To me - the keys are what they eat and how they are taken care of once they hit the ground. I would not hunt mule deer if I still had to hunt on the Western slope of Colorado. The deer eat sage and they taste gamey as all get out. The ones I kill on the Colorado Plains will rival elk any day. Understand that "gamey" is a relative term. Some folks like the wild flavor and others can't handle it. I spent a fair amount of time in a small wild meat processing plant this fall and I can tell you that the difference in smell is unbelievable between a nice cow and a rutting bull. I didn't eat any of the rutting bull meat but the smell while we were cutting it up was overwhelming at times. I can't imagine that the meat from some of those animals was fit for human consumption. But like some have said - I suspect a fair amount of that scent was do to the way the animal was handled. I have watched the way commercial plants process beef and the first thing they do is rip the hide off. I try to do the same thing - the sun will never set on animal of mine with the hide on.