Sniggle

I made some hamburger, about 50% venison and 50% 80% lean ground beef, and it was very good...not gamey at all.

roamingkevin

heck guys,the first deer of the year we shoot,we fry up some of the backstrap and the heart that day, hmm pretty tasty.

spaniel

I don't know about the whole time in the freezer thing, but you will get venison that tastes very differently depending on the geography where the deer is shot. I shoot midwest corn and soybean fed deer, they taste pretty much like lean beef. Zero gamey flavor...ever. Conversely, I have tasted deer shot in the north woods or in areas where they eat swamp browse and the flavor is very gamey, sometimes you can't be in the kitchen with it.

sonnys

Do your self a favor next time use 40 to 50% brisket mixed with it and you will have gourmet deer burger.....wala

Monie

I've read somewhere that freezing for an extended period is like letting the carcass hang. Whether that's true, I don't know. You have some great venison after several months of sitting in the freezer...go with it.

I butcher mine as well, and I bone everything. I don't want the marrow or bits of bone to taint the meat. Make sure you're not getting any of the bloodshot pieces in with your buger, as it can make some people wretch. [:'(]

We eat plain deer burgers, no beef or pork mixed in...even the babies love it. As a matter of fact, my 2 year old granddaughter says, as she closes her eyes and sways her head back and forth, "Mmmm...that's good! Deer, nummy!" lol

We eat more deer than beef, so I guess we're a little biased. I have to admit, when we buy real butterit smells gamey to me! lol

12GaugeGuy

Ya know, I have heard a lot of people say that deer is really gamey, but I have not noticed it in the flavor of the meat. The only off taste I have ever noticed is that "guts" smell and taste from where the guts were ruptured. The doe I shot last december was a liver/stomach shot. The stomach was nicked and the contents leaked out inside the deer a little. The guts smell and flavor was only on the flank meat, but after I washed and scrubbed it in cold water and added some garlic powder to it the taste and odor went away. I havenoticed that deer meat spoils fast and taints easy compared to some of the other animals I have shot. I have gut shot squirrels and carried them in my pack all day in the heat and they tasted fine, but dont EVER do a deer like that. When you shoot a deer you better be proper field dressing and dragging that thing out of the woods in a hurry. I think venison is the best thing ever, but its very lean and hard to get a good filling out of it. I dont know how people used to live offof it.

skeeter 7MM

Personally never noticed a difference in flavor from fresh to old venison. I agree you probably got a package that had was tainted slightly and therefor threw the taste off. It happens I had a bad piece get through on some moose grind and ended up pitching about 5lbs as it threw it all off. I am extremely careful when butchering but mistakes happen afterall we're human!

I grew up in a family with butchers i was taught aging is stopped once frozen, so when I want to age meat further but the temp or conditions will not allow me to hang the carcass in a temp controlled enviroment, I simply fridge age it. This can be done prior to processing or after. Prior i will place quarters in a fridge for a few days then process, after i take the package out, make an air slit in the packaging and let it sit on a plate for upto a week. Prep for cooking; trim off any excess rot and you'll have extremely tender meat. You can also do a dry rub then cover with paper towel, change paper towel daily & trim off any excess rot. This is no different then the process to age domestic animals.

I wash down the carcass if needed. Most times it's simply to remove hairs from skinning, in this case I use clean rags using cold water and vinegar. Again I grew up in a butcher shop where we had a kill room (dressing), wash room for rinsing the carcass and then off to the cooler to hang or age the meat (beef, pork or venison).

jerseyhunter

I keep a skillet on the fire and am constantly frying, checking taste and texture. I lost 2lbs of grind the begining of the year due to bad tasting neck meat on a buck. When in doubt throw it out. After tasting.

ChicagoTRS

All this talk of venison has me craving some...

I think there are a lot of factors that go into how a deer tastes:

deers diet...

how clean a kill...

field dressing correctly...

how quickly it was cooled...

if the meat was ever allowed to warm after cooling...

how it was transported...we always quarter and cooler our deer in camp...when driving home and it is 50 degrees and I see countless deer strapped to peoples trucks...I always think to myself...no wonder people think deer tastes gamey...

how it was butchered...

when it was butchered...

how it was wrapped when frozen...personally I do not think anything tops vacu sealing...

I definitely sample when butchering...

blackiceslayer

vension fat sucks we have found if you leave that venison fat on there it makes it smell pretty funny when you fry it up never had it smell bad though so dont know what else to tell you