Tags drawn so far
 

For the Colorado Draw, we got the Deer results:

Me - ZERO
Brother - First choice Doe tag

My Dad, Brother and I are still waiting for the elk results. I have Two preference points and so I naturally put in for a Bull, and a cow as my second choice.

Dad has zero preference points for elk, so he put in for a Cow, just in case.

Brother has One preference point so he put in for a Bull, and a cow second choice. He HOPEFULLY will draw the cow tag.

Is there a difference in meat quality - cow vs. bull?

not that i ever tasted, I'd just like some antlers this year.

I thought tags could be bought OTC in colorado? Man I'm sure glad Arkansas doesnt require tags to be drawn.

no, only certain game units and certain seasons can you buy an OTC tag.

Quality? Yes indeed there is a difference in quality! My family, and myself have very strong opinions about venison quality. We have very very strong opinions about quality! Back in the 1960's when we were all young and poor, we subsisted on venison. Three of us fella hunted together for meat for our families. When an elk was killed, we worked together , skinning it, packing it out, and cutting it. There are so very many fond memories from those days. Those nights cutting elk, and drinking beer whilst the girls wrapped, will forever be with me. Every year for several, each family ate venison from three different elk. Those were the formative years, and all of us have strong opinions about quality!

Here is what we believe. Bulls taste good, but the only part worth cutting steaks from are the tenderloins, and the chops. The rounds are too tough to chew. This is what we believe. This is our opinion. Cows taste good, and the rounds are worth cutting into steaks. My personal favorite thing to do with Cow tenderloin and chops, is to eat them in a bun. They are so very very tasty, tender, and fat free . Our son and myself avoid killing mature bulls if possible, but neither of us will turn down any elk, if we have an unfilled tag. We have the mature bulls mostly made into burger, and sausage. Spikes eat like cows, and we have them cut into chops, round steaks, roasts, and burger.

When it comes to deer we also have strong opinion. Wife doesn't allow buck deer into the house. The smell of a buck cooking just doesn't get it around here. Years ago us fellas would eat buck deer around the campfire, and they were so so tasty. Something about a campfire, beer, smoke, and buck deer that make a good combination. These days wife and i no longer live in Montana, and eat doe deer. We find doe to be tender and tasty.

Our son still lives in Montana, and kills elk every year. Whenever a pal of his kills a nice bull, our boy tells them to get it ground into burger. The boy tells them the elk will chew like a boot, but the horns sure are pretty. Funny how the boy sounds like his dad. Newcomers can't seem to do that, but by this time of year, they always mention they should have listened to his recommendation to grind that big old tough bull into burger.

It all depends on how the meat is prepped. My brother in law just uses salt/pepper and its not that great LOL. We marinade it for 24 hours and it doesn't matter what genitals it did or how big/small it was, its yummy to the last piece.

Pepper is all I use, so The meat has to be fresh.

I have a friend who said I should can it. He's going to lend me a big canner. This will be a new experience for me, but i'll try anything once.

Almost anything.

ahhh muley we'll teach you how to prepare a deer/elk steak brother!

I have 4 buck tags and unlimited doe tags here in North Carolina, our state makes it pretty easy...

yeah but yer deer are the size of toy poodles :D

Yep, with backstraps the size of hotdogs, makes them easier to get out...With unlimited tags, shoot what you need...

If you don't get pulled, you're left eating hotdogs..... :)

drew my colorado muzzleloader elk tag. off to the turkey woods, then the range.

The toughest elk I ever ate was a big cow. Since I have NEVER killed a really MATURE bull (lol), can't speak for that, but the bulls I have killed are OK to eat. What I found is aging is VERY important for elk. The cow that was so tough, I killed one day and it was cut, packaged and frozen the next day. I learned to let them hang at least 3 days (4-5 is better) and it makes a world of difference in toughness. Marinading overnight makes a difference too.

Not if you put anything but pepper on it. I've been eating it that way for 60 years.


Just checked. I got the elk tag. :)

In my experience this is so very very true. Aging venison for a mere 3 day is surprisingly critical.

In our house venison has hung for days, weeks, a month. The meat was no more tender than venison hung only 3 days. Of course this depends on the critter too................but in general venison needs to be aged three days.

We use/have no special recipe for cooking our venison or fish. We just throw them into the pan for a bit, and then eat. Some salt, pepper, or 'perfect' hot sauce may be applied, or lemon on fish. We aren't fussy about recipe or marinade, but are sorta fussy about the critter. We like to 'bleed' our fish. We are fussy about which specie of fish we eat. We like to eat spike, or cow elk, and doe. We haven't eaten a buck deer for many many year.

One of the deer we remember as being so very good to eat was a 4 point young mule deer. He was unbelievably tasty, and tender. When i gutted him, i didn't notice anything unusual, but whilst eating him i always wondered if he had testicles. It seems he was normally hung. Years later now, i still wonder about that deer.

Add a Bull elk to my tags i drew baby!!!

My brother also drew his cow tag!

Waiting to see what my dad got.

Your dad got the cow, and your brother got the bull.

One of my friend's son shot a calf last year while another kid in the group shot the cow. That calf was still nursing and is like eating veal. Best elk meat I've ever had. The meat is pink and not dark red. Very tender too. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a calf after eating some of that one.

I shot a small bull elk (I mean it did not have the massive horns you see a lot of them have. But the guide told me to shoot it) many years ago. And the guides (him and his two boys) skinned it and quartered it. Then froze it for the ride home. Back home we butchered that elk and I have to admit.. it was some of the best eating meat I ever had. I remember one evening we threw a elk roast in a dutch oven with a couple sticks of margarine, some carrots and onions.. and I added some seasonings. One in particular we liked is called Kitchen Bouquet. Its a liquid. You pour that all over the meat and while it cooks it makes its own gravy. To this day, I never seen a roast disappear that fast. Even people that "were not real fond of venison" ate like pigs. I've always threatened to go back west some year and shoot another elk. With a muzzleloader this time. Only because of the memories of the meat.

Another great animal to eat is a moose. Not a swamp moose mind you, but a good woods, clear lake moose. We used to hunt them in Canada. Great hunting up there. That makes a beef steer in a taste test just look pathetic.

And while a lot of people will tell you Bear meat is terrible.. I have one thing to say.. learn how to cook it. If cooked right, bear meat is fantastic. If made wrong.. it will make you almost gag.

I ate antelope twice. Once was not bad. Once was horrible. And even deer in Wisconsin taste according to what they eat. You shoot a deer in the south of the state where it feeds on hay, corn, soy beans, and oats.. there is nothing better. But shoot one up in the pine swamps, and that will make the dog leave the house when you cook it.

A special hunt was held here on a coastal peninsula located next to the salt water due to the deer being seriously overpopulated. I came home with two small deer, and one of them must have been eating sea grass at low tide because it tasted like sea water. I couldn't stand the taste of eating it but my wife actually liked it more because it reminded her of eating "surf & turf". The other deer was a spikehorn that didn't taste that way though, so it must have had a more normal diet.