Re: Cooked up the Rutting buck neck.
My grandpa and dad always quit hunting October 30th due to the rut and they said "they taste awful". Well I've had some poor venison, but its yet to taste bad from any of my harvested deer. I found some extra simple steps to make sure I get the best bang for my back in terms of meat quality.
Now I have been doing my own huntin' for sometime now. And love pursuing critters in full rut but once a buck is down no matter the time of fall these are my steps:
-latex gloves on and spare knife out, completely skin tarsals off back legs, take them far away and put knife and gloves in a ziplock
-return to the carcass, take out better clean knife, depending on how far to the truck, i will gut it and drag or go gutless method and hanging quarters to cool while breaking down the animal before packout.
-once home or if is long drive get it on ice or if cold enough hang it in a tree when home and clean the meat. If possible hang for a few days.
-when butchering, I enjoy bone in cuts but I always remove all tallow/fat before wrapping.
I cooked for many first time venison or bear eating folks and have yet to have a complaint they all really enjoy it as do I.
I figure, if we are all going to put the time and effort into hunting these animals its well worth to take extra time to care for the meat properly, with no short cuts, even if its gonna be all night.
"You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable." -Remi Warren
BCWF, WSSBC