Mule Deer Meat

[325]

I really enjoy mule deer hunting, and have eaten some great early season bucks. I have also tried a few later season bucks, and without exception found the meat smelled and tasted like someone farted on it. Any late season bucks I get now are relegated to salami and jerky.

I was just wondering how many of you really enjoy eating the steaks and roasts from late-season mulies?

[jml11]

Not a fan of the late season bucks anyways. I have had late season doe meat which was good.

[betteroffishing]

both bucks ive eaten from were mid oct bucks{ is this late season?}and they tasted great.

[Huey]

Can't answer as i've only had early venison. BUT Salami... cool where would a guy get that done!? I've heard you can do landjager too?!

[d6dan]

Better off turning those smelly *******s into pepperoni...

[tomahawk]

IMHO The rut or late season does not leave any bad taste on the meat, the bad taste is on the hide and hair from rutting activity and is transfered to the meat by the person who does the field dressing. I have taken countless late season deer, including a rutting mature buck on Saturday and the meat of them all is every bit as good as any early season animal.

[open-sights]

IMHO The rut or late season does not leave any bad taste on the meat, the bad taste is on the hide and hair from rutting activity and is transfered to the meat by the person who does the field dressing. I have taken countless late season deer, including a rutting mature buck on Saturday and the meat of them all is every bit as good as any early season animal.
I agree somewhat, a quick kill and care of the meat is everything, get it cooled asap, hanging as soon as you can and keep the scent glands away from the carcass.

[brotherjack]

I dunno, out of the five that I/The Wife have personally harvested/eaten, we have yet to have a bad one (all shot very late October/early November). I actually find the meat to be way more tender than whitetail, and the flavor is very palatable (though, it is not all that mild, tis true!).

I've heard enough people tell me about getting a bad one, that I don't totally discount the idea, but I think I tend to agree with tomahawk - good meat handling from word-go, and it should come out fine. Get it skinned and cooled ASAP, fillet all that nasty smelling fat off the carcass ASAP after skinning (especially around the parts you intend to make into steaks), wipe the meat down with vinegar/water solution ASAP after the fat trimming, and then wait 4-6 days while it hangs at near-freezing temps, and then cut er up (taking the time to fillet the meat off the bone, don't saw the bones or you get strong flavored marrow bits on the meat). This procedure has always yielded good meat for us.

[brotherjack]

Side note - speaking of 'getting a bad one' - The Wife(tm)'s LEH doe from earlier this year is the toughest eating we have EVER had. Even the tenderloins were so chewy as to remind me of shoe leather. And we handled it the same way we've done all our animals - go figure. ?? Everyone says a young doe should be melt-in-your-mouth eating, but this one sure ain't!

[Caveman]

Without a word of a lie, one of the latest and biggest bucks I've shot was the best tasting I've had. He was also servicing a bunch of does the day I took him, Dec 2/05.

[Dannybuoy]

IMHO The rut or late season does not leave any bad taste on the meat, the bad taste is on the hide and hair from rutting activity and is transfered to the meat by the person who does the field dressing. I have taken countless late season deer, including a rutting mature buck on Saturday and the meat of them all is every bit as good as any early season animal.
Absolutely bang-on ...couldnt agree more

[3kills]

IMHO The rut or late season does not leave any bad taste on the meat, the bad taste is on the hide and hair from rutting activity and is transfered to the meat by the person who does the field dressing. I have taken countless late season deer, including a rutting mature buck on Saturday and the meat of them all is every bit as good as any early season animal.

i agree 100% its all how the meat is handled from the time the trigger is pulled till the time its cooked and ready to eat...i cut my buck up the other day and hopefully will be eatin some of it in the next couple days i m thinkin it should be really good it felt nice and tendor too...

[NEEHAMA]

often I end up shooting a spike buck in the early season (lamb)
then in late november we shoot large mature four points (sheep)

there is a difference, ever try rack of sheep!! ?!!

the younger the better for the table.... for me

side note, we cut our late season mulie steaks thin so the marinade goes right through the meat. we then can make majic happen with rut buck dinners!! and yes lot's of roni.

[oldtimer]

Never had a problem with early or late. I agree with all previous posts about how it is handled makes the big difference. Mike

[sawmill]

I shot a beast in Dawson creek years ago in early Nov. and he smelled like a skunks ass.We were carefull of handling ect. and hung him in my Father in laws walk in cooler with the exhaust fan going full blast and temp Temp. around 34 -38 degrees for 21 days.I hope to taste another deer that good again.

[Glenny]

Granted early season bucks are very good tasting. The only bad tasting late season meat was when the deer was not skinned out immediately. I am convinced that this is one of the most important parts of game care. Skin out the back hawks and tarsal glands using gloves (or wash your hands after) and get the hide off ASAP. G

[Brambles]

I've never eaten a bad muley, its my favorite meat. Of course our season ends Nov 10th so maybe they arn't as stinky as the eventually get by then.

[guest]

My biggest buck, and mid rut, mid Nov. was great eating. Huge body, around 400 lbs.

Handle it right from pulling the trigger on and wella!

C/T

[Nooker77]

Can't answer as i've only had early venison. BUT Salami... cool where would a guy get that done!? I've heard you can do landjager too?!
We use BX meats in Vernon...Landjager doesnt turn out like you would think as it is meant to ROT in the casing...made from pork mostly..lol It was good but not what we expected (Helmuts in Vernon made theses) We got menonite sausage and cheese smokies done and our kids devour it BX MEATS)...have to ration it and we dont get it made till march so we have it for summer and camping!! :-P BX is sooooo clean you could operate in there..he takes great pride in his sausage and it shows!! He even gives you shit if you throw anything but top quality cuts in there....se we are pretty picky on our trimmings!! As for late season deer...most of my bucks are late season..WT cant tell the difference Mule can get a bit ripe..lol Take care when skinning and debone the meat and it turns out pretty good....but does make great snausage!! Cheers!!:razz:

[budismyhorse]

I took a Nov 15th old mature buck a few years ago. I skinned and quartered it (we were backpacking) and kept the meat as clean as possible. You could smell him from 50 yards away when we walked up.

I'll tell you, there was no unpleasant taste whatsoever. I did up the roasts as usual and it was awesome. I even have my girlfriend convinced its alright to eat late bucks after that deer. She loved it.

I am not singling anyone out, but most guys I know that complain about meat let it ride around in the truck with them for a day until it was hung and skinned, in my books, you'll get that bad taste everytime that way.

keep the meat clean when dressing him, use a seperate knife for the skinning if you have to. You get any of that musky gland/pubic area crap on your knife and you'll contaminate everywhere else the knife goes. The presence of that stuff, to me, is the only difference between late bucks and early guys.

[elktracker1975]

Keep your hands off the scent glands. I think a common mistake made is to cut the scent glands off and then gutting the deer with that knife. If you feel you must cut them off have two knives. I like deer meat better now that I cut it up myself. I cut all the fat and the dried crust thats on the outside of the animal after it has hung. I've noticed that most butchers don't trim that. It makes a big difference. Marinating any stronger smelling meat in red wine makes a big difference.

[doubled]

It is all about the field dressing. Do it right and no problems.


doubled - shot lots of late season bucks and enjoyed them all.

[sneg]

agree with posts above.it is all about how you field dress the animal. however i prefer younger animal and like to think that younder meat is more tender

[hunter1947]

Elk T 1975 I never have liked mule deer meat ,like you said it tastes gamey ,thats why I stopped hunting them years back.

[coquitlam]

Can't answer as i've only had early venison. BUT Salami... cool where would a guy get that done!? I've heard you can do landjager too?!


you have the best place close by to make salami and sausages. Sumas meats

[Squire]

I agree with all the posts about meat handling making a dfference. However, it is true that some deer will have a stronger, gamier taste than others.

One critical factor in producing good tasting cuts is to trim off all fat. If you backpack hunt like I do and have to completely debone a deer to pack it out you'll know how hard it is to get the smell of the fat off your hands. This is especially true when the fat is jelly-like and translucent as opposed to later in the season when it gets firmer and takes on a more opaque white colour. Sometimes I could still smell it on me after a couple of showers so I now use surgical gloves to cut up my deer in the alpine.

Unlike beef or pork where a little fat can add flavour, fat from venison can taste rancid and spoil the flavour. Cook all cuts lean and you'll have a better experience.

[Sitkaspruce]

I have never had a bad tasteing animal, except for one stinky old mulie that I shot in 2006, on Nov 21. I could smell him well before I got to him. I took a few picts, skinned him out in the snow, dragged/carried the carcass about 20' away, boned and quatered him and packed him down in two trips. He was made into mostly breakfast/Italian/polish sausages and the rest into cuts. He tasted awfull, no matter what we did, he was so gamey that he put the wife off mulies and made me second guess hunting late season mulies:shock:...........for about 30 seconds:tongue:.

I believe in getting it cooled down fast, cleaned and hung, but I also think that sometimes there is an animal out there that just does not taste good. I hope I never get another.....

Cheers

SS

[rocksteady]

. He tasted awfull, no matter what we did, he was so gamey that he put the wife off mulies and made me second guess hunting late season mulies:shock:...........for about 30 seconds:tongue:.

I believe in getting it cooled down fast, cleaned and hung, but I also think that sometimes there is an animal out there that just does not taste good. I hope I never get another.....

Cheers

SS


Have had several like this...And after having the opprotunity to fill the freezer with an elk and a whitey, I only buy a mulie tag in case I run into a wall hanger....(or a very early season buck)....

[mainland hunter]

I haven't had a bad mulie yet, I shot a muley and BT this year and they're both more tender and less gamey than the whitey doe my girlfriend shot last year, which was a pretty tastey doe too. My early season mulie is awesome, The BT was real rutty and could smell him before i got to him, he tastes just as good as the early mulie. My dad got one though that they ended up feeding the dogs with, I never tried it but it was apparantly terrible. mind you it wasnt as quick a kill as would be ideal.

[Mr. Dean]

Without a word of a lie, one of the latest and biggest bucks I've shot was the best tasting I've had. He was also servicing a bunch of does the day I took him, Dec 2/05.

A happy deer is a good deer.
A frustrated deer is a bad'un.

:lol: :lol:


I've taken deer on the last couple days of Oct that were smellin' and swelled up AND have taken them on opening day. All have fared well on the plate.

But I have tasted some that have been absolutely sh*t.


I think that all forms of venison can be like bears.... Every once in a while,,, you'll come across a bad one.

[doubled]

I also agree with the fat comment. I cut ALL of the fat off of my meat and it makes a BIG difference.

[35 Whelen]

Can't answer as i've only had early venison. BUT Salami... cool where would a guy get that done!? I've heard you can do landjager too?!

Ennis meats in Langley/ Abbotsford made the best salami I have ever had.

http://www.canpages.ca/page/BC/langley/ennis-farms-meats/1880757.html

He also did a hickory smoked chub that weighed it at about 5 lbs. Take it and hang it in a nice dry dark place...like under the basement stairs. Wipe it down every couple of days with paper towel as it will sweat. In about 4 weeks you have a salami that you can cut cigarrette paper thin. Mmmmm that on rye bread with some mustard, cheese and onion....lip smacking good.

Dave Ennis has about the best setup I have ever had. Wished he lived here in the Kootenays.

[bigmike]

Ennis meats in Langley/ Abbotsford made the best salami I have ever had.

http://www.canpages.ca/page/BC/langley/ennis-farms-meats/1880757.html

He also did a hickory smoked chub that weighed it at about 5 lbs. Take it and hang it in a nice dry dark place...like under the basement stairs. Wipe it down every couple of days with paper towel as it will sweat. In about 4 weeks you have a salami that you can cut cigarrette paper thin. Mmmmm that on rye bread with some mustard, cheese and onion....lip smacking good.

Dave Ennis has about the best setup I have ever had. Wished he lived here in the Kootenays.


why do people continue to use this guy????
thr fraser health board has public information that will let you see the disgusting practices that go on here,Ennis has been written up more than once for health violations.
DONT GO TO ENNIS MEATS!!!!!!!

If you want landjager and want it done right go to SUMAS MEATS,he makes awesome salami too(he hand grinds his own mix of seven pepper corns).....In all the years ive gone to Kurt ive never had a bad product and ive tried almost everything he makes.

SUMAS MEATS
KURT KRACK
604-864-0434

[newhunterette]

Have never had any meat taste real terrible - only once we had our meat processed by Ennis and found out they mix meats so if you bring in 500 lbs you get back 500 lbs but not necassarily your own meat - I prefer butchering my own and as I know how it is being handled and it is always fresh tasting and clean meat - as for sausages if I don't have time I send the meat to Stoelting's because Khoelers have been in the meat industry in Aldergrove for many years and their deli meats are wonderful.

[BCKID]

I agree that meat handling is the key. I have been doing the vinegar/water thing for years as BJ posted. Taken 6-4pts and 1-3pt in mid-late nov and they have all been good. The 3 pt was dripping wet on his belly from you know what and he was fine eating. A butcher friend of mine said if you take a cow out in the bush and treat it like some guys treat their deer you wouldn't want to eat him either!! Just take care of that meat. BCKID

[35 Whelen]

why do people continue to use this guy????
thr fraser health board has public information that will let you see the disgusting practices that go on here,Ennis has been written up more than once for health violations.
DONT GO TO ENNIS MEATS!!!!!!!

If you want landjager and want it done right go to SUMAS MEATS,he makes awesome salami too(he hand grinds his own mix of seven pepper corns).....In all the years ive gone to Kurt ive never had a bad product and ive tried almost everything he makes.

SUMAS MEATS
KURT KRACK
604-864-0434

When I used Dave....( He owned it back then) there was never a problem..mind you that was at least 10 years ago now. I guess he has sold it by now and retired. Too bad, he used to have a classy shop

[dunbartr]

I took a Nov 15th old mature buck a few years ago. I skinned and quartered it (we were backpacking) and kept the meat as clean as possible. You could smell him from 50 yards away when we walked up.

I'll tell you, there was no unpleasant taste whatsoever. I did up the roasts as usual and it was awesome. I even have my girlfriend convinced its alright to eat late bucks after that deer. She loved it.

I am not singling anyone out, but most guys I know that complain about meat let it ride around in the truck with them for a day until it was hung and skinned, in my books, you'll get that bad taste everytime that way.

keep the meat clean when dressing him, use a seperate knife for the skinning if you have to. You get any of that musky gland/pubic area crap on your knife and you'll contaminate everywhere else the knife goes. The presence of that stuff, to me, is the only difference between late bucks and early guys.

My experience as well. Found some mulie bucks by smelling hem and they had no game taste at all. Then again - I have had WT form late november than didn;t smell, and it was a little gamey, but still quite edible...

I think some of it has to do with "diet" that the animals are on too.

[guest]

I see people slamming Ennis meats here.

I have used them from way back when Dave owned it to the present.

I try to do my own main buthchering but still get several different types of sausages from Ennis and like them all.

Just remember that what is good for one might not be good for another,
I am sure if the health board found big issues with Ennis farms they wouldn't have the doors still open but to each his own.

If you do it yourself you have no one to blame but your self.

Many like Penguin meats, some not, many like Sumas, some not.

C/T

[EvanG]

I personally believe that the timing on shooting your deer has very little reflection on the quality of meat. I personlly have shot many deer in alberta at the peak of the rut and no matter how stikny the buck was the meat was the best I have had. On the other hand I have shot deer much earlier in the season in the sage hill of bc which were no where near the quality of meat. I think its 100% to do with the care of the meat and what the deer have been eating.

[Gunner]

I've shot a number of late season bucks both at home and in the Peace,and they've all been good .......except one.He was shot the last day in Region 3 and had no fat left on him whatsoever.(all screwed out!).Despite taking all the normal precautions,the meat was stinky,even BX smokies and pepperoni had that muley taste.I was suprised because it was a oneshot kill,in cold weather less than 2 hours from home.Oh well,I ate my way through him anyway,so he didn't go to waste,but I don't want another one like that! Gunner

[swampdonkey]

Can't answer as i've only had early venison. BUT Salami... cool where would a guy get that done!? I've heard you can do landjager too?!sumas meats

[bridger]

i find mule deer late in the season have to be handled carefully when cleaning. get rid of the scent glanda keep hair off the meat sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't seems to be worse later in the rut. whitetail on the other hand don't seem to have a bad taste problem.

[beastman]

i noticed someone mentioned ennis meats being on the health board radar,so i looked them up,turns out they had a bad rap as recently as march08.
Ive had bad experience with them and know a few others that have too.

http://www.healthspace.ca/Clients/FHA/FHA_Website.nsf/Env-Frameset

[MOWITCH SLAYER]

Shot lots of swollen necked buck's over the year's. Keeping your meat clean is number one, washing down the rib cage and wiping the carcase clean with a wet cloth. Next i remove as much blood shot meat as i can and hang it for one to two week's depending on how rutty it is. then it's just a matter of cutting it up into the cut's you want. An old buck that's strong in the rut has to be cooked with spices and Know how but with practice it can leave you wanting more!

[shaner338]

Most of the Mulies I've taken are late season and never found them gamey at all. Altough I skin them and wash em out good the day they hit the ground. I also butcher them myself and remove all fat and junk after I bone em out.

[Phil]

I shot a Sept. two point and a Nov. four point last season. My taste prefference of the two was for the four point. Both deer handled the same way too.

I've also used Ennis Meats and get great service and great products.

[Hunterguy]

Beltrame Meats for wild game and everyday cuts, custom sausage and service is excellent. Pete the Meat we call im.

[hunter1947]

If I hunt mule deer in the rut and I bag one all the meat will go into hamburger ,sausages ,pepperoni ,smokies etc.

[Jelvis]

I've heard a lot of meat stories over the many deer and moose hunting seasons from all kinds of hunter's. I have eaten many mule deer and a fair amount of moose.
I prefer younger deer and moose for the plate, it seems the spikes and forkers have a milder, tenderer form of texture.
It depends what happened even before the trigger was pulled, what was the animal doing just before the shot. Had it been running for awhile escaping capture or fighting with another animal? Was it wounded then chased down and finished off? Was it bled, cooled and aged proper. was it in the peak of estrus or rut? Was it gut shot at all? Was it real skinny?
All sorts of reasons for different taste and different textures.
The meat is generally excellent on a well fed animal and should taste great too if the cook knows how to prepare it also.
Jel - - I prefer spike or fork horn for the frying pan - smokies for older ones.
Mule deer are a good source of lean nutrition.

[LYKTOHUNT]

I have shot late season bucks and some big and smelly ones ,have had no problem with poor tasting meat. I totally agree with brotherjack,s comments. The only poor tasting buck was one shot on the last day of a hunt around the gang ranch and tranported home to the island within hours of being shot That meat was terrible as a result of improper cooling.(was young and dumb)

[Singleshotneeded]

:-D Yeah, outside of young bucks being more tender, the key to good meat is to gut the animal immediately and properly, and then try to keep the body cavity open whilst taking it back to camp/or home, so it cools faster. Then skin it, wash it, and hang it in a cold room...

[horshur]

I sat eating a nice chili that a buddies wife had prepared and he smug like says see you can't tastes it........sure the hell can and he looks at his wife and asks her....so can she.

honestly a run down overheated and dehydrated skinny deer in November never taste like a fat and lazy one killed in sept.

it is the reason why they finish beef on grain.

I have found a few bucks from november were fine however like I said they were not run down still had fat and were almost non particapating in the rut...still they were not like a early chilcotin alpine buck........honestly believe some of you may never have had such a delicacy.

[GoatGuy]

I sat eating a nice chili that a buddies wife had prepared and he smug like says see you can't tastes it........sure the hell can and he looks at his wife and asks her....so can she.

honestly a run down overheated and dehydrated skinny deer in November never taste like a fat and lazy one killed in sept.

it is the reason why they finish beef on grain.

I have found a few bucks from november were fine however like I said they were not run down still had fat and were almost non particapating in the rut...still they were not like a early chilcotin alpine buck........honestly believe some of you may never have had such a delicacy.

;) you got 'er. Like goat in the rut. Can hardly even cook the stuff inside. Talk about stinking out the house. But try it in Sept/Oct and it's awesome.

[bopper]

A lot has to do with what they have been feeding on.....when I lived in Dawson Creek, I quit shooting mule deer from along the Peace River because they tasted of sage, and I don't like sage.

[Jelvis]

Time of year (season) and location (habitat from) makes a whole lot of difference like horshur and G-Guy say. Right on the button.
Now I gotta get some of that alpine chicotin venison by the sounds of it. lol or maybe a Carpenter Lake healthy deer for the early season table fare.
Jel - - hey the Nor river deer are good early too --- September hogfat ---

[deer nut]

I made a rut buck from Texada into sausage and can hardly eat it! After eating elk and white-tail, mule deer is lowest on my preference list. if I shoot another one, it will go for ground - except for the prime cuts.

[Singleshotneeded]

:-D I hear you Bopper, sage and venison...yuk... A bit of sage, salt, pepper, and garlic stuck in a few holes on the outside of a game bird before roasting is great...

[gearjunkierob]

Hey guys. I just ate my first steak from my late, late season (end of Nov) region 3, 4-point mule deer last night. Bacon wrapped tenderloin, and I have to say it was phenomenal. It was really tough to wait until I finished off the previous years meat before I tasted this guy. Sure, it tasted like deer....but that's the point, is it not? Not terribly gamey, etc.

This was the first time I dealt with the deer from field to table and I think it makes a huge difference. I know that the meat I am eating is the buck I shot - not a pile of meat the butcher put together. I dressed the animal in the field, dragged him out, drove it home, let my 1.5 yr old daughter pet it, hung it for a while and then cut and wrapped him with help of a few good friends. Was a good feeling to know that the meat was taken care of properly from start to finish.

Anyways the # 1 & 2 things that I think contribute to gamey tasting mule deer meat is fat and bone left on the meat prior to cooking. Cut out the fat and bone and you will find that the meat tastes much better.

So far I've only ever had butcher ground and sausage. I've been dissapointed by both. I'm looking forward to trying the ground from this Nov's buck - fat was trimmed out of all the ground as best we could. I'm anticipating this will taste much better that the butcher variety ground I had from my last buck.

Have you guys on the board found that cutting the fat out of the ground improves taste much?

[horshur]

Hey guys. I just ate my first steak from my late, late season (end of Nov) region 3, 4-point mule deer last night. Bacon wrapped tenderloin, and I have to say it was phenomenal. It was really tough to wait until I finished off the previous years meat before I tasted this guy. Sure, it tasted like deer....but that's the point, is it not? Not terribly gamey, etc.

This was the first time I dealt with the deer from field to table and I think it makes a huge difference. I know that the meat I am eating is the buck I shot - not a pile of meat the butcher put together. I dressed the animal in the field, dragged him out, drove it home, let my 1.5 yr old daughter pet it, hung it for a while and then cut and wrapped him with help of a few good friends. Was a good feeling to know that the meat was taken care of properly from start to finish.

Anyways the # 1 & 2 things that I think contribute to gamey tasting mule deer meat is fat and bone left on the meat prior to cooking. Cut out the fat and bone and you will find that the meat tastes much better.

So far I've only ever had butcher ground and sausage. I've been dissapointed by both. I'm looking forward to trying the ground from this Nov's buck - fat was trimmed out of all the ground as best we could. I'm anticipating this will taste much better that the butcher variety ground I had from my last buck.

Have you guys on the board found that cutting the fat out of the ground improves taste much?

A fat healthy deer on good feed does not need the bone removed or the fat cut off to improve the taste...it does seem to help with a rut buck though.

[quackquackbang]

i havent eat much mule deer actually the first time i tried it was about 2 months ago got some from .308win and i do have to say that the meat was excellent!!!:mrgreen::mrgreen:

[RustyRipper]

Learning some very interesting stuff here! I never had a problem with stinky, rutty tasting venison until this year. Before last fall I had only shot coastal blacktails, usually early season and was usually in an environment that I could butcher it myself so I have always enjoyed it thoroughly. Last november however, I shot my first Muley and it didn't smell too bad (tarsal glands smelled a bit but not terrible). I dressed it fairly quickly and got it hung up and skinned about an hour later, but it was about -24 so it didn't get much chance to hang and age before freezing. Anyway, I got it back to the Island and to the butcher, made it up into steaks, cutlets, roasts and ground. The steaks taste terrible, (unless marinaded for a few days) the cutlets are okay when pounded and breaded but still very strong. The ground is very very strong and needs to have lots of spice added to it to be palatable. I told myself I would never shoot a rutty muley again but upon reading some of the stuff on this thread I now realize that maybe I could have altered the taste. Thanks everyone for the great info, I'll just pinch my nose while eating until next season!

[Big Game Guy]

Hi all I absolutly agree that the care taken with your wild game ia paramount. I have take mule deer in the middle of the rut(scent glands running down to the hoof) and with care the meat was awsome!!! Cut the glands off first throw them away clean your knife and get busy!!!!!

[betteroffishing]

i was the lucky recipient of about 12 pkgs of late season rutted out mulie meat that another member on this forum was not enjoying . it did not serve me well as a plain grilling steak , however as fajita meat , as a madras curry and as a whiskey marrinated steak , they were delicious . nature makes the food perfect , we just need to learn how to get the most out of it by adapting our expectations , not every cut can be what we want it to be . they can all be great dinner fair in their own right though.

[little moose]

all in the handling get rid of the scent glands and dont let the hide touch the meat never had a bad one even in full rut

[moosehunter21]

I like the steaks from late does but not too much from late bucks, they become sausage and the like.

[BCHunterFSJ]

I have eaten many mulie bucks taken in November, and have yet to encounter a bad tasting one! And the liver is to die for...

[Muleycatcher]

My last buck was late Nov. And he was an old bugger (almost no teeth left) and he tasted awesome. I agree alot of it is in the field care.