Ken, how did that 10 point you had hanging for a few days turn out? You said the meat looked great, but you weren't sure if he'd taste good? Well, how'd he end up tasting? I gave my buck away to hunters for the hungry. I usually only keep does, I think they taste better and I think the deer up in PA taste better as well.
The taste is just fine. These are good corn fed deer. But . . .
I had a small piece of backstrap left when I was done vacuum packing. I cut it into 1/4-inch strips which I marinated in homemade teriyaki sauce and then put on the grill. It was about as tender as Bulgarian shoe leather. Oh well, it really doesn't make that much difference when I make corned venison, pastrami, sausage, or jerky. There really is a big difference between an older buck and an antlerless deer.
My rifle is at the basement door, and I've still got my eyes out for a clueless and antlerless deer that might happen to wander by. I sat in my tree house for about an hour last evening, until it got too dark to safely shoot anything. I heard deer, but didn't see a single one.
Also -- as for deer taste. There certainly are big differences in taste per locality. In this area, the deer out of Northern Virginia -- Loudoun, Clark, Frederick, Fauquier, etc., and from my WV county of Hampshire, are excellent and have virtually no odor when butchered. But, I've had some out of other areas, like where I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, and they not only didn't taste great, they had a very distinct odor that I never liked. I can only assume it is based on diet.
