whitetail, after the shot, how to handle meat？

Lots of good advice here. The main thing is to cool that meat off as quick as possible which means guts out and peeled. I gut as soon as it's dead and get the hide off within a few hours if the temp isn't too warm.
 
I agree with the gut and cool quickly method, also don't cut and wrap too soon, make sure it is well cooled off throughout.

Secondly, bone and fat and connective tissue is evil , not to mention deer is on the bottom of my preferred meats , the cleaner the meat the cleaner the flavor.

Environment and diet will also have a slight effect on the taste.

There is going to be blood when you thaw, well mostly moisture coming out.

Some will soak meat prior to prepping and cooking in various types of brines.

How you handle the meat right until it gets into the plate all has a factor.
 
Here's what has worked well for me. I find the deer after the shot, cut my tag and gut it in the bush. Helps to cool the meat down and makes it lighter for the drag out, when I get back home it gets a good wash out with the hose to clean any blood and leaves etc out of the cavity. I hang, skin and quarter and put all the cut sections into game bags. Game bags go into large coolers with ice bags, I put a big garbage bag between the ice bags and the game bags to keep them from getting wet and soaking while in the coolers, 4 days later I debone and cut and wrap the meat. Have yet to have anything gamey, in fact I was hoping for more game flavour from my WT buck spiker during the rut. Not that I'm complaining about the mild flavour but I love the game flavour.

While skinning I trim any fat or shot damaged meat and remove the backstrap and tenderloins and do any trimming needed to tidy things up for cutting, next year I'll leave the backstraps and tenderloins in and split the spine so I can make some proper bone in chops.
 
After the shot we gut it immediately, we utilize a hitch hanger for skinning it asap, let it hang in the cool air, we take our deer in November.
For transport I utilize a cheese cloth bag to keep it clean, we only bag it after it has cooled and been wiped down and any excess blood
wiped and cleaned out of the body cavity. We also cut out any and all blood bruising that is evident. I have taken over 150 deer since I
started hunting at age 15, which is 50 hunting seasons. The only gamey meat I have had is from other hunters who do not take the
care we do with our animals. Failing to gut and skin allows the body heat to taint the meat. If nothing else gut it and cool it if you do not
have the tools to deal with in in the field. Get it cooled, keep it clean otherwise the quality of the meat can deteriorate.
 
OP, the bacteria in the gut is far more harmful to the meat than getting a bit of dirt and leaves inside the body cavity. Getting it out and cooling the animal ASAP is crucial to a good final product. Not only do the guts act as a heat sink and greatly increase cooling time, the bacteria within start multiplying rapidly soon after death.

Tag, photo, field dress, then go home.
 
I farmer hunt - everything shot is close to home where i can get the tractor to if needed. Not needed for deer though. I take it home, hang it from the tractor, skin it, spray it off to get rid of any hair, gut it then wash out the cavity. No gamey taste. The most important thing that I've seen over the years is taking all the fat off. If there is gamey taste it comes from the fat which is not at all like beef or pork fat. When preparing to cook the deer trim as much of the fat off as you can. Also, I never worry about hanging game for an extended period. There isn't the fat marbled in the meat like beef, it doesn't need to break down.
 
I think you're doing good. Completely agree with getting it home without gutting, way cleaner.

If I can get a deer home in a few hours whole I do. Then I skin out the hind legs, wash my hands, hoist it, and with a different knife, skin it, then I gut it and cut out any bloodshot. I'll hang it anywhere from over night to a week depending on temperature.

Bone it out and vacuum pack and freeze. The bones go in a stock pot.

"Gamey" might just be the way it tastes. Some deer just taste bad. I shot a wet doe about 10 years ago, late November so cool temps, less than a mile from my house so handled quickly. The meat was really only fit for sausage.
 
Gamey taste has more to do with meat handling than you think. I know a few hunters where every time I have tasted game they have shot it is consistently horrible.

I have no clue what they are doing, but something is wrong and they never learn
 
Gut, skin,clean and cool ASAP ! Allow meat to hang for a few days to so meat can lose some moisture and age. Everyone has different preferences as far as taste , some like it gamey some don't. Best way to insure your deer is not gamey is DON'T SHOOT A BUCK IN The RUT! That is what will give it a gamey taste (hormones) Everything that's been said is just the proper way to process an animal.
 
xingyc said:
I started hunting in the past two years, I find my whitetail meat is gamey and full of blood. Can someone share how to improve the taste of whitetail meat?

Here is how I handle my meat, after I shot my deer, usually I can get the deer in my car within 1 hour, and drive home in 1-2 hours. I don't gut or skin the deer because I am worried about contamination. After I get home I hang the deer, gut, skin, cut up the meat, remove most silver skins within 4-5 hours. the meat gets into freezer within 6-7 hours of the deer's death.

I think the meat is gamey due to the amount of blood in the meat, every time I take the meat out of the freezer, there are massive amount of blood after the meat defrosts in the fridge. how do you remove blood from your meat?
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OK, understanding that you need to transport a ways, as i used to. Here's what I did. ALWAYS, gut the animal at the kill site, remove everything you can, including the windpipe. and prop open the cavity. If possible, hang it right there for an hour or so.
Drag it to the vehicle and load it. Fear not about contamination. you are not eating anything inside the cavity except the tenderloin, and you have already removed and bagged that. (forgot to mention that, along with the heart and liver if you are so inclined). When you get home, hang it, and get the hide off, NOW. Cooling is job one. Get that meat down to 40F or so while hanging. The longer you hang it the better. 24hrs being critical, a week or more even better.
butchering the meat immediately, is asking for tough meat. I have an issue with when you say your meat is bloody, and I have to ask about shot placement. lung/heart shots typically result in far less blood in the meat that head shots, as the animal bleeds out into the lung cavity, or, sometimes a heart shot will spray the landscape with blood.
One time had to deal with a road kill deer in summer, and I had to butcher immediately due to the heat, and flies. I had the bloodiest meat ever, literally dripping from the burger. The way I dealt with it, was simply to let the meat drip out before cooking. Not perfect, but it was edible. I ground that whole deer, as I knew it would be tough as hell, not having been hung.
Rigor Mortis sets in when your deer first dies, but after hanging, it goes away, and the meat becomes more pliable and less tough.
 
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One other little trick, for folks who live in places where hanging isn't possible due to warmth.
What I did, and I'm sorry I have no pics, was to buy an old refrigerator. (I was lucky, I got it for free) I took all the shelving out, including the door shelves, and built a wooden bracket with hooks inside it to slide in. mine was made of plywood.
I would then quarter the deer, and hang the quarters in the fridge. (Yes,you need a fairly large fridge) a cookie sheet on the bottom caught most of the drippings. It worked awesome, but it took a bit more work on the deer. Once in the fridge, you can hang for a couple of weeks if you desire. So long as the fridge keeps working.
Quartering you can do with a saw. I used a coarse blade on a sawsall, but I have also used a very sharp axe. Hold the axe against where you want to cut, and smack it with a big mallet. It splits the spine fairly well. Some folks use a chainsaw with veggie oil in it for chain oil, but I never liked the bone bits, and the thought of residual chainsaw oil.
when you cut the legs off, leave the joint on the good side, so you can use the tendon to hang from.
If you shoot a big sucker, you may have to cut the quarters, and hang them in pieces. It all works.
 
I like to gut as soon as possible. Then wash out with cold clean water
This helps cool the inside very quickly and rinse away any contaminants and blood. Then I like to hang them for as long as possible full week if temps allow.
 
All good advice but I won't cut up the deer for at least day or more if you prefer to age it little longer.

Google rigor mortis to understand more on the subject, it happens to all game animals and it's a chemical reaction in the muscles.
 
350 Mag said:
Shoot a dry doe....not a swollen neck buck.
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I've found that bigger bucks are better eating than does and small bucks.

A big buck just sits around and eats all summer. A big muley (even though the OP asks about WT) follows green-up up the mountain and eats better quality food than a doe. A big buck also doesn't have to tend a fawn and isn't getting harassed by little bucks, or running around stupidly like a young buck. A big buck is also more secure from predators.

In short, come the rut, the big bucks are the ones in the best condition. It's the little bucks that run around. The big bucks just show up at the right time.

Also, Whitetail by my taste is at the bottom of the list for venison.

I completely agree with the OP taking the deer home whole. Too many guys open it up, pop the bag, get piss on it from the bladder, fill it full of dirt and leaves dragging it out and wonder why it tastes bad. IMO cleanliness is far more important than cooling in the first few hours.

Also, don't wash it, you're only introducing and spreading bacteria around.
 
We don't process the deer ourselves any more. But we gut it where it lays and drag it out. Once back at the camp we hose out the body cavity to wash away any undesirable bodily fluids. Once the meat is clean it goes to my butcher and he hangs it for about a week. Then he prepares the meat so there's virtually no fat, bone or sinew. Everything is vacuum packed and ready to go. It's always great meaT.

DID A TEST... FOUND A PACK OF MOOSE AT THE BACK OF THE FREEZER. IT WAS 4 YEARS OLD AND I ATE IT. TASTED LIKE I SHOT IT LAST MONTH.
 
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