Back Strap that tasted like boot leather
 

Ended up vacum sealing a nice back strap back in December. Thawed for Super Bowl but ended up that there was too much beer food and I didnt want to waste good meat. Anyway a couple of days past before I could cook it, due to the fact that it was at the home of the party thrower... Anyway heated up olive oil, seasoned the meat, seared it, cooked it til it was still redish on inside, and then...................It TASTed LIKE cRAP. What went wrong? I ate this does tenderloin the night of the kill and it tasted bad as well. When I say bad it didnt melt in your mouth or taste awesome. It was tough and gamey bad. I have harvested 3 this year that were sooo good from start to finish. Was this doe just bad meat? Thanks for helping
Ron

try goin for rare...the meat is cooked by the time it looks rare..jmo..reddish aint cuttin it...just giver er a try, act like its tar tar or something. cook and eat it rare.

Hey Baked. I love it rare. I let it come to room temperature before cooking, and sear it , and than back off the heat. Then rest a little. I love the way venison tastes, than eating what I ate threw me off. I never overcook red or white meat. I offshore fish and I would rather eat my catch raw as well. I dont know at this point. Hopefully it was me........ Thanks

Sounds like over cooked.....I'd try the rare cook at lo heat.
JMO
Dan

It sounds to me like it was frozen to quickly and the body heat wasn't allowed out of it. Letting meat cool down to allow the body heat out is important. When freezing to quickly it will cause the meat to taste bad and would require more seasoning to try and make it taste better..

It does sound like being overcooked is at least part of the problem. I am a firm believer in cooking on a HOT fire (stove, pan, oil smoking), removing when still red, not "redish" inside, which is probably just remnant juices, and serving immediatly. By the time it was served it was probably well done.
Perhaps it wasnt cooled as well, and possibly contaminated?

did you wait til the rigor went away before storing it in the freezer?

It sat in fridge for four days before it was packed and froze.

cut up? or whole? there is a chemical reaction in the animal when it dies...inducing rigormortis ...and another later that reverses the rigor, after this is when it is the best time to cut it all up. maybe google and you can read more on it.

After dressing it remained whole for the four days, than it was cut up into 6" pieces.
Thanks for the info I will google rigor deer