Gamey buck

[growalot]

Well I did the jerky out of the buck (Hams) and we had the inside straps...which had a bucky taste. It wasn't bad and I figured my fault I didn't immediately remove them and it was hanging when it rained. He was very rutty smelling and his hocks were near blk .. Now I have hung and butchered buck going on 37 years and not once had a gamey deer...I took out some steaks the other night and it was bad...meat doen't smell and thats all it is just red meat no skin, silver,drop of anything white... Clean gloves worn and changed after skinning him... quartered immediately and  allowed to drain a bit more in cooler raised off bottom in ice(frozen jugs and ziplocked ice packs) for two days then cut. Now we have done that for up to a week with no issues...It wasn't as if he had a hard death run. he was heart shot and dropped in 20yrds.

All these years ..Wow if this is what some ppl have tried their first deer meat ever...no wonder they never wanted to eat it again!...

I have been researching this...looks like I'll be using my Moms liver trick...and the dogs and cat will be enjoying much more milk then they ever have...Also much more marinaded and slow cooked meals.

[Jeremy K]

I see many tacos in your future.

[Hock3y24]

Chili, tacos, sloppy joes, the possibilities are endless!

[mlammerhirt]

Soak in Buttermilk...deff knocks out the gamey taste.

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[turkeyfeathers]

Milk will definitely help you with your problem. It will indeed take some of the gamey taste away. I fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it have never shot a real old buck and his this problem

[growalot]

Well! if he's that old ...he could have at least given me a bigger rack!..hahahaha

[chas0218]

I shot a nice 3 1/2 year old last wed. he was a large deer with no fat on him (rut took its toll). I will be making him entirely into ground venison mixed 1/3 pork or beef fat. I would not advise using an older deer for roasts or chops/steaks. I did this and wow was it tough and gamey. I also let my deer hang for at least 3 days if you do not let the meat age properly it will be extremely tough and have tasted gamey if not aged. The idea of hanging a deer is to allow the body to get rid of the rigormortis.

[growalot]

Thanks and yes well aware of this...though temps after hanging one night did not allow for this...thus the quartering and 2 days in the cooler on ice...We have had deer hang 2wks  so not hanging isn't an issue...apparently looking at his teeth I didn't see indications of him being older than 3 1/2yrs...I know I've taken buck older than that with out this issue.The meat isn't tough...just really gamey..Too bad because we got a lot of meat off him and that was with some severe trimming on my part(ok..so I got tired of cutting...dogs ate well)

[Hock3y24]

I have cut up deer 1 hour after kill and some 3-4 days after, no difference in taste for me. However 3-4 days they get

More tender. The big rutting buck I shot a few years ago was cut immediately and tasted great.

[growalot]

Come to think on it ...Maybe other than location...it's why they are called "swampbuck"...because the name fits the taste! hahaha

As I mentioned He was my first "swamp buck"...I like eating deer meat...he may be my last...

[chas0218]

Yeah I have heard the same about bears. If they eat a lot of garbage they taste like garbage if they eat berries they taste like berries or not like garbage. I bet it goes the same for any species deer alike.

I shot a nice 8 point last year in jefferson county opener of early season that didn't hang but a couple hours (75° out) and the roasts are like shoe leather, thank god they are gone.

[G-Man]

The buck in my avatar was black from hock to hoof, was worse tasting deer I ever had, no fat gamey and tough... gave 90% of it away rest was like chewing on rubber bbs . Dog ate well that year. Deer was 8.5 years old. Only deer I ever gagged on gutting and it wasn't gut shot, just stunk, you could smell it 50 yards away.

[NFA-ADK]

The food they eat is a big factor.  The rut, mating, lack of eating plus exertion causing muscles to tighten might lead to lactic acid build up is one possibility.  Sometimes this can happen when you have to chase a deer or even if it has been extremely active.  That is why it is always considered good if you shoot them and they drop within a short distance. You never know what that deer was doing before you meet him.  Ex: He might have been at the end of a 9 mile scout for hot doe or getting up from his bed. 

 

 

[nyslowhand]

Even the large, local processor (~500 deer/yr) has commented about the occasional rutty smelling buck. Not just hanging in the cooler, but after being aged, skinned and the sectioned meat is lying on cutting tables stinking up the entire processing plant. So you can imagine how they taste!

 

My philosophy is - does go in the freezer and bucks go through the photo opportunity, racks sawed off & meat donated to local Foodlink.

 

You know all the details, but I believe it (taste) has way more to do with what those old boys had been doing the preceding 2 weeks than how far they run/live after the shot. A world of difference in the taste of a BB shot in October as opposed to during the peak of the rut or just after!

[Doc]

Meat producers go to a lot of expense and trouble to get their beef to have generous marbling and fat content in their meat. Now you take a stinky old goat that has been ramming around the woods for a few weeks, and I'm surprised that more of our most aggressive bucks don't come up a bit short on the taste test ..... lol.

 

I always compare my meat flavors against the finest beef that I can afford, and I will say that for my tastes, venison is a poor substitute. But that's just me. I'm not a big fan of farm raised mutton either. I eat what I kill, but that is more out of a sense of responsibility than any illusions that venison is my favorite meat. Give me a good angus porterhouse any day.

[landtracdeerhunter]

We eat swamp bucks quite often Grow. Some can be quite strong. Some can be tough. Try taking a steak and soaking in Pepsi over night. It will take the  strong gammy taste right out.

[Five Seasons]

hard to tell what went wrong. seems you did everything i would have done, although i'm not sure i understand the part about the rain. also how long did he lay before gutted? Did you maybe nick the stomach during gutting? We've all done that.

 

I generally let them hang a night or 2 if it's cold before skinning, but certainly have skinned the same day as well.

[LET EM GROW]

i liver hit my buck this year, and he was alive for at least 2 hrs after i zipped the beman through him(evening of 11/7/15). the buck was skinned, back straps and inner loins removed and quartered the next evening after finding him that afternoon, chilled in the cooler for a day then processed.. back straps and loins were great tasting. also had some steaks from the rear ham a couple nights ago and they weren't gamey tasting, but a little on the tough side. ill just slow cook it or cook the meat in a thicker sauce in the fry pan...

 

i believed him to be a 3.5 yr old. 

[jjb4900]

I'm pretty sure domestic animals that are raised for meat are usually castrated at an early age..........

[dbHunterNY]

if you nicked something or maybe just bacteria some how formed on the tenderloins.  as for the hams did you let it hang hind end up.  I do this because as it hangs and maybe ages if between freezing and just under 40 degrees it'll blood and fluids will drain.  if the hind quarters are on bottom it'll build up in them.  similar that could promote bacteria growth is not letting your boned out meat sit in draining blood or water from the meat itself.  also if you hose it off the inner cavity and aren't processing it right away pat it dry with a clean cloth or towel.

 

unseen injury from fighting or something else can have a level of infection throughout that you wouldn't detect in normal and especially that case lymph nodes are bad to open up or cut into.  I don't leave them in aging boned out meat either.  they're in fatty tissue and each quarter.

 

...as I cut up my 5.5 yr old doe last night I was thinking about your post.

Edited December 3, 2015 by dbHunterNY

[growalot]

No nicks clean heart lung shot and I'm a very careful gutter... always hang head down...as for the straps...I think those were do to rain coming off hocks...but all the rest of the meat is nasty...Lets hope this buck is much better..he doens't smell much at all...... though his hocks are very dark...and getting cut before hanging....which I have to get to...Tylanol is kicking in now

[hunter49]

I just read where when ever making deer meat cut apple slices all over it & it takes away the gamey taste.  Do all your other seasoning put the apples on top , when done discard the apples & enjoy the rest!  Worth a try, is what I plan to do on my next roast.

[Five Seasons]

there is of course also just bad meat no matter how careful. Hogs are a lot like this. Sometimes you get lucky and other times you don't regardless of how careful you are.

[thphtm]

How an animal and or fish will taste depends on what it eats.Good example I fished most of my life all around and on Long Island , NY. the trout caught in the streams in the area where they were raised in holding tanks taste like liver ( they are fed pellets containing liver) The trout caught in streams up state as ( 9" and bigger ) taste great. Weakfish ( sea trout ) caught in May taste as good or better then lobster, They are feeding on grass shrimp , the ones that are caught around Sept. or October almost taste like bluefish, because the are feeding on bunker.

[chas0218]

Well I would like to let you know that the 3.5 yr old I shot last week at the very end of the rut is nice and gamey. I did end up making all but 10 pounds into burger/italian patty sausage/trail bologna. It tastes good but can definitely tell its more gamey than my other buck that was loaded with fat. I mixed all the above with pork so it cuts the gamey flavor down quite a bit.