I was asked last night...

[growalot]

when I took my hide down to the "hide guy" .....why I'm passing the spikes 4/5/6pts...and different doe?

The question actually surprised me a bit....So I told him the "boss "...yelled about my mature... fawn baring doe as too small....and said "don't bring home a "scruffer buck"

Now this is his..... I suppose.... guys way of encouraging me to go for a big mature deer...but he's also use to me shooting really big doe.

The guy said he thinks that the first early kill on a buck is the best meat before the rut...then told me he never shoots doe....That explained it ...they usually take just 2 deer a year for the 2 of them and think the meats better.

That's been on my mind since....I think seeing I do all my own...it's just as hard to gut...skin...quarter...and cut a small deer as a big and I'm a meat hunter as well....but I've never noticed a difference in the taste of meat from a rutting buck as a non rutting....have you?

[SteveNY]

i have had pre, during, and post rut deer... they all tasted about the same to me. Post rut buck is a little more lean

[UpStateRedNeck]

I've always though archery deer taste a heck of a lot better than gun season deer. I attribute it to the fact that they're still eating apples, haven't been run around, and are basically living like domestic cattle, just eating and sleeping. During gun they get freaked out, run around and are just trying to survive.

[Paula]

I have always thought doe tasted better, never thought of rut or pre

[WNYBuckHunter]

The only difference in taste I have noticed over the years comes from deer that live in the big woods, on mostly woodland type forage, and deer that come from predominately ag areas. I think that the big woods deer are more gamey tasting due to their diet of mostly nuts, woody materials and such. The farm land deer feeding on beans, corn, wheat and other crops have a different taste. If youve ever had venison from a deer taken from the mid-west, youll notice it big time.

[G-Man]

i had an old full rut buck stained from hock to hoof smelliest thing ever..almost gaged trying to gut it..was 8 1/2 years old aged by dec that scored in the 140's ...worst tasting, toughest thing ever the ground meat was like chewing on rubber be bees's. gave 99% of it away to my mothers friend who actually liked it... i think an archery doe pre rut is the most tender next to fawns.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Adrenalin kicks in when a deer gets worked up either with rutting or hunters running them hilly-willy through the woods. I believe thats one of the biggest factors of the condition of the meat!