My bad tasting deer . . .

• Were eating much of their diet in a Minnesota cedar swamp. This was just a little gamey, but not all that bad.
• Was gut shot and meat was contaminated. Clearly had a bad taste, but we made a lot of spaghetti sauce with it and managed.
• Was shot in hot summer weather by a neighbor with an ag-damage permit and given to me. It stunk so bad I did not even try to eat it.

On the other hand, deer harvested from areas with agricultural food sources that are cleaned out well, quickly dressed and cooled, tasted almost like beef. And if you take care to trim off contaminated meat, even a gut shot or shot up deer tastes good. Had a gut shot deer 2 years back that was fine. And if it is warm (over 45) I immediately quarter and toss the quarters in the freezer to chill.

You mentioned the back strap but did not mention what cut of meat you compared it to and how it was cooked. I have had back strap from small deer and large rutting bucks. That is a good cut of meat. I usually take the loins and back strap out of the large bucks and the rest goes to sausage.

my experience has been what they eat, and if they are in rut or not...

worst one a doe that basically was in sagebrush...gamey and horrible...good buck was next to field.

Lots of factors. Diet is huge. Take a corn fed deer vs a mtn laurel deer... night and day. All the other factors do play a part...but in my experience, if all things are similar - diet is the main difference.

What the deer eats definitely is a factor. We hunt both farmland deer and woods deer, farmland deer by far is much tastier than the deer we shoot up in the northwoods.

improper handling could affect the deer meat but if its not handled correctly..ie gutted asap, let hang overnight at least...then take to the butcher/processor you could run into problems. Also depending on outside temps...most places now leaving a deer overnight isn't going to hurt the meat. In early season...you better recover it gut, get it in a cooler asap...

too many variables. I know that when antelope hunting, antelope that have been running taste horrible. Id guess the same goes for deer as well as lactic acid builds up in the muscle.

Also, diet is huge. I hunt both eastern and western Nebraska. An eastern deer that ate corn all summer and fall, compared to a sandhills deer on grass is night and day.

Most all good answers. The most controllable factors are:
*Shot placement
*Handling after the shot.
*Cooling the meat
Down here it is almost always too hot to let a deer hang. We get them to camp, quarter them out and put them in ice chests. Sometimes for several days. Just drain the water and keep adding ice daily. I have never had a "gamey tasting deer" since doing this!