Post by: NY Yankee on November 11, 2020, 10:15:52 AM
Post by: J. Cook on November 11, 2020, 10:28:24 AM
I HONESTLY believe the age and sex don't matter. I think the kill matters - i.e. how clean was it? Did the deer survive for hours under duress? Etc. I've killed older rutted up bucks that tasted fantastic, and I've killed 2 year old does that were gamey and not all that good.
I also 100% believe prep, meat care, and cooking make ALL THE DIFFERENCE. Some people can't cook deer to save their lives... No one wants to eat fried or grilled shoe leather. LOL
I've had some steaks not turn out great, but then steaks from the very same deer a week later taste great. That tells me it was something I did when cooking it.
I steak the loins, tender loins, the hinds (sirloin and top & bottom rounds). I make roasts of the rump, sometimes the sirloin, neck, and shoulder roasts. We grind everything else.
So to sum all that up... my experience tells me there isn't a "best" deer in terms of age or sex. But rather the circumstances of the kill, the meat care, and the cooking that make the difference.
Post by: NY Yankee on November 11, 2020, 10:36:37 AM
Post by: Horsehide on November 11, 2020, 11:05:14 AM
There is a difference in flavor from their diets: sagebrush versus corn. As far as species go, I had Axis meat for the first time this weekend and it is one of my favorite.
Post by: KentuckyWolf on November 11, 2020, 12:44:00 PM
Proper cleanliness, meat handling and care are more important though.
Post by: ron w on November 11, 2020, 01:45:40 PM
Post by: Bowguy67 on November 11, 2020, 02:15:18 PM
Post by: Bisch on November 11, 2020, 02:20:32 PM
Bisch
Post by: M60gunner on November 11, 2020, 02:49:55 PM
Post by: TIM B on November 11, 2020, 04:39:34 PM
Tim B
Post by: GCook on November 11, 2020, 08:22:44 PM
Fawns....my favoriteEasier to pick a spot too! :biglaugh:
Tim B
Post by: Jon Stewart on November 12, 2020, 05:34:01 AM
Post by: TIM B on November 12, 2020, 05:48:34 AM
I like big racks but fawns feed the family lolFawns....my favoriteEasier to pick a spot too! :biglaugh:
Tim B
Post by: GCook on November 12, 2020, 06:36:25 AM
For my, and I'm sure many, family it is a part of who we are.
It's not a hobby, or just something I enjoy. It's a way of life and an investment in the future of the environment as well as my family. So learning to be good at cooking it, regardless of age or gender, just came through experience. Both good and bad.
Post by: tracker12 on November 12, 2020, 10:15:48 AM
Post by: Ron LaClair on November 13, 2020, 10:10:48 AM
Some say, get the hide off right away butcher and put it in the freezer. My answer to that is when you buy a beef steak, it's aged. If you can your deer or grind it to burger OK but for good tasting steaks, I like mine aged
Post by: Huntschool on November 13, 2020, 12:55:57 PM
Then the cooking.... On steaks and loins nothing goes any further then an even med rare. Roasts and such may go a bit further.
Post by: woodchucker on November 13, 2020, 01:46:43 PM
That being said... We have a huge predator problem here in the Northeast.
Any fawn that make it through their 1st year, are honestly few and far between.
Bears take a heavy toll on the new fawns in the Spring, and the coyotes kill almost all the rest.
Anything that makes it through deer season is pretty much coyote bait.
Another thing... Once the bucks run the fawns off during the rut, they're on their own.
Years ago, we had a huge ice storm here in the Northeast. Rain and near 0 temps, turned everything to ice.
I missed hunting the opening day of gun season with my Dad for the 1st time in my life.
I made it up there for the 2nd day. As I was walking up along the edge of a picked corn field, I noticed a brown blob, in the corner of the field. I slowly worked up along the edge, waiting for the deer to stand up. About 40 yards from it, I was starting to believe something was very wrong?? When I got up to the small button buck, it was obvious what had happened.... He was completely FROZEN and encased with ice.
The poor little thing curled up in a ball, to wait out the storm, and died.
The sad thing is... All he had to do, was go about 200yds down the mountainside into the Hemlocks, to escape the storm. But, he was on his own, with no "lead" Doe to follow to safety. From that moment on, I swore to shoot a fawn, before I would shoot an adult doe.
A fawn that dies by my arrow of bullet, certainly has a quicker and less painful death, than at the hands of Mother Nature.... It's the tenderest, sweetest meat!! :thumbsup: YMMV
Post by: GCook on November 13, 2020, 06:09:47 PM
The last two years around our place the fawn crop has been good. This year about half the doe had twins.
I know the laws in the northeast don't necessarily allow it to be easy to kill predators or feed deer during hard winters. Here though we supplemental feed year round. Alfalfa, protein pellets, corn and rice bran. We also shoot and leave lay a few pigs during the time when fawns are dropping so the coyotes have easy meals.
The other benefit is it makes the meat taste milder.
Post by: Mojo Rising on November 13, 2020, 09:54:25 PM
Weather permitting I do it every time I can. The meat gets aged and there is less lost to drying. It is a dark red when the hide comes off, ready for the wrapping paper!
Post by: carl390 on August 03, 2022, 05:28:08 AM
Post by: SS Snuffer on August 03, 2022, 07:14:04 AM
Post by: Captain*Kirk on August 03, 2022, 09:17:37 AM
In all honesty, the best venison I ever ate was from a button buck. The meat was so soft and tender you could cut it with a butter knife.
Post by: trad_bowhunter1965 on August 03, 2022, 11:32:48 AM
Post by: blacktailbob on August 03, 2022, 03:20:19 PM
When I blood trailed it and found it I felt bad it was so small. 60lbs whole weight button buck at check station. GFC officer smiled and said "it'll be so tender you can cut it with a fork".
Another time at our church cook out a friend asked me "how do you get the wild taste out"?
I smiled and said "Go to the grocery store"
Post by: Wilderlife on August 03, 2022, 07:54:22 PM
Some of the best venison I've ever eaten has been bucks who have only JUST scraped their velvet off, but before the rut has started. This is when I've seen the most fat coverage on a deer and a deer presents as being in the best possible condition, but it has a lot to do with the feed over summer. The best I've seen is when we've had a fairly wet summer and the deer have been in areas where there is a lot of feral blackberry.
At the end of the day, I'm not fussy. We eat dozens of deer a year down here, all the way from the oldest and ruttiest bucks in April to the youngest deer you'd be willing to shoot.
I believe the variation between eating quality has a lot more to do with the type and quality of feed and the quality of the season, than can be said for overall age/sex of the deer.
Post by: gvdocholiday on August 04, 2022, 10:54:10 PM
Post by: Skates 2 on August 05, 2022, 11:21:23 AM
Fawns may feed your family but big racks feed the whole neighborhood. :bigsmyl:
Post by: Terry Green on August 05, 2022, 06:48:16 PM
More is better, I'll take the biggest in the group if I can be it hogs or deer. Venison all tastes the same to me for the last 40 years.
I have never shot or will ever shoot a fawn unless I'm starving. Nor a fawn's mother.
Post by: TxSportsman on August 06, 2022, 12:11:48 AM
Post by: Al Dente on August 06, 2022, 07:15:45 AM
Post by: Tim Finley on August 06, 2022, 08:45:43 AM
Post by: JR Chambers on August 10, 2022, 08:44:31 PM
Post by: Blackstick on August 12, 2022, 12:37:00 PM
Post by: RAU on August 12, 2022, 12:49:55 PM
Post by: Bisch on August 12, 2022, 12:58:56 PM
Bisch
Post by: awry on August 12, 2022, 01:01:25 PM
Another time at our church cook out a friend asked me "how do you get the wild taste out"?
I smiled and said "Go to the grocery store"
Been asked same question a few times …. gonna borrow that answer