Deer Meat- Does vs Bucks ?

[preventec47]

So far I have only shot a couple of Does and butchered
them out and a few of my buddies say that is the best
as they say the Bucks have the most wild taste due to
hormones etc. One buddy says he wont even eat Buck
meat.
I know most guys want to shoot the biggest Buck and hunt
for the big antlers but I've been leaning toward the
Does as I do it for the meat and would hate to have
to eat strong tasting meat for a year.

To the guys who have shot and ate a lot of both,
how much of a difference is there really ?

[deerwhacker444]

.
I don't really notice a difference in the sexes, but I do notice a difference in the "state" of the animal when it was taken. I find it's much better tasting if it's taken in a relaxed state than if it's all excited. I'd much rather stick an arrow in one munching on acorns than shoot one across an alfalfa field doing a 1/4 mile sprint.

[adirondakjack]

A clean kill of a deer that is relaxed does seem to matter.

Feed also matters. Here in NY, we have a distinct difference between our southern and midstate deer that often feed on alfalfa and corn. Our northern deer often live on more hardscrabble diets including hemlock.

The difference is like night and day. The southern deer is almost like it was raised for the meat and not wild tasting at all.

[Leverdude]

Normally it dont matter.
In the case of a tough old buck it might, but a tough old doe might be tough & stringy too, only people shoot old bucks & not old does so the bucks get a bad rap. A rut starved buck is a different thing. The only nasty deer I ever ate that I know was took care of well was a late rutt buck.

[dkmlever]

The sex of the animal is not the issue (most times) the way it was killed, it's state before it was killed, running etc, and most important the way in which the carcase was taken care of. The faster you cool the meat makes a world of difference.

[horsesoldier03]

IMHO the sex of the deer is of little importance.

Clean shots, hanging, butchering/processing and cooking makes the difference!

Take the cleanest shot you can, No gut shots or Texas heart shots
If you have the place, hang your meat at approx 40 degrees for 3 days,
leave the scent glands alone, use a clean sharp knife and wash it frequently or exchange it out periodically.
#1 secret is having a wife that cooks great.

[HEAD0001]

Proper processing is the key. Get the hide off the deer quickly. Let the deer hang as long as you can. I have let a lot of deer hang 5 to 7 days, when the weather cooperates. Keep your meat chilled, but not froze. Make sure you get the blood drained properly, and quickly. Use sharp knives, and do the job properly. Do all this and you will never tell the difference between sexes of deer.

Obviously a deer raised on soy beans and alfalfa will taste better than a deer raised on greenbriers. But the sex or size will not matter. Tom.

[buckeyeshooter]

I generally shoot a deer of the year (9 month old) for one of my antlerless tags. These are always very tender and very good eating. Can you say "baby veal"!!

[Kansas Ed]

I'll disagree. Even the mature bucks I've killed in MO. which were just kicking around with no hunting pressure, no running, and flat dead on the spot had "taste" to them. And I field dress them faster than immediately and spread them to cool. Then as soon as possible I run cold water through them. They still have "taste". Where as the does I have treated this way never have. I think it may have something to do with the area, or perhaps their DNA strain...I know some people at work sure smell worse than others

Ed

[shawn_c992001]

The old bucks that are in rut taste terrible.

I know most everybody now hunts for horns, but I've never been able to even make a good pot of soup with them.

[revorg]

Clean kill is nice...

I think the big difference is the age of the animal not its sex.
I prefer to take a young buck for the table... a young doe is just as good but harder to estimate under field conditions.



revorg

[Lastmohecken]

I like to let them hang in the shade if possible for a day or two, but in the south that is not always possible. I did kill one old buck, that I could not eat, and a young deer in the same area, one year and I couldn't eat it either. I blamed the freezer bags I used to put these deer up with, and have always used waxed freezer paper before and since that time.

What's funny is the best tasting deer I ever remembered eating was a nice older buck, which I shot one evening right at dark, and did not find until the next evening. I shot this deer with a .308 winchester, while it was standing at the edge of my pasture. One jump and it was in the brush. I couldn' find it, I couldn't even find a drop of blood, the first evening. I finally decided I must have missed, but it haunted me all of the next day at work, as I replayed the scene in my mind, and I decided that even though it was around a hundred and fifty yard shot, which I had made many times, I just could not have missed. I went down there that night and found it. It was laying in a concealed ditch, and only took a couple of long jumps or so, but was completely lost from view, and with no blood, I just didn't see the ditch the first night.

Anyway it had laid in the shade all day, and the night before had been pretty cool, so it kept fine, and was the best eating ever. The bullet never exited, even though it was a 180gr corelock, and that probably explains why I could not find even a drop of blood. It was a quartering towards me shoulder shot.

[Old Ironsights]

The old bucks that are in rut taste terrible.

I know most everybody now hunts for horns, but I've never been able to even make a good pot of soup with them.

I keep saying that on the Hunting Forums, but nobody seems to believe me.

But there IS a real prejudice out there that Meat Hunters are somehow "less" of a "Hunter" than the guys who want to wag their antlers at each other to see whose is the biggest.

I'm proud and happy to hunt does.

[Kansas Ed]

Yea, OI I'm with you, but I would rather have them turn up their noses at me for shooting my button bucks and yearling does, than have me turn up my nose at the table.

Ed

[BlackShadow]

My family has shot and ate countless white tail. I only shoot for meat. I prefer the yearlings, around 90 pounds, so I tend to shoot button bucks. Not only does the meat taste better, it's more tinder and the dear is easier to get out of the woods when they don't weigh 300 pounds! It's true of any animal. If the animal is killed cleanly, it will taste better then one that has suffered. Flavor is also affected by diet. If the deer has been eating certain nuts or wild onion, feed it to the dogs.

My family has placed platters of big buck, and yearling, on the table at the same time. It only takes one bite of each to tell which is which. No one eats old bulls. You eat the two year olds. Old milk cows and bulls are ground up and served at Taco Bell and McDonald's (this is true). Old buck meat is best after it's spent time in a crock pot and allowed to simmer for hours.

[AJMD429]

I just love telling my liberal/yuppie/hippie/city friends about our farm, and how we raise chickens under the fruit trees so we don't have to spray them for bugs, and how we get milk with our eggs by raising goats. Some ask if we eat the goat meat too, and I tell them yes, but others seem surprised that we even eat the chickens (after they are too old to lay eggs productively and if the hawk haven't beaten us to them). They seem reassured when we tell them it's "free range poultry."

Then I'll casually mention that we ALSO raise "free range venison" and they will usually go "Wow, that's really cool - how interesting...." - it is fun to see their expression change when I explain - "Yeah, it's really easy - we just let the deer graze where they want to, and each winter, we shoot a few of them."

We find that as others said - RELAXED, QUICKLY CLEANED and COOLED, and CURED/AGED a few days are the keys. Plus do your own butchering so you get your OWN meat back.

[BlackShadow]

City folks are funny. In a lot of ways they're like children. They have little notion of how the world works when it comes to feeding the 6.5 billion humans on this planet. I grew up in a rural environment. When a chicken is laid out, it becomes chicken & noodles! Pet pigs become bacon and ham steak. When I was a kid we raised it all; even made our own cottage cheese. I grew up in a time of wood phones, wood stoves and wood out houses. People today can't imagine these things. You're right about aging the meat. The old timers would say there's no such thing as rotten meat ... if it's cooked.

[Pisgah]

I agree that how the meat is handled, from the time it hits the ground to the time it hits the plate, is by far the most important factor in taste. And, I'll also say that the finest, most tender venison I've ever eaten came from the biggest ol' buck I ever shot. But, in my experience it certainly seems true that a buck in full rut can, indeed, have a stronger, gamier flavor than a doe.

[RIHMFIRE]

Its all in how you care for the animal after the shot...
clean the animal as fast as possible....
you should age the meat....
you have to get rid of all the "silver skin"
and you have to know how to cook too!
but thats a whole other post!
I have been eating venison all my life...
and really never had a bad cut of meat.....
Most were bucks taken during the rut....

[Hillbilly]

I dont know if its a mental thing or not...I prefer:

Younger, smaller deer... regardless of sex

Deer that browse beans or other crops as oposed to acorn feeders or deer that spend a lot of time stripping pine trees, etc.

A calm kill seems to help... been lucky..most of mine traveled after impact... not far, I think they have been dead on the hoof.
Adrenline affects taste more than we think. We used to kill beef, quietly and only one or two a day. The rest of the steers will pick up on the blood scent and panic. Most people can tell a difference between home grown and commercial beef because of this.

A correct bleed, cool out and hanging is a big deal too.

Jeff

[brucew44guns]

The sex of the animal is not the issue (most times) the way it was killed, it's state before it was killed, running etc, and most important the way in which the carcase was taken care of. The faster you cool the meat makes a world of difference.

I agree with DKM's answer here completely. Being uncareful in the field dressing can be critical. Gut shot animals are going to require some careful trimming and care to not let any of that stomach or gut trash permeate the meat. A punctured bladder can spell doom on exposed meat when you open up the animal. Most of us want as much meat as we can put in the freezer, but urine or intestinal juices don't fry up too well in a skillet. Blood shot meat is not good in a skillet either.

[Bigahh]

I usually harvest a yearling Doe every year, but I cannot find anything wrong in the taste department from a Big, Tough, Mature Buck. I have been able to pass on the tender ones for the last 15 years. If they don't dress out near the 200# mark, they keep walking. Not to mention I have a 3 mile drag if I put one on the ground. I learned to be choosy real quick!