What is the issue with rutting animal meat

[Steelpulse]

I read all the time cant eat this cant eat that gotta trim the glands off and hike them to the other side of the mountain or your ungulate will taste like crap.

i have only shot, rutting heavily at times, moose and deer, and they are the best dam steaks and meat i have ever enjoyed, so question is what are people doing wrong to taint the meat or is this a some rutting deer are aweful and some are not just by random? That doesnt make sense though, so lets hear it why do we hear this all the time?

[Kowabunga]

I think some of it just comes down to each persons idea of what is good, or what is "gamey." Like you, I have taken many of my Mule Deer in early November when beginning to rut. I use one knife immediately to remove the tarsal glands and a fairly large patch of hide surrounding, and then use a separate knife for the remainder of the work. Keep your hands away from this gland and hair to avoid contaminating the rest of the carcass.

I make sure to keep everything as clean as possible without being ridiculous about it. Alot of the "gamey" flavour comes from the fat on the animal. The easiest way to avoid that flavour is to trim the fat from the meat before cooking. That being said though, it is usually not that bad. I have had some meat with more "flavour" than other, but nothing that is even close to bad or inedible as some claim to find.

[zippermouth]

the main problem is guys are not as careful as they need to be. sometimes things happen and the animal dies in a bad spot and its hard to deal with. but for the most part bad tasting game meat is from people touching the scent glands and touching the meat or bad gutting techniques/gut shot animals. I have had a couple injured animals that didn't taste all that good, not sure why? but for the most part we are very clean and careful when dealing with an animal, it doesn't really matter when its killed. I guess it largely depends on the animal as well. I've had a deer you could smell from 20 yards out and surprisingly enough it was awesome eating. And other deer that seemed fine and were stronger tasting. the only thing you can do is be as careful as you can and hope for the best.

[goinghunting]

Depends what species it is and how old it is. Younger animals taste good no matter what. I dont find whiteys, elk or moose ever get all that bad just tough if there old warriors. Muledeer on the other hand, the dog doesnt even want old rutting muledeer buck meat!

[ruger#1]

We have had muledeer, Black ,And white tail hang for a week out hunting. Scent glands still on. Never a problem. I shot a two point blacktail one year. A nice heart shot. Cleaned and never touched the ponch. Took it to a butcher. It came back. Cooked up a few steaks, And it smelt and tasted like a gut shot deer. One reason I do my own cutting and wrapping. Never had a problem since.

[argyle1]

I am anal about not getting hair on the meat, and if I do I get it off as soon as possible. Moose and deer like to smell like rutty piss in the season, but I don't recall a moose or whitetail that was bad tasting from rutting if it was well looked after.

[M.Dean]

A perfect morning out hunting with my Son, I'm sitting back on my quad, slurp'in coffee when my radio start's crackling, "Dad! I got Louie!!!" I heard him yell, Where bout's are ya? At the top of "Double header hill was his reply! So off I went to help my Son with his big buck. After white knuckling it up the hill to get to him, I seen him and the buck, he'd started gutting it, I pulled up to about 10 feet from him, and I started gagg'in! Holy shit did that guy stink! After my Son finished laughing at me he said go have a coffee and a smoke and I'll get this finished, thank God! Anyways, we got it back to here, skinned it out, after cutting the glands off real careful like, bagged up the stinky hide and crap, and after we pressured washed that guy and wiped him down with a bit of vinegar there was no smell at all to him! When we rolled him into the cold room, it was just another dam good deer, no stink or smell, and when we cut it up a week or so later, we fried up some steaks to see what there were like, this way we know how much is going to sausage, jerky and burger. But this guy went into steaks and roasts, and every piece was great eating! So, even if your buck, or bull is rutting, take the time to cut the glands out first, replace or wash your knife, then, what we do before we gut it is peel the hide way back, as far as possible, then open it up so none of the stink from the hide can get into the belly, seems to work. Then once it's back here, we take the rest of the hide off, head, legs etc, and wash it down real real good! Then dry it, real real good! I can't remember the last time we had wild game meat that stunk when we cooked it! Good luck this fall!

[dougal]

Though I mostly hide in the shadows on here I have to agree with the opinion of what I've read so far. We have taken plenty of animals during the rut and to be honest we take lots of time "being as quick as possible" to gut and skin our catch. Always clean and tidy as possible. There's never a perfect way and each animal and location adds to those time frames, but never have we had an animal that was too gamey or nasty to eat. Everyone has there own way and style with gutting and cleaning. Ways of hanging and the time it hangs. Age of animal and the toughness of the beast. All comes down to personal preference and what you want out of it.

[HarryToolips]

I've only shot a couple bucks during rut/pre rut, and both tasted great...

[Glenny]

Had no issues with ruttn bucks. Its only the hide that stinks. I like to get the hide off right away on any buck rutting or not. I think its the key to great game meat.

[boxhitch]

For most critters , the meat itself doesn't change with the rut , it is what it is.
I don't eat the neck meat from a bloated up ruttin buck , and carefully trim the fat from all other cuts.
I will never use a bandsaw again on the legs for round steaks , the bone marrow has its own interesting flavour , I can't tolerate.
Hind quarters and inside loins are easily tinted by gut fluids or piss.

Caribou are completely different

[Shortmag300]

I have to agree with most on this subject I use a glove on one hand pull on the hair of the sent gland and remove it with a razor knife then take the glove off by turning it inside out leaving the sent gland in the glove. Set gloves and razor aside out of the area you are working in ,so as to not come into contact with meat then gut and next remove hide to get meat cooled down as soon as possible. This has always worked for me. My dad and uncle used to go hunting together all the time dad always skinned it in the field uncle skinned at home. My uncles meat always had a stronger game taste to it.

[tomahawk]

Bottom line is rutting stink or fluids of piss and ejaculation or scent glands are external when any animal is shot. None can get through the hide while its alive. The hunter must keep it that way, make a mistake in your field dressing and you get tainted meat. Do it right and its never going to be a problem. Best time for success with any animal is during the rut, other then bison I rarely hunt outside of it, odds are much better for putting great tasting meat on the table.

[steel_ram]

Any animal is going to be better eating when it's healthy, fed and not stressed or exhausted. Some deer certainly have it rougher than others during the rut. I have had a couple that were excellent eating but most were not prime, and a couple of stinky mulies barely edible.
Definitely a less challenging, more successful time to hunt them while they're almost as dumb as we are.

[Eastbranch]

The problem is that most people are trained to believe all meat should taste like something from a drive thru window. Real meat has flavour.

[high and to the right]

I started using the gutless method about 15 years ago and I have no guts, urine, crap and very limited hair on the meat (and on me). The only way to go!

[aggiehunter]

hips don't lie.....

[wideopenthrottle]

The problem is that most people are trained to believe all meat should taste like something from a drive thru window. Real meat has flavour.
well said...i have eaten lamb with more "gamey" flavour than almost every deer ive eaten....as others have said get the meat hanging hide and feet free (including glands etc) as soon as it is back to the meat pole.. i leave fur on until back at camp to keep the meat clean....another tip i learned is always keep your knife hand clean and if you have a clean hand you can do the fist technique to do perfect skinning (i was amazed how easy and quick it is to skin with the twisting fist method)...we always run at least a pail or two of water through the cavity and scrub until all rib bones are white...some will say this is wrong but we do it with every animal and ensure no blood guts or gore are left on the meat/carcass and it makes a difference especially if you like to do slow cooked melt of the bones ribs .. trust me!!!!..after washing it pat it dry and do not get it wet again...one important thing i see even old pro's forget sometimes is always skin around the ankles before hanging so that the short little hairs don't end up on the meat and saw off the feet before hanging so the saw dust stays out of the meat too

[tinhorse]

Agree with most all the comments on here. be careful and look after your own meat. the only bad tasting animal I have ever had, (and it was bad) was cut up at a butchers. Not sure if it was my meat or not that I got back. Also ask your butcher, if you use one, when getting sausage made if they mix in others game meat. We shot a moose one year and were getting sausage made. Some tasted great others like crap. Asked the butcher why this was and he said that he mixed in others peoples meat into one large batch so he could do multiple orders...... We got the proper weight in sausage back but got some others peoples game in the mix that who knows what they did with it.... I do all my own cutting, wrapping, sausage and jerky now. that's the only real way to tell what has been done and gone into your table fare.

[hunter1947]

Try to hang the meat as long as you can when cooking it put lots of salt and ground pepper on the meat before cooking it all scarps should be put into pepperonis or sausages,hamburger,,if you don't like the taste of the meat when the animal is in rut don't shoot it....

[warnniklz]

It's all good! My brother shot a buck a couple years ago. The buck had been scrapping pretty good.

When we skinned him he was bruised pretty good. Now he wasn't a deer I'd introduce someone to wild game to.

But people complaining about gamey meat is like people on RoGheyOh Drive in California complaining about warm Disani....

[Tron]

Even in cold temps don't leave it hanging with the hide on. It may be cold enough but the meat will end up tasting like the way the hide smells. I have never experienced this because I always skin right away. Just my thoughts

[aggiehunter]

a hunter who can shoot a buck well before the rut doesn't have to fool himself about meat quality...high country mule deer in early Sept is hard to beat.

[Fisher-Dude]

Even in cold temps don't leave it hanging with the hide on. It may be cold enough but the meat will end up tasting like the way the hide smells. I have never experienced this because I always skin right away. Just my thoughts

Solid advice.

[Whonnock Boy]

Game meat should taste like game, not "gamey". If you want quality tasting meat, butcher yourself, remove all the fat and sinew, and de-bone. Even the ruttiest of bucks are quality table fare when cared for, and butchered properly.

[Monashee]

I'm pretty sure one mulie buck i shot was eating poison ivy which somehow was in the meat , it was edible but gave you the trots , the dog ate it anyway

One older white-tail buck I got at the beginning of the rut was excellent as any venison .

After I gut an animal , i like to rinse out the carcass with clean water , usually shoot my deer in cooler weather . One deer i shot in warm weather , cut it up and put in the freezer all within 4 hours . It tasted as great as any deer I've had . I don't believe hanging is necessary to have good tasting deer meat.