43 replies to this topic

[Portagee_Shooter]

So I've been enjoying eating my first buck over the last few weeks. One thing I've noticed about this one is that he is REALLY gamey tasting. I don't mind it too much but it does linger afterwards.I've grilled backstraps with and without marinating and they were tender...but gamey.Last night I made some FANTASTIC chili using some leg steak and ground venison. Excellent flavor but there is definetely and after taste from the gamieness.Do you think its because he was from the lowlands and probably eating acorns? What's a good way to mellow out the gamey flavor?

[Thumper Dunker]

try soaking it in tomato sauce. Better yet I will take all tht nasty tasting meat off your hands.

[ShooterJohn]

Sausage.

[John]

You might try letting it sit in Butter Milk overnight-Hope it works for you.

[dabob]

Did you cut up the meat or did you have someone do it for you?Most butchers cut up a deer like they do beef and deer are not beef.Any fat or bone left in or on the deer meat is bad news, it stinks. Deer fat is rank!We cut up the meat ourselves and make 80% of the meat into jerky. The steaks we make from the hind quarters and back straps are lean meat with no bone or fat on them.How soon did you gut and skin the deer after you shot it. The quicker you do gut and skin them and get the meat cooled down the better.Deer meat makes great jerky so we make jerky out of everything most people make into burgers or sausage.

[ShooterJohn]

Bob's right it's all about getting the deer cooled quickly and the fat and bone out. I like jerky sticks myself.

[Divernhunter]

If you did not get it gutted and skinned right after shooting it then it will be more gamey. Also how was it transported?? Where the sun/heat can get to it. I always let mine cool and if it is hot outside wrap it in several old sleeping bags to transport. If I have far to go I put dry ice wrapped in carboard in it and around it before wrapping.Now to try and deal with your problem. When you prep it for cooking first cut and toss all fat and any bones. The area around the bones will have stronger flavor if left in. Then put it into a baking dish and cover it with milk. Weight it down with a plate so all the meat is under. Put in refrig for 24+ hours. Then take out rinse and use whatever marinade you choose. Then cook but do not overcook.

[BullsEye]

I am not a fan of deer fat but the marrow is delicious in the deer bones.

[Portagee_Shooter]

Lots of responses...thanksFirst....it aint nasty enough to start just giving it away willy nilly, like I said I made some great chili and will be having it again for lunch today....poor coworkers ;-)There was no fat left on the meat and the processor that I took him too does LOTS of game and has a good reputation from other hunters.The deer was gutted within 30/45 minutes after being shot. It was early evening so we hung him up in a tree overnight and skinned him in the morning. We transported him in the back of OrneryOleMofo's SUV (thanks Grant) to Oakley (2 1/2 hour drive time) before we were able to get ice on him.After that he was kept COOL until the following morning when he was dropped off for cuttin.......i got the meat back about 8 days later.its game so I'm ok with it being gamey.

[4RHUNTS]

Rick, I would suspect some of the problem may be that you did not skin that deer soon enough, leaving it hang skin on, overnight. Then did not get it on ice for the 2 1/2 hour drive home. It needs to be skinned out as soon as possible to allow cooling to begin.What has always worked for me is, I gut and SKIN the animal as soon as I can then get in on ice asap. If it is cool I will hang the deer. If not I always have a 150 qt. ice chest that the animal goes into with ice. It stays there until I get it to the butcher.Keeping the carcass clean and cool are the keys.

[Old timer]

How about the scent glands did you remove them before gutting?

[Frank]

Lots of good answers, especially by Divernhunter & 4RHUNTS...IMO your deer was not gutted soon enough and the hide also needs to come off... both right away! I see this mistake often, actually MUCH worse than yours.The warmer the temp the sooner it needs iced down. That's where hunting in cold/freezing temps can be a HUGE help. It is raw meat and needs to be handled carefully, as it starts to spoil almost immediately.We always de-boned our deer & cut away as much fat & "stuff" as possible. Even though a butcher may have been cutting deer up for decades, many, if not most still cut them up like beef... and the results will definitely not be as good.Marinating in the refrig for one or two days can help a LOT... Some of our deer meat was so good that we had fooled many folks as they thought they were eating something else such as T-bone etc. Sausage is also excellent as already stated. Frank

[theseacow]

a butcher is going to do it the quickest and most efficient way as possible. this will result in gamey taste everytime. I cant stand the gamey taste so I butcher all of the deer up myself. The key is that after the meat is aged, you cut EVERY piece of white out of the meat. Silverskin, tendons, fat, bone, sinew, etc. Its all gotta go. This will turn your meat from tasting like "venison", to a really good tasting piece of lean meat.

[OrneryOlMofo357]

I agree with Rick.. the deer was gutted rather quickly, I still have the blood stains in my SUV to prove it! LOL But seriously, Doesent the type of food have something to do with the taste of the animal? I agree that getting the meat processed, and keeping it cool until such time plays a huge part, But wont Diet play an important part ? I remember hunting Mule Deer with my Dad, and skinning it didnt seem to change the flavor. IM more inclined to think that what they eat makes more difference in the flavor.

[nitis]

For me personally I like a little gamey taste always have I guess thats why I like lamb.But definately skinning ASAP would not have hurt the situation as the hyde will hold body heat in.Also it sounds as if the deer could have hung a little longer if you got your meat back in a week from your butcher that is dang quick!

[Divernhunter]

Diet can have some effect. Age of deer can has some effect. But care has much more effect. Also if the deer was shot after being spooked and running hard it will have more gamey flavor. I like to shoot them in the AM and in their beds basicly. The hide should have been off within 30 min of the kill for it to cool best. The hide insulates the heat in. Best to prop the chest cavity open for cooling. You should to remove the sent glands and the balls. I use a seperate small pocket knife for that. You will not have a fly or meat bee problem attacking the carcuss if you get a big bag of black pepper and put it all over the inside and outside of the hanging carcuss. They will buzz around but not land and damage it. Use a cheeze cloth(the cheap ones) game bag on it when hanging it. When you get home wash it up and wash the pepper off before it is cut up.

[Portagee_Shooter]

Lets see...No...didn't cut the scent glands off - I've heard to do it but didn't think it was gonna be a big deal....probably wrong on that and potentially the biggest contributing factor.I'll definately skin the next one sooner - could be part of the flavor issue - but it was cool that evening and we did prop the chest cavity open and skinned it first thing in the morning.....i dunnoI did gut it almost immediately so I don't see that as a factorAll great input and stuff to keep in mind in five years when i get my next deer!!!!

[ShooterJohn]

Hey it was your first and we all learn. As soon as we used to gut them we would skin them as they lay on the ground using the skin like a tarp. You'd be surprised how much heat a body retains and fur is a good insulator.

[Portagee_Shooter]

yep....first deer and I I'm down to like one backstrap and some burger.....I'll keep eating this gamey SOB till he's all gone.next week i'll be in Red Bluff and this deer will make great camp meat

[Bennie]

Next time cut the scent glands off first then clean your knife, then gut and skin asap for cooling. Don't be afraid to wash them off with a water hose to clean and cool them faster if one is available, I have also washed them with clean creek water. Cut all the fat off and debone with knife, then clean knife again, before cutting up steaks. That way you are not getting fat, bone particles and marrow spread on your meat. Cut your steaks thin, 1/2 to 5/8 inch. Before cooking cut all sinew and silver skin off meat as was stated previously. Cook slow and do not over cook it. I like mine medium rare. I think over cooking it makes it tuff and more gamey. I have never had a bad deer if it was prepared this way. With this said. If a deer has been pushed hard or does not die quickly it will make a difference in the way they taste. I also believe that there diet does, and weather or not they are in the rut has something to do with the way they taste. Not telling you how to do it but this is how I do it and people that eat my deer meat usually would not know it was deer meat if I did not tell them. Some people I do not tell until they they thank me for a good tasting dinner. I have converted a few people that swore they would never eat it.

[Bennie]

a butcher is going to do it the quickest and most efficient way as possible. this will result in gamey taste everytime. I cant stand the gamey taste so I butcher all of the deer up myself. The key is that after the meat is aged, you cut EVERY piece of white out of the meat. Silverskin, tendons, fat, bone, sinew, etc. Its all gotta go. This will turn your meat from tasting like "venison", to a really good tasting piece of lean meat.

I agree with all that is said here.

[Truckeedan]

Can't believe no one ask where the deer was hit or if the bladder or ponch was nicked while field dressing. If the deer was gut shot it will be gamey big time unless it can be flushed out with copious amounts of clean water immediately. Pretty tough to do a complete job of this unless you are near a running stream or a hose. If the bladder was punctured or deer poop got on the meat when you removed the rectum that can cause a gamey taste if not washed out immediately. All bloodshot meat should to be cut away after skinning. It is a mistake to try to save anything that looks suspect. If you do, it could get cut up for burger or stew meat or sausage by the butcher and it will contaminate the whole batch. Loading up the inside of a field dressed deer with dirt and leaves while dragging it to the truck doesn't do anything good for the flavor of the meat either.Also you need to know your butcher and make sure you are getting your own meat back that you worked so hard to protect. Some meat packers who process a lot of game will weigh in your deer and give you back what they figure the cut weight would be. This is more likely if you are getting a lot of burger, stew meat or having the whole thing made into sausage or jerky.I'm not saying any of these things were done but any one of them can cause problems with the taste of the meat. The real work is not finding and shooting the deer, it's what you do after the kill. I've killed deer in the heat on the coast and in the cold in the Sierra in Ca, in the snow in Montana, in the high desert in Utah and in the sagebrush in Wyoming where the deer's diet varied widely and never have had a gamey one except for one I hung under a shed in a sheep pen in Wyoming. Every one in my family raved about how good it tasted but it tasted and smelled like sheep poop to me. I have to say that the one exception to diet that I could identify was meat from a deer that Longbow Jay killed a couple of years ago that had spent his whole life in an Apricot orchard. Sweetest meat I ever tasted.

[whatjeffhunts]

Butter Milk

[nje]

have not had a gamey deer since i started cutting and wrapping myself. as far as the scent glands are concerned, i don't mess with them. if you know what you're doing(skinning) there is no need. all of my deer are gutted as soon as i get to them and most are skinned on the spot.

[Hipshot Percussion]

If you don't want gamey meat get the skin off the deer ASAP. Letting a deer hang in camp is just for guys who want to brag about what they have bagged. Getting the hide off the deer is the difference, that way you don't have to use stuff to mask the taste.

[bretmoua]

Just jerky what's left. My kids and I love eating home made jerkies. LOL

[Portagee_Shooter]

Can't believe no one ask where the deer was hit or if the bladder or ponch was nicked while field dressing. ....Also you need to know your butcher and make sure you are getting your own meat back that you worked so hard to protect. ......

It was actually a textbook perfect double lung shot (not braggin just lucky?) not even close to bladder, stomach, or intestines. Everything came out clean when field dressing.The butcher came highly recommended but there's no way to know for sure that my deer came back to me. From the almost unanimous responses about skinning immediately I will definately do that with the next one if five years....or less I hope.Someone posted about cleaning knife after removing glands and that sounds like a good idea too.Thanks all for the feedback!

[Bennie]

Someone posted about cleaning knife after removing glands and that sounds like a good idea too. I think it was me. I believe in it, not only then but after skinning on a real fat deer I cut off all the fat and then clean knife again before cutting in to meat. I have seen fat build up on some blades and transfer to the meat and stick there. I also will not run a saw through bone and fat while cutting steaks. It will transfer fat and bone particles to meat really bad. I debone with knife before cutting steaks. Steaks come out a lot smaller but I think they are better tasting.

[Colin]

It could be the cooking of the meat also. I've eaten meat from the same deer and one time it will be gamey and the next not. Generally, when cooked rare, I have found it to be far less gamey than the over cooked stuff.

[KernRiverArcher]

Post over a year old but hell ill still put in my two cents. I found my first buck to be a bit gamey as well, and I know it was grass fed... I marinated it in baking soda water for 12 hours then made a marinade mixed with worchester(spelled right?) and soy sauce and garlic, lemon, lots of ground pepper for 12-24 hours and don't over cook. The baking soda sounds weird, but works, I promise. Another solution is jerky, good peppered teriyaki jerky. You cannot go wrong. I can consume the whole deer myself jerked haha. And you can make jerky in your oven, as long as you can keep the temp under 200. My oven goes down to 170. Took 6 hours but great payoff! Tastes just like gas station beef jerky andi mean just like it.