Buck shooters
 

How many of you eat those bucks you shoot? Mostall the bucks I've taken have tasted terrible. Especially the ones shot in November during the rut.

RE: Buck shooters
 

I eat every deer I shoot. As should everybody. To waste the meat is wrong. There is nojustification to killing a deer just to see if you can, or for the rack. If your deer is tasting bad, perhaps you need to try something different in your storage, cleaning, or preparation.

The point totaking wild game is the quality of the meat, to some extent the cost of the meat, and the health benefits. So please if you are not going to use the meat, don't kill the animal.

God Bless

RE: Buck shooters
 

I personally do not see the problem in not eating the meat if it is made use of by other people. I give the majority of my deer meat away to my neighbor who is getting too old to hunt but appreciates the few deer i drop off at his place each year. He eats alot of it himself as well as makes a bunchup for his kids when they come home to visit. I do not care for deer meat other than sausage. I take a doe and get this dry cure type of sausage made that is right good stuff but other than that i really don't eat much of it. I get an elk each year and we raise cattle so really how much meat do ya need.

RE: Buck shooters
 

MichaelT. You may have misread my post. I didn't say I didn't eat them I said they tasted terrible. I don't shoot anything that we don't eat. I add nothing to my deer meat unless the taste isn't up to par, thats when I add other ingrediants and spices. Thats why I make burger out of buck meat. The reason, in my opinion, they taste so bad is because of the rut. Some people hunt for antlers and some of us hunt for meat. I have never run across anyone who wastes the meat. Giving it away is good if you don't have a taste for it.

RE: Buck shooters
 

I have killed a lot of bucks from Wis., and Ill. I keep the steaks and chops from every deer and turn the rest into burger, sausage etc. The taste is the same for these deer, it's just that the younger deer are more tender. I usually slow cook or grind the bigger ones and grill the smaller younger ones. Never had one taste terrible unless it was gut shot and not field dressed properly.

RE: Buck shooters
 

if you take care of them in the field, and get them cooled asap and to a proceser they tasted as good as any doe. some of the biggest buck i have killed tasted as good as any doe i have killed, and just as tender!!

RE: Buck shooters
 

Every buck I've ever shothas been during the rut and never had a bad tasting one.

Good be something your doing in the field.

RE: Buck shooters
 

You dont' do much grilling eh?

RE: Buck shooters
 

Well the first thing I do after the kill is to field dress the deer being careful not to cut the intestines or the urinary tract, and I cut out the butt opening, prop open the chest cavity with a stick,then I take it to a water hydrant and clean it out very well. If it is a warm day I put a bag of ice in the opening.Then I hang it for at least a couple of days, skin it, wash it againand butcher. I do all my deer that way. It just seems to me that the does or button bucks taste better than big bucks.
Maybe it is my taste buds.

RE: Buck shooters
 

Yea I've killed bucks in the rut(old ones too) nad they have never tasted bad. My buck this year stunk so bad from his tarsals and all, and his meat has been fine to eat.

RE: Buck shooters
 

I prefer does over bucks (not looking for trophies, just meat), but I wouldn't ever waste any deer unless it was sick and I was concerned for my health. And if I didn't want or need the meat, I'd donate it or give it to a friend.

RE: Buck shooters
 

Bucks are good for making jerky. They have the fat run off of them from chasing does. The lean meat is great for this. Even if it is a tough old buck, jerky is tough anyway.

RE: Buck shooters
 

Ya got me! ;) I grill the bigger ones too, just not as long!

RE: Buck shooters
 

You have to cook deer differently. Ground deer for burgers just doesnt do it for me. Never tasted good so I dont do that. But ground meat does taste good in say chili or spaghetti or manwiches, you have to brown it up and throw out the juices and start over. deer steaks have to be done medium rare on the grill and they are awsome. I can use a whole deer just making jerky. another just for sausage. Just have to expirment.

RE: Buck shooters
 

I wish I could say I've had more experience cooking rutting bucks, but I don't...:D

I gotta go back to the guys, field dressing properly & cooling is the key. One thing my Father-in-Law advised me to do is to soak the meat for a couple of days in a cooler in brine. The brine is enough water to cover the meat, a bottle of reconstituted lemon juice, & a container of salt. Mix it up good, I make sure to put some ice in it - after the first day, pour out the brine & make another batch for night 2, then process the meat. I did this with an accidentally killed button last year & it worked great. Hopefully I can do it with a bit of an older buck this year - &/or several tasty does!!!

RE: Buck shooters
 

Ok, I have a few suggestions for you, and some of the rest of you, alot of the bad taste on any deer comes from not cutting as much fat as you can get off, and all of the slick stuff you see on the meat, this makes it tough, and bad tasting, another thing you shouldn't just take a deer and cook it right out of the deer, after cutting it up and freezing and your'e ready to cook your deer, unthaw it, then put your meat you have chosen into a bowl or something that will hold them, then take a cup of vinegar in it, a 1/2 cup water and then a tablespoon of salt, this will get rid of the bad smell and "gamie" taste. You only have to do this for a couple hours, then you can do what you want with it, but I prefer to do as I said then to take it and thinly slice it, then take it and season and flour it and fry it in canola oil and butter, then take warmed cream of mushroom soup over it, it kicks @SS!...but right now im expirementing with jerky, never made it before, always made steaks.

RE: Buck shooters
 

Well I've read all the replies and I still think big bucks taste the worst of any deer, especially if they are in rut. I believe if you have to marinate, brine, or add some kind of soup you are just covering up the taste.
Just my 2 cents worth doesn't make me right.
Thanks for all the imput.

RE: Buck shooters
 

if you field dress it, get it cooled down and leave it hang for a few days and can keep it 35 ish or so before getting it processed in a timely manner then you should be good to go.... personal experience is that poorly tasting venison is a direct derivative of poor processing and preperation. Fat on a deer is not like fat on a steer.... it is tallow more or less... ie wax... and not pleasant when it solidifies on the roof of your mouth... better left for the coyotes and coons and possum to nibble on...

i process all of my own game... and spend a lot of time doing it.... and no one complains about it... ever... even fi it is a non corn fed deer (ie non southern michigan deer)...

#1 live by the boning out method....

#2 deconstruct the carcass muscle group by muscle group as much as possible.. not as important if you are going to trim and chunk to grind as you can trim and seperate later

#3 get every last bit of fat off that you can before you even cut into the meat... torch hair that may be stuck to meat, off with a propane torch.

#4 get all of the membrane and remaining fat off of the muscle... a fillet knife works great for this... LEAN is the key word here...

#5 get yourself a vacuum packager...

#6 when you cook vension don't cook it well done... i prefer medium... overcooking dries out the meat and makes it very tough and really brings out any "gamey" flavor.

i distinctly remember, when i was very young, my aunt and uncle would have a yearly venison dinner from deer taken the previous fall... overcooked, fatty, membrane laden and cut with the meat saw generally... just like beef... it got to the point where i wanted nothing to do with it... these days on the other hand, now that i process my own meat... i might have a few extra hours into trimming and packaging after initial butchering but the quality of the meat is no where even in the ballpark to what i grew up with... it is well worth the extra effort you put into it... to get it as lean as possible... steaks or cube meat to be ground...

so again... processing, care, packaging and preperation.... all key....

JMHO

J

RE: Buck shooters
 

I'm not a big deer meat fan. I like beef that I get from a friend.

On my deer, other than the backstraps, the whole thing gets ground up with beef fat added. My family likes it this way. Way better than a straight grind.