Deer more gamey towards the end of the year?

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atticus

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This is something I was told by a buddy - who admittedly doesn't have much experience hunting, but just passed on something he had heard himself.

Is the deer more gamey, and I guess 'less enjoyable' to those that aren't used to the taste closer to the end of the season, say, by Halloween?

I only recently did my CORE and got my hunter number and was looking at the possibility of going out for a hunt before the end of the season, so just wanted to clarify.

Thanks
 
Not that I've noticed on the Prairies. Unless around where you are they switch their diet and that affects the meat? Just tossing out a possible explanation, if its true. I've heard a lot of ideas about why some meat is gamey, such as ### hormones, scent glands, adrenaline from running game. About the worst thing is poor preparation of the meat. Any contamination, esp from the guts will ruin meat.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
About the worst thing is poor preparation of the meat. Any contamination, esp from the guts will ruin meat.
Click to expand...

This is IMHO the reason lots of people say they don't like wild meat. Nobody enjoys the taste of "high" meat. Properly prepared wild game will taste different than domestic meats, but should not but most people off.

George
 
My goal is always to shoot a meat animal on the last afternoon of the hunting season if I haven't connected with a big buck. That's early December around here. Never an issue.

Wilde game meat should be cared for in exactly the same way as prime beef is slaughtered. You need a quick, clean kill of an undisturbed animal with good bleed out (shoot them in the chest). You need to gut it NOW, cool it quickly, and, if possible, hang it for a while at an ideal temperature. If hanging is not possible, cut, wrap and freeze. That will make for great meat that no one will complain about.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
About the worst thing is poor preparation of the meat. Any contamination, esp from the guts will ruin meat.
Click to expand...

glang1 said:
This is IMHO the reason lots of people say they don't like wild meat. Nobody enjoys the taste of "high" meat. Properly prepared wild game will taste different than domestic meats, but should not but most people off.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of this stems from the practice of hanging the animal, either for too long, or in too mild of temperature. Especially here in Ontario, it's a common practice, but I think it's largely just another form of bragging.

The best eating I've ever had, both deer and moose, were from animals put into a meat locker the same afternoon that they were shot.
 
The only thing I could see is as stated above about the bucks during rut.Their whole schedule turns into the quest to breed, they forget about anything else and even some of the older weaker bucks won't survive much past the rut due to the run down state of their bodies and systems.If you aren't eating or drinking properly and all you do is consume your own body fat looking for females I don't think the end result will be very favorable.I would imagine their bodies are pretty full of toxins by the end of the rut.

As for out here on the prairies, I would imagine the fall is the best time for meat animals considering the metabolic systems are slowing down to fatten up as well as the abundance of food from harvested crops left in the fields and other stores of food available.

1.5 year animals IMO are best for quality of meat, although not very big.
 
most of the deer i shoot are mature bucks in the heat of the rut and they are all very good eating. The big thing is to not let any fluids or hair or fat taint the meat. You need to keep all stomach contents and urine and feces off of all of the meat. I also trim all bloodshot pieces and remove all hair before cutting and wrapping. I've shot well over 20 deer from very big to very small and they are all table worthy. My mother in law even eats my deer and she won't touch any other wild game meat.
 
I have found that the best tasting deer that I have shot have been taken early as possible in the year before they even think of the rut. With that being said, caring for the meat is still the most important thing once it is on the ground. Cut all that fat and taloe off the deer and get the meat off the bones if at all possible.
 
In my experience deer shot closer to the end of the season (mid to end of November) do tent to taste not quite as good as deer shot earlier in the season. Once the snow flies here in MB, the deer often switch to eating ground cedar which is in good supply in our area. This often makes the meat taste quite a bit like cedar/spruce. I also agree with Grizzlypeg that a lot of the gamey taste people encounter is due to poor processing.
 
I certainly do taste a difference around here from a deer who has been eating grass/hay/alfalfa during early fall versus a deer that has switched over to a winter diet. Much more gamey once they can't get the grasses.

And bucks in rut look nice....taste terrible in comparison.
 
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