I have thought for years and old deer will have a gamie taste. In the past few years I have been processing my own deer.I debone all of the meat except the neck that I leave bone in i try to remove any fat I find and trim the meat of other stuff. A few years back I harvest a 6years old could have been a 7 I thought the meat was going to tough and a little strong tasting but I was very surprise that I could not tell any difference when we cook the neck and that neck was huge. So I really think its how the deer is taken care of after the harvest and the processing that has the biggest effect on taste. IMOP