Meat from a mature buck deer - is it edible or not?

[Mr. Stickers]

Totally agree with how it's cared for after the shot! However, I've gotten away from putting meat on ice and "draining the blood". I started putting the meat in an extra fridge that I have in the garage. (Next best thing to a walk in cooler) Leave it in there for a week or so, trim the dried outer layer off and I guarantee you'll never see a prettier piece of meat. Not to meantion, cutting up dry meat beats the heck out of cutting up slimy slippery meat that's been on ice for a few days. It's worked so well, I'm thinking about figuring out a good way to install some hooks to actually let the meat hang, rather than laying on a shelf and flipping every couple of days.

But does this method pull the blood.??? Maybe bleed a few days on ice then transfer to hang

[panhandlehunter]

I only keep the tenders and back straps whole, no matter the age of the deer. The rest becomes sausage, ground meat and jerky. I may be the outlier but I don't like whole deer hams or shoulders no matter how you cook them.

Same for me too.

[Double-O-Dave]

Thanks, all for your advice and responses. I know my family and I are a bit spoiled in that the only venison we've eaten has been from does and a young button buck. I don't want to feed them any venison that is too tough, or stringy or gamey tasting as they have all been very appreciative of the wild game. I plan on shooting just does this season, but you never can tell...if a big buck presented, I might be tempted to shoot it. My son only wants to shoot big bucks - but he's young, so that's understandable.

Thanks again, and good luck to all of us this season.

Regards,

Dave

[Sleepy]

But does this method pull the blood.??? Maybe bleed a few days on ice then transfer to hang

That's the point, I don't want to pull the blood. If I'm eating venison, I want it to taste like venison. To me, all the venison flavor and juices come from the blood. I don't want to eat a drained piece of meat. I've found it tastes much better this way. Obviously to each their own and not everyone tastes food the same way. It's just my personal preference. After I tried it once, I really questioned why I had been icing down meat all this time. I don't think there's anything wrong with icing it down, I just think you get a much better product if you keep it dry rather than icing it.

[bullets13]

I've had steaks off of some bucks that were okay, but a little gamey, and some that tasted just fine. I generally get sausage, hamburger, and boudain made out of bucks to be safe, with the exception of the straps and tenderloins.

[Iehooligan11b]

Absolutely

[justincorbell]

All depends on how it is cared for from the time the bullet hits until it hits your fork

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[Mr. Stickers]

That's the point, I don't want to pull the blood. If I'm eating venison, I want it to taste like venison. To me, all the venison flavor and juices come from the blood. I don't want to eat a drained piece of meat. I've found it tastes much better this way. Obviously to each their own and not everyone tastes food the same way. It's just my personal preference. After I tried it once, I really questioned why I had been icing down meat all this time. I don't think there's anything wrong with icing it down, I just think you get a much better product if you keep it dry rather than icing it.

Sounds good, gonna give it a try this year, thanks for the heads up

[rockyraider]

I grind all deer parts except backstrap and tenders. Make sausage and hamburger

This, but I make or get made bacon burger. The bacon is a game changer. I also have summer sausage and link sausage done. I've done my own link sausage one time, gonna do it again this year as its gonna become a yearly tradition.

[dustoffer]

Your description reminds me of a story when I was a teenager still cutting my teeth on field dressing a deer. Old ranch owner came up and said , "you boys better cut that gland out, gonna taint yer meat, here let me help you out!" He then proceeded to cut out the tenderloins and tell me he'd get rid of em for me! Meat from an old buck is fine.

We called that "poisoned meat" on our lease--for the greenhorn hunters.

[Stuck]

I clicked on this just to see if it was a serious question.

[kilroy230]

Try cutting some up into chunks like you would when grinding. ..and can it with some garlic or other seasoning its turns out great and fall apart tender..

[The Insurance Guy]

I clicked on this just to see if it was a serious question.

Wow!! Me too!!


Are you freaking serious????????????

Yes I would prepare an old buck different from a young doe but come on man

[Big Red 82]

Grinder is your best friend for a buck or doe over 2.5.

[eradicator]

There are good steaks in the hind quarters. You just have to know how to extract them.

Yep. Not much difference in these 'ham' steaks and backstrap.