Originally Posted by Oldtimr

Yeah, it is amazing how many people are correct about dry aging mproving the flavor and tenderness of venison . It does both. As far as venison not having marbled fat, fat does not have a thing to do with dry aging. It is the enzymes in the meat that start to break it down and that is what affects it on the table. All the top chefs must not know what they are foing because they buy dry aged beef and venison or they dry age it themselves. I have killed, cared for cooked and eaten venison for in excess of 50 years. I have eaten it both ways, there is no doubt aged venison is better than venison that was shot on monday and cut up and frozen on tuesday. Good flavor however starts in the field immediately after the kill. What you do from that point forward will determine if you have lousy meat. Most of what people call a gamey flavor is the taste of improperly handled meat. If the beef you bought in your butcher shop was handled like most people's deer, and you knew it, you would't eat it.

Originally Posted by Topgun 3006

No doubt that it makes a difference if you know anything about how enzymes break down tissue. However, most people have no means of doing it properly in a controlled environment at the proper temperature and humidity and that's why I stated what I did.