Mule Deer Doe Off Tasting?

[WyoDoug]

I think I had it plenty cool, but can't recall. Could it be the case that not cooling it enough could effect the taste?

Oh yeah. Processing meat too warm not only makes it harder to handle, it affects the taste and if you stack the meat too early in the freezer, the meat in the middle takes a really long time to freeze and starts to rot. I freeze what I butcher in single layers until frozen then move to the chest or my other upright freezer.

 

[MLaird]

Two years in a row now I've shot a mule deer from the same chunk of public land and the tenderloins of both of them tasted like sage brush. We just grind it all up and make burger out of it then make suer we only use it for food that we season fairly heavily. It also helps to add in some fatty beef burger.

The whitetail and antelope that I harvested in wheat fields on the other hand, scrumptious....

 

[JLS]

Anyone who thinks the taste of a steak is dependent on whether you slice it up when the muscle group is warm or muscle group is cool, really needs to re-examine their logic.

 

[ImBillT]

I doubt your handling impacted the flavor.

A) Every deer is different.
B) In my opinion, and that’s all it is, most flavors associated being “gamey” are the result of two things.
1) Not being grain finished. Most Americans are accustomed to the bland consistency of corn finished beef, and not the complex flavor of an animal that eats a variety of foods by its own choice. This is obviously not your problem, but I’ve noticed that free ranging beef tastes much closer to deer and elk than corn finished, and people who eat free range or grass fed beef are much more likely to enjoy deer and elk.
2) Blood. Commercially slaughtered animals are bled while the heart is still beating. Hunted animals are usually not as effectively bled. A good double lung shot with a highly explosive bullet is a good start. Most of the time I get this result, the meat is quite good. If the bullet gets too near the spine or autonomic nervous plexus, and drops the deer instantly, then the heart usually doesn’t pump much blood into the chest cavity, and the meat has a much stronger flavor. When I get meat that has a little mineral/liver flavor it benefits substantially by a soak in a brine to get some of that blood out of the meat. I don’t do it all at once. I just freeze as usual, but put the frozen hunk of meat in a bag of brine to thaw, then let sit in the fridge for a day or two before cooking. Changing the water helps if I have the time. Even a few hours in a brine helps tremendously, but I usually just throw it in the brine in the morning, move it to the fridge when I get home, and cook in a few days. It sounds like a lot of trouble, but you can do it with 4-5 days worth of meat all at once, and then just open a bag and cook it each night. A friend of a friend talked about how much he disliked whitetail, and loved axis. I asked him where he shot them. He said he always takes head shots. I suggested that a double lung would improve the flavor. A few months later, he told my friend he was never shooting a deer in the head again. He still prefers axis, but now finds whitetail to be perfectly acceptable, and shoots his axis through lungs now too.

On a side note, your meat will be more tender if you will abstain from freezing until the deer has completed rigor mortis. It’s also ideal to leave it on the bone during this time frame. If it goes through rigor off the bone, the fibers will not achieve their full length after the meat relaxes. The bones keep the muscles stretched.

 

[WyoDoug]

I have seen a number of comments about sage fed deer and I was told through most of my early hunting life that saged fed deer was strong and that there was nothing you can do to change that. I was told by a number of people (including a few in here that accused me of "misinformation"). Now, having said that, I speak of my own experience and for no one else.

Since I started my current practice of skinning wild game and getting the meat cooled immediately, I have never had a gamey taste. That includes the mulies I shot over sage. I prefer mulies over whitetail personally because I like the taste better. But of course, you can never beat wheat or corn fed deer ever.

I, myself, skin and quarter the deer immediately and put it in a cooler even when ambient temperature is on the cold side. I also pull the heart, liver, oysters, and ribs.

I had people tell me that my deer was elk who said they could not stand deer. A few I didn't have the heart to tell them they were chompin on venison steak.

Now for the burger. If I suspect the meat is going to taste strong, I take a boneless pork butt and mix 10% into that along with 10% beef fat. I get my beef fat from a local butcher who raises his own cattle that is finished off with corn. I don't make roasts and steaks from deer or antelope that I suspect is going to be strong tasting. For sausage I use 30% boneless pork butt depending on what I am making.

Now, this is from my experience alone, not speaking for anyone else, but I have found that handling can affect quality of meat. If you butcher it warm, it tends to get stronger. If you dry age it, it tenderizes the meat naturally and improves the quality. If you butcher it warm, especially with the roast, the middle does not freeze fast enough. If you stack freshly butchered deer into a freezer, especially chest type, the middle will not freeze for a long time and will likely spoil. I got an old refrigerator that I hang quarters, ribs and back straps with a shelf for the smaller cuts and I let it cool to around 32 before I butcher.

One of these days after I refill my freezer, I would not mind a taste test challenge where everyone met up and brought their samples so people can dry different things. That would be cool to meet everyone and do something like this.

 

[tjones]

Anyone who thinks the taste of a steak is dependent on whether you slice it up when the muscle group is warm or muscle group is cool, really needs to re-examine their logic.

This,,,,,

I see a whole lot of old wives tales in this thread.

 

[mtmuley]

I woulda shot a whitetail instead. mtmuley

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Put it in front of me and it wiil disappear,gamey means wild born and bred.

 

[HuntTalk Freak]

I’ve never had a bad tasting deer but have shot a old buck that even the back straps were tough.

I can say that I have learned not to bother eating hogs at certain times of the year based on their diet. I’m sure the same can be said about a deers diet as well. Cattle are even given special feed before they are slaughtered.
My guess would be either something in her diet was off or you got some contamination on the meat somehow.

 

[huntnpack]

Anyone who thinks the taste of a steak is dependent on whether you slice it up when the muscle group is warm or muscle group is cool, really needs to re-examine their logic.

Taste, no. Hot boning can have an affect on tenderness, although the cuts most affected are ones almost everyone in the west (loins, backstrap, etc.) hot bones and few would describe as "tough".https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/mmb/articles/1/1/207

 

[muley chaser]

Might be because you butchered it right after you shot it, I like to hang every big game animal I harvest for at least a few days.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I'd say its a fluke

 

[Davetats51]

Anyone who thinks the taste of a steak is dependent on whether you slice it up when the muscle group is warm or muscle group is cool, really needs to re-examine their logic.

Not true. If you take a roast for example that is still warm seal it a freezer bag and then throw it in the freezer or cooler in a pile with the rest of the meat from that animal, the center of that big piece of meat will stay warm for hours and will not freeze for a few days. Not saying this happened here but not allowing meat to cool with good circulation on all side can easily cause it to spoil.

 

[choc dogs]

Not true. If you take a roast for example that is still warm seal it a freezer bag and then throw it in the freezer or cooler in a pile with the rest of the meat from that animal, the center of that big piece of meat will stay warm for hours and will not freeze for a few days. Not saying this happened here but not allowing meat to cool with good circulation on all side can easily cause it to spoil.

Not true. If you take a roast for example that is still warm seal it a freezer bag and then throw it in the freezer or cooler in a pile with the rest of the meat from that animal, the center of that big piece of meat will stay warm for hours and will not freeze for a few days. Not saying this happened here but not allowing meat to cool with good circulation on all side can easily cause it to spoil.

So a roast from the inside of a quarter is going to cool faster hung up as complete ham at ambient temps of less than 40 than a muscle group cut out of the quarter and put in a freezer with temps around zero? Interesting, I would never have guessed it works that way

 

[BuzzH]

Not true. If you take a roast for example that is still warm seal it a freezer bag and then throw it in the freezer or cooler in a pile with the rest of the meat from that animal, the center of that big piece of meat will stay warm for hours and will not freeze for a few days. Not saying this happened here but not allowing meat to cool with good circulation on all side can easily cause it to spoil.

Where did JLS say anything about throwing it in a bag, sealing, or freezing?

Tjones had it right, the wives tales are pretty thick on this thread.

 

[onpoint]

Where did JLS say anything about throwing it in a bag, sealing, or freezing?

Tjones had it right, the wives tales are pretty thick on this thread.

My wife would be pretty PO'ed if she was accused of coming up with some of the "interesting" things on here....................

 

[mtmuley]

Sometimes HT can be an "overthink" tank. And not just about deer taste. mtmuley

 

[Maxxis31]

Anyone who says any game meat taste poor needs to learn how to handle meat better. Deer and elk have glands on there heads and legs, they piss on there selves and are dirty animals. If you get any of that on the meat it will taint the meat. 1 hair in a package will ruin meat. If you don’t wash your hands between touching fur and meat you will taint the meat. You cannot wash that off.
The only deer or elk I have ever had taste bad was from people doing a piss poor job cleaning them. Even trimming meat and then cutting the meat into steaks without washing your hands can taint the meat. I never accept game meat from anyone, I want to take care of my meat and ensure it is well taken care of. We hunt in the sage and have even killed deer and elk in 100 plus deg temp and never have had a poor tasting animal out of dozens of deer and elk.

 

[onpoint]

Anyone who says any game meat taste poor needs to learn how to handle meat better. Deer and elk have glands on there heads and legs, they piss on there selves and are dirty animals. If you get any of that on the meat it will taint the meat. 1 hair in a package will ruin meat. If you don’t wash your hands between touching fur and meat you will taint the meat. You cannot wash that off.
The only deer or elk I have ever had taste bad was from people doing a piss poor job cleaning them. Even trimming meat and then cutting the meat into steaks without washing your hands can taint the meat. I never accept game meat from anyone, I want to take care of my meat and ensure it is well taken care of. We hunt in the sage and have even killed deer and elk in 100 plus deg temp and never have had a poor tasting animal out of dozens of deer and elk.
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While I admire your effort and approach to meticulousness(?), as we also only let our hands touch our game meat, how clean we need our meat is "about as clean as we eat it". Which - for the vast majority of us - is a pretty damned clean product.

Countless, including me, have been eating game birds, fish, ungulates, bear, etc for a long time - me, over fifty years. I have digested hair, countless gut bacteria, piss, fish scales, pieces of feather, etc. etc., no doubt. Ever seen feather draw through a rooster breast????
Hell, those thousands of hunters who have their game processed at Local Joe's meat shoppe, if they saw some of the "sterile" technique practiced by the need-a-job-for-a-month-temporaries working there, would puke. I can tell ad nauseum stories..........
How often does one hear of somebody falling ill, or even having "bad tasting meat", received back from a commercial processor. Yes, it does happen, but relatively seldom.
My wife is cutting backstraps into steaks as we speak. She's a Microbiologist, and I guarantee her professional sterile technique will leave at the very least, one "unwanted" somewhere........

The elk we're cutting today died while laying in it's bed. No worries about it being spooked and tastin' bad.......

 

[hsargent21]

Over the last 20+ years I have followed the same process with 70+ (2 Elk, 11 antelope, 5 mule deer, too many white tail to try to count) big game animals and all have turned out great! I quarter the carcass and get it in ice/water as quickly as I can. Over the next 7 days I will keep all meat covered with ice/ water. I drain the water each time it gets bloody. After about 4 days the water will stay clear. I always have great tasting meat. I make burger, steaks and sausage. On good years I never have to purchase red meat. I believe that soak gets a lot of the gamey taste out.