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I have had a couple elk that were tough as a boot, but the taste wasn’t bad. Older bulls, even the ones shot in Late September can be tough.
Quote from: Shoofly09 on December 04, 2019, 09:17:35 PMLuckily, never had a bad elk. However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible. Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad. 🤮🤮🤮 blacktail? I've heard of fish and game issuing new tags in instances of an animal not being edible due to those kinds of issues.
Luckily, never had a bad elk. However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible. Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad.
Quote from: Karl Blanchard on December 04, 2019, 09:22:52 PMQuote from: Shoofly09 on December 04, 2019, 09:17:35 PMLuckily, never had a bad elk. However, had two deer in last 4 years that just were edible. Too many parasites, liver flukes, and open wounds on both of them, dry heaved 20+ times field processing them, and decided I couldn't feed it to my family it was so bad. 🤮🤮🤮 blacktail? I've heard of fish and game issuing new tags in instances of an animal not being edible due to those kinds of issues.Come on Karl, we've discussed this. Blacktails sip soy lattes and the finest organic browse. they are tender, marinated and aged on the hoof. you don't know what you are missing!!
I have had 2 pronghorn of about 60 that had a strong, unpleasant flavor. An old Wyoming Range mule deer doe my ex shot smelled terrible while cooking but was ok to eat (I labeled every package "Methusela"). The biggest headscratcher was a raghorn bull elk my best friend at the time shot - mid-September, cold and clear, that bull had no clue anyone was around and went from feeding to DRT after Scott shot it in the heart. Skinned, quartered, hung to chill ... that elk was so tough we ate the entire thing out of a crock pot. No explanation for that one. My favorite game is probably alfalfa whitetail, least favorite Wyoming mountain mule deer that winter on big sagebrush. However, nonmigratory mule deer that live in silver sage year round are excellent. East Cascades mule deer are excellent.
I have had two variety of antelope and it was the biggest animal to animal change in taste I have had. Antelope 1 was a doe I shot as she stepped foot off the alfalfa field. Antelope 2 was the old buck in sageville WY. If I didn't know better I would have bet a paycheck it wasn't the same species.There is difference in all animals, but for those two the difference was remarkable. The doe was the most mild tasting meat I can imagine, borderline too bland. The buck, well I ate about 40% of it before I started to appreciate the taste. The family never did come around to that one but I ended up enjoying it and would like to shoot another one next year.