginning to swell so we assumed he would be a bit tough and maybe strong, and we planned to make hamburger of all. But we did a test grill of chops from the outer strap that were so tasty and so tender that my wife said to make as much of him into steak as possible.
That's what would be a T-bone steak on a beef, cut fairly thick, melt in your mouth kind of tasty and tender on this particular buck. The reason I took the pic was to show my son the unusually thick outer layer of fat on it.
Post by: Skyvalhunter on June 24, 2022, 05:28:30 AM
Post by: dilleytech on June 24, 2022, 06:05:10 AM
Post by: dilleytech on June 24, 2022, 06:11:28 AM
Post by: WildcatRanger on June 24, 2022, 07:04:57 AM
The high country mule deer taste is horrible!! Your better off staying close to Tri Cities and hunting that's where the prime tasting meat comes from.Yeah probably
Post by: dvolmer on June 24, 2022, 08:50:17 PM
Post by: boneaddict on June 25, 2022, 07:54:24 AM
Post by: Ricochet on June 25, 2022, 08:41:03 AM
Post by: buckfvr on June 25, 2022, 08:50:41 AM
Other than that, Ive never had a bad whitetail or Blacktail, ever. Ive hunted and eaten deer from around Mt Rainier, Whidbey Island, Okanogan, north south east and west of Ellensburg, Blues, and several units from north east wa.
Post by: carlyoungs on June 25, 2022, 08:52:37 AM
I haven't kept up on the literature since I studied wildlife biology at OSU many moons ago but I remember a study that suggested field care wasn't a big factor in palatability. Some deer in the study were skinned immediately, some after 24 hours, some were gutted immediately, some after eight hours. Several other variables were included in the test. Blind taste tests revealed little difference in how people enjoyed the meat. IIRC only two factors stood out for improved taste, people overwhelmingly favored doe meat over buck meat, and greatly preferred properly aged meat over others. Most of the other field care variables had little or no impact in palatability. As for bears, try cooking one that had been feeding on skunk cabbage, as a friend did while working in an Alaska logging camp. The smell cleared out the entire bunkhouse, he never tried that again. It stands to reason a deer feeding in a lush environment would be better tasting than a deer working a little harder to survive in a different habitat but it might not be noticeable to many people. :EAT:
That is very interesting. My last elk I shot (cow) every cut had a liver taste to it. Never had that taste on any other game animals. It was skinned and quartered right away then put on ice. Normal procedure as most people. Just couldn't figure out why it tasted like that.
Post by: Timberstalker on June 25, 2022, 08:53:47 AM
Worst tasting one was an old gnarly Desert Unit buck.
I would agree that does generally eat better than bucks.
Meat care is everything in my opinion.
Not talking about deer, but hands down the best game meat I’ve ever had was a bull I killed on the firing center in 2012. It was phenomenal. Tender and amazing taste.
Post by: C-Money on June 28, 2022, 05:51:27 PM
Post by: Ricochet on June 28, 2022, 06:44:01 PM
I haven't kept up on the literature since I studied wildlife biology at OSU many moons ago but I remember a study that suggested field care wasn't a big factor in palatability. Some deer in the study were skinned immediately, some after 24 hours, some were gutted immediately, some after eight hours. Several other variables were included in the test. Blind taste tests revealed little difference in how people enjoyed the meat. IIRC only two factors stood out for improved taste, people overwhelmingly favored doe meat over buck meat, and greatly preferred properly aged meat over others. Most of the other field care variables had little or no impact in palatability. As for bears, try cooking one that had been feeding on skunk cabbage, as a friend did while working in an Alaska logging camp. The smell cleared out the entire bunkhouse, he never tried that again. It stands to reason a deer feeding in a lush environment would be better tasting than a deer working a little harder to survive in a different habitat but it might not be noticeable to many people. :EAT:
That is very interesting. My last elk I shot (cow) every cut had a liver taste to it. Never had that taste on any other game animals. It was skinned and quartered right away then put on ice. Normal procedure as most people. Just couldn't figure out why it tasted like that.
Killed a high country bear in Mid October many years ago that had a taste that reminded me of liver, (I don't like liver) and even after making most of it into sausage I couldn't give it away. It was feeding on mushrooms when I shot it so maybe that's the answer for both your cow and my bear. :dunno: