Mulie vs Whitetail......Which One?

It would be really interesting to see something "scientific" on the taste of venison.

I hear guys talking about the great taste of "grain fed deer" but how do they know what the deer has been eating and for how long.

I recall talking to a fellow who was annualizing the stomach samples of hundreds of deer that were taken at CFB Camp Wainwright in a controlled hunt. I don't believe any had grain in their guts (it would be possible for one to jump the fence and get into a crop I guess). And yet all of the deer I have eaten that I killed in the camp have been good eating. (on a side note he said that just about every one of them had some "snow berry" leaves and stems in them)

I'm not sure I buy the "rural legend" that the diet of an animal has a lot to do with the taste of the meat.

In Australia I ate beef from "Murray-grey" cattle who survived on what they could get on a fellows dry-land farm and never saw grain. It was some of the finest meat I have had.
 
It is all a matter of taste, Your taste. where I hut both are bush deer no farms or grain etc I find mule deer suits my taste better then white tail but that is my taste.
 
A mulie in rut is almost noneatable, a doe is a different story. Any deer that is ran hard & excited is tough eating. (would be same for beef) Do not shoot a mule buck off a doe- you get a stinky reminder all winter till meat is gone. (1st hand iinfo.)
 
Whitetail and mule taste the same to me. I can't eat some deer shot on farm land, some taste like a sour old grain bin makes me puke.

Another thing If you spill the milk from a doe on the meat it is 100X worse than spilling a bit of rutting buck urine on the meat.
 
The best tasting deer I've ever had was a small mulie 3 point buck shot on the 1st of october....the worst tasting deer I've ever had was a large mulie 4 point buck shot the last week of November. I've had lots of whitetails too but none as good as that one mulie and none as bad as that one mulie.
 
I'm with the sausage and stew guys. I don't find either deer make that good of steaks or roasts. With wild game elk is #1 for me with a young moose following close behind.

Good beef still makes for the best steak!
 
Worst deer I ever shot and had to eat was a little fork horn mulie. He was bad. I have shot many mule bucks right in the rut and never had a problem. My last hunt at camp Wainwright was during a dry year. I shot two mule bucks.One was a small one and the other was a large one and they both tasted fine. There wasn't a ounce of fat on either deer and this was in the thrird hunt in December. made for easy butchering as I didn't have to trim any fat. Both deer were excellent eating as I was tired out and made all of them into roasts and the trim into hamburger.
I shot one white tail here in Quebec just to see if I could get one and see how it tastes and the roasts and steak are perfect but the hamburger sucks big time as I tried to trim as much fat as I could but it wasn't enough and it sticks to the roof of my mouth big time. It has to be hot in order to even try and eat it.
 
I have been privileged to hunt a long time in BC & Alberta.
Mulies, Whitetails, Blacktails, Moose, Elk and Caribou have all seen plenty of time on our table.

All deer are great table fare except in the rut.....I do not care for them at all then.

Elk is #1 as far as I am concerned. Moose [particularly a young one] is close behind.
The rest are all fine, and I really cannot state a preference. [OK, possibly the blacktail would win, lol]

But it definitely IS true that feed makes some difference. I have shot a number of mulies in sagebrush country.
And you can tell when you cook and eat it, but I definitely do not find it strong, just noticeable.

Care of the meat once the trigger is pulled is of paramount importance if you want prime table fare.

Regards. Dave.
 
I was sheep hunting years ago in southern Alberta and spotted a mule buck above the timberline. Climbed up and shot a massive bodied mule almost as big as a spike elk His horns were heavy but short points. He was obviously past his prime but that was the best deer I have ever eaten. He was in a little hanging valley above the trees with a steam running through an probably hadn't moved 50 yards all summer. No alfalfa but he was great..The deer's diet and activity have more to do with taste than species does.
When cutting up a deer debone it. Do not use a saw as the marrow contributes to the gamy taste vein it (remove muscle groups) leaving leaving fat and gristle behind. Do not hang it longer than necessary for the meat to firm. They will taste great unless in rut or feeding on sagebrush.
 
My youngest son shot a nice big bodied 5 x 5 mulie buck last year. Steaks and jerky were just fine. I find if you soak the meat in slightly salted water ovrnight prior to cooking it takes the gamey taste right out. Been doing this for years, haven't had a bad piece of meat yet. As for the best game meat? Antelope, hands down. The steaks are quite small but the taste is amazing.
 
I like my whitetails either very big, or very small! The small ones I eat, the big ones I put the antlers on the wall, and give the meat to the needy! Treat it like beef is processed...kill quickly...gut cleanly and quickly...hang till it firms up...leave all fat, sinew, and bone behind, and double wrap it. Respectfully Jim
 
I have hunted and shot both and I bet you can't tell the difference. I know for sure I could not tell, if the wife took steaks out of the freezer there is no way I could say for sure it was a WT or a MD.

Both are good if you look after the animal properly.
 
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