NorthernHunter

I'm not cheap, but learned over time it's just easier to do it myself and no one does a better job than the hunter whenit comes to butchering. Never understood that gamey taste thing. I let mine hang a day or two if weather permits. Keep my butchering area clean and get the meat wrapped, labeled and into the freezer right away. When cooking, I marinate it for at least 8-24 hours and never, ever overcook it.

Lanse couche couche

Would getting too much water on the meat, or soakin it, be a factor? I was always taught that the deer should be allowed to hang for a while and that it should only be wiped down with adamp cloth instead of hosed down or soaked.

If I am dealing with potentially gamey tasting steaks, I tenderize them good and let them soak in an Italian dressing marinade for a day.

buckskinnerchris

Hmmm, gamey taste.

Is it gamey taste or does it taste like deer meat?

Depends on what you are calling a "gamey" taste. You can remove all the fat from the deer and get rid of some of the "gamey" taste, but if you want to get rid of most of the "gamey" taste then try removing most of the blood. You can let it set in the frig for a few days and drain off the blood as it collects. Unlike farm animals that are bled immediately after being killed -the heart beats for up to 5 minutes after the animal is killed which is when you would usually slice across both jugular veins allowing the heart to pump the blood out of the body, wild animals are usually shot, allowed to sit for about 20 minutes,so the muscle has time tosoak up the blood which causes the stronger taste in the meat.

Depending on how a customer feels about the deer taste is how I prepare it. This is why I am a custom shop. I do what my customers want and not how I may feel oneway or another. I will say most people usually turn most of their deer into sausage of some type because they or their families do not like the "deer" taste. I think half the time they do not know how to properly prepare the deer meat and if they did they probably would change how much sausage compared to deer steaks they wanted.

I had one guy that wanted me to make sausage out of the whole deer including the loins. I asked why he didn't want the loins and he told me they were as tough as shoe leather. I immediately knew he had over cooked them. I told him how tocook them and had him take a few butterfly steaks home to try it. He called me later and told me the steaks were the best he had tasted and asked if I could just cut the rest of the loins up as butterfly steaks, which I did.

This may not be your problem, but it is something to consider.

Just my two cents worth,

GregH

The first most important thing is... where did you shoot them. A neck shot for a gun kill or a clean double lung shot for a bow kill will lead to the second most important thing... a clean field dressing. If you get a quick killing shot and a clean field dressing, you have about eliminated the "gamey" taste. If you do accidentally blow stuff up ( stomach, liver or intestines etc. ) Field dress as clean as possible and rinse thouroghly. The third thing to do is to cool the carcass quickly. I believe that most of the gamey taste is caused by bad shot placement and / or sloppy field dressing. It can also be caused by excessive tallow left in the meat and by sawing through the bones, draging marrow into the meat.

Yivin

Love deer meat....The wife don't give me extra money fer processing. I always quarter mine up shortly after bagging the animal. Then I keep it on ice, cut it up the way I like it a day or 2 later. I used to use the freezer wrap paper then I gotthe food saver air sucking thingfrom Walley World. It keeps meat the best way I found in the freezer with out ever getting freezer burn. You can get more in the freezer too.Works great on fish...no fishy smell ever outta the freezer.

buckskinnerchris

I did forget to mention that most of you hunt for a "Big Mature Buck". This will have a stronger flavor and the meat will be much more tougher than a young doe would. This wouldalso hold true if you butchered a older beef bull, boarhog, ram sheep etc...

I was not implying that you should not properly gut your animal, but I do not think it is as a important point as most may think. As I have said in the past I pickup road killed deer. I usually do not gut these deer since the gut is usually ruptured anyway. I just skin it and remove all of the outside meat and leave thecavity lining in tact. The only meat that I cannot take is the smalltenderloins which are located inside the cavity wall. It is by far more important to get the carcass or meat cooled down quickly. In Iowa this is usually not a problem because of all the cold weather. We usually fill the cavity with snow after gutting it.

Again I am not implying that you should not properly gut a deer, but things happen while gutting and people should not be afraid of usingthe meat. It should be properly cleaned with fresh water as soon as possible. I should mention that in any slaughter facilityoccasionally a rupturegut may happen and the meat is still used and sent to the consumer without any knowledge to the consumer. There are certain things they have to do in cases such as this, but the meat is not just thrown away.

What makes a deer different than any other animal?

rafsob

Here in Virginia we don't get too cold. So we have to come up with other ways to help cure our meat. I have always used water and vinigar to soak my meat in. If I had a walk in refrigerator I would preferr to hang it and let it cure that way though. Never used salt to cure though, Ihave heart disease and am salt intollerant.

Arrowmaster

I butcher my own cause its cleaner and cheaper and I know Im getting what I shot. How many times have you not gotten your deer back from the butcher. Around here there are so many deer hunters and not many butcher shops. So who knows whos deer your getting. Plus at 100 dollars to get it butchered is crazy to pay that.

buckskinnerchris

What you say is true.

I started this business because I found out my deer was sent out of state to be made into sausage and mixed with other people's deer. I wanted my deer only. That is what I promote in my business. "What deer you give me is what you will get back!" is my slogon. If you give me a deer that is all shot up then you will get what I can salvage back. Since I make my own sausages and jerkyI can custom mix them anyway my customers want. They are not mass produced like some lockers do. HecK if you would like to stand over my shoulder and watch me cut your deer up I will do that too, but you better bring a cot since it can take as long as30 days to complete some of the recipes I use like Cured & Hickory Smoked Venison.

Lanse couche couche

My take on "gamey" taste is what someone mentioned in regard to the taste of a "mature" buck. I did kill a young doe one year and all of its meat tasted very close to liver. Dunno why?

As for venison cooking stories, I recently gave a few pounds of backstrap to a co-worker who said that he loves deer meat. I later learned that they made stew out of it. Ahhhhhhh!