Depetydog, there is a lot of thruth in that statement. There is a lot of diff in a young deer and an older one. Sometimes you think that an ole 4-5 year ole buck chasing does all of november would be as tough as a piece of leather but this is not so as most of my deer are taken during the rut. Two years ago I shot a p/y that barely scored to make the minimum that was in pre- rut, I was totally surprised how tender it was and the layer of fat that had already built up on it in the month of sept. I think a lot of it has to do the way the meat is handled after the shot. Lot of wannabees take and parade there game on the hoods of there vechicle and cook it over and over again and wonder why it taste the way it does. Dughhh!!! Cool that dang thing ASAP. I have had some old does that I have shot for camp meat and sometimes you just can't do anything with it other than make burger. It depends on how you care for it mostly, but sometimes you get the gamey one. Bobby