Why Does Deer Meat Taste Gamey

[WyoDoug]

I have been preaching this for years. I am big on cooling and field dressing wild game as soon as you can. This applies to all wild game in my opinion.

Why Does Deer Meat Taste Gamey? | Omega Outdoors

I absolutely hate the word “gamey”. If someone says they do not like wild meat because it tastes “gamey” then they had it from someone…

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[Deleted member 20812]

I remove the testicles just to make sure that no other hormones are going into the bloodstream or getting into the meat. Whether or not this has any effect, it is easy to do and takes only a few seconds.

Doesn’t he realize when the animal is dead, there is no circulation and stuff is no longer absorbed into a non-existent bloodstream?

If folks eat testicles, how in the world does it make sense leaving testicles attached to the carcass could impart a bad flavor to the meat?

I agree that meat care affects your end product, but this is a hack article.

 

[MarvB]

90% of the time shitty handling by the hunter imho, also why I process all my own meat so I don’t get someone else’s carelessness.

 

[Werty]

Here you go!

"Papilla is the little bumps that we all have on our tongues. People who have a ton of bumps usually find flavors to be too much and don’t like the taste of things, LIKE ME. We have sensitive tongues so we like things mild and toned down. While people who do not have a lot of bumps on their tongue like spicy things and their tongues can handle foods like that. Another factor in liking different tastes has to do with the tongues taste bud’s ability to detect molecules in the food. Everyone can recognize the 5 tastes, but the different chemicals that we all have can make the range of those tastes differ."

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

Dinks taste better

Well I got that going for me then

 

[jryoung]

Doesn’t he realize when the animal is dead, there is no circulation and stuff is no longer absorbed into a non-existent bloodstream?

The only way the hormones are getting on the meat is if he plays a little 5 on 1 with the dead deer......maybe that's what he's actually saying but doesn't want to incriminate himself for a wildlife crime.

 

[rmyoung1]

Well I got that going for me then

Donner, party of…

 

[crock239]

Couple years ago I had the chance to do basically side by side comparison of old NM mule deer buck (5.5+) vs. pretty old (3.5+) mature IA corn-fed whitetail...field handling, meat prep etc. the same--definitely a discernable difference. Muley quite a bit more "robust" in flavor profile.

That said, I've been majorly impressed with how much better the game meat in our house has been since I started doing all meat processing myself at home. I'm probably overdoing it w the trim work, so it takes me forever and there's some loss, but I've decided to go for quality over quantity.

I also think freezer burn is an often overlooked factor.

 

[kwyeewyk]

I think it's sometimes poor meat handling, poor cooking, "rutty", but I think usually it's just a matter of it being different than what they are used to eating. When I haven't eaten beef in a long time the first time I cook burger meat it stinks and tastes funny to me, but then I just get used to it. Also a bit mental when people are scared of game meat and assume it will be gamey.

 

[mxracer317]

In Utah, they eat sage brush.

In southern Alberta they eat hay from the farmers fields.

One tastes better than the other for that reason. You are what you eat.

 

[Redman]

I have had "gamey" tasting animals of all sorts. Young and old, male, female, and from.all over the country. With deer when I was young I would take it to a processor that would cut it up.bone in just like a beef. No matter the cut it always tasted "gamey". My grandpa's cousin fixed us deer burgers that I thought was one of his brothers beef until he let me know "That is a Wisconsin buck". He then said "Your corn fed Indiana whitetail probably tastes better ehh?" Dad and I shook our heads Noooo! He then let me know his processing procedure. Get it cooled down, let it hang at least 5 days, never saw through bone and remove all fat and silver skin. I followed his procedure and after that I never had any issues....except for any animal that happened to get a bullet or arrow behind the chest cavity, or an animal that I had to wait until the following day to track.
I have also learned to never let people know what they are eating until after they have enjoyed it. I took a pot of Southwest "chicken" to a family reunion one September. After it was all gone I informed everyone that they actually ate fox squirrel that I had shot only a few days earlier. Everyone said it was very good.

 

[one ate E grain]

My kids grew up with elk being the only red meat, they can't really tell it from beef. This year I started buying Costco beef, I like the fat in it. I think it's what you're used to. I do cool off elk immediately and get the hide off quick too. Do all my own butchering. Wife is sick of trimming meat, just cuts it up and cooks it.

 

[Bullshot]

Avoid gut shots, or contamination.

Meat clean, cooled, on ice quickly.

Aging is good, if you can.

Trim fat and silverskin. Like really trim. The burger I do is Grade AAA. The dog deserves venison too so she gets some cooked trim, usually I pick at it thinking “why the heck did I trim this off?” but it makes unbeatable ground meat to do so.

Avoid freezerburn like the plague - vacuum seal everything if possible.

For steaks, cook just past rare. No more than medium rare or feed it to the dog, who will also give you an accusing look for ruining it.

 

[Cornell Cowboy]

I have not found processing to make much of a difference -- granted I always field dress immediately. In 30 years of killing antelope from opening day of archery season to late fall, I've had one gamey one. I find mule deer to be highly variable no matter what. I've never had a bad elk or a bad whitetail. The only animals I've ever tried to cool quickly was my boys' Texas whitetails and that was only for days of travel in the back of my truck. I am a big fan of letting them hang on the bone for a few days, but the times I haven't it seems to have only affected the toughness not the flavor. YMMV.

 

[Wildabeest]

Well I got that going for me then

Who’s tallying “post of the year” nominations for 2022?

 

[Shangobango]

What some call “gamey” I call flavor.

As so many stated above, a lot of the issues folks have with wild game meat is probably due to mishandling in the field and on the way out of the field or poor processing.

I call that spoiled not gamey.

I have only eaten one mule deer. I was amazed by how dark the meat was compared to the whitetails I am used to. That meat was delicious though think I have one pack of loin steaks left off of it…

 

[nrpate05]

I guess we have to define 'gamey.' My thought is that wild meat tastes like what meat should taste like. Problem is beef produced on a controlled landscape oftentimes doesn't taste like much so people assume that is what all red meat tastes like. Then they have a deer and it tastes really strong and is off putting.

Obviously there can be issues with handling and processing that ruin meat and then it tastes like shit but I don't think of that as 'gamey'. I went to a processor that a couple friends worked at many years ago and walked in the processing area and there were 3 or 4 antelope on the floor that had been gutted, but skin was on and it was early September and easily pushing in to the 70s or higher each day. Couldn't help but think of what those animals tasted like.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I always wondered the same thing when people say that antelope are not fit for the table. I think they are delicious and have never had a gamey one.
The only truly gamey animals I've had were a couple of rutted up mule deer bucks. They smelled skunky as soon as we walked up to them. They tasted that way too.

 

[Clam]

I think in some cases “gamey” flavor comes from meat stored/aged in too warm of temperatures- it is actually spoiled.

I get my field dressed deer skinned and hung in a walk in, asap, usually within an hour after the kill. I’ve never had a problem or heard a complaint.

 

[Hertervillian]

Not sure I can prove it. But I believe hunting season coinciding with acorn drop causes much of it, around here anyway. The very late season venison has always had a “cleaner” taste. Belly’s were full of corn and winter wheat, the acorns having long since cleaned up.