"Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of
venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is
tough, with a strong "wild" taste. Others insist that venison's flavor
is delicate. An independent food research group was retained by the
Venison Council to conduct a taste test to determine the truth of these
conflicting assertions once and for all.

First a Grade A Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile and
a half from a road and shot several times. After some of the entrails
were removed, the carcass was dragged back over rocks and logs, and
through mud and dust to the road. It was then thrown into the back of a
pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before being
hung out in the sun for 10 days.

After that it was lugged into a garage, where it was skinned and rolled
around on the floor for a while. Strict sanitary precautions were
observed throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering
en vironment.
For instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick the steer
carcass, but were chased away when they attempted to bite chunks out of
it.

Next a sheet of plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in
the basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat
left from last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to
clean out the grass stuck under the lawn mower.

The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement
where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men
worked on it with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was
375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a
couple of steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an
inch and a half thick on the other.

The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock in
the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added along
with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for
two hours.

The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three
blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every one of the members of the
panel thought it was venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted
exactly like the venison he had eaten in hunting camps for the past 27
years. The results of this scientific test show conclusively that there
is no difference between the taste of beef and venison."

Now that's funny.

We sometimes take deer to get processed at one of the local joints, but the above is exactly why I like doing it myself.

I know the shot was good, it was field dressed immediately, and it was quartered and put on ice as soon as possible. I also cook it myself, and it's slap-yo-mama good.

I have my deer processed by the same butchers who do our steers. We also buy a half a hog, processed, off them once a year or so.

They all taste good, but they sure don't taste alike.

good timing nate. I finally got to use the new meat slicer (from Christmas). I know the meat was done right b/c I do it all myself like davasta. ANyway I coated iwth the jerky marinade last night and tonight plan to stick on dehyradator. So hopefully my jerky will indeed taste diff than beef and so much better for you. If you guys are nice I might bring some to PB.

I think I saw Sunil in that deer camp.

Grimes,
put me down for a lb of your jerky at the conference!! If anyone else thinks they can beat grimes stuff, bring it on!

Beef is beef and deer is deer... Either you like one, both or none but they sure don't taste the same!

Nate you don't want to know this price. With my labor charges... I figure time I shot, field dress it, drag it, quarter it, cooler it, ice it for 5 days, freeze it, then slice it, marinade it, dehydrate it about $50/lb is about right.

Cj I disagree 100% I bet in a taste test most would not know my deer from beef. And many would prefer it. Nates story was hilarious and somewhat believable unfortunately. I have had awful deer that if that is all I ever tried I would never try again, gamey and tough mine and sure many others is not this way. Many city folk have came to the house and said this is the best, chili, beef stew, or steak wrapped in bacon ever to later find out it was venison.

If used as ground meat, at least 9 out of 10 people can't tell the difference.

I used to use ground deer only for certain recipes, all mixed with ground beef. Last year we ran out of ground beef 3 months before we would have a steer ready to butcher, and we used nothing but ground deer for that whole period for everything. Nobody could tell the difference. Other than being leaner and having basically no fat to drain, it pretty much cooks identically to ground beef as well.

We eat a fair amount venison. Usually two to three deer give us 60 to 75 lbs. of boneless meat.

My buddies make fun of me for blasting the spots off the deer I take in the fall. They tell me they've got dogs bigger than the deer I take. I only take small, young deer, and only when it is cool outside. They get bled and immediately chilled with ice. I've got a cold room in the barn where I hang them for a week or so. I usually quarter them while they are hanging. Then I do the final butchering in the kitchen where I can keep everything real clean. From there they get vacuum packed, dated, and frozen. The meat is delicious. When we make pastrami, my friends can go through a couple of pounds in a few minutes.

Every once in a while somebody will give us a gift of venison roasts or ground venison that they had professionally processed. Most of the time I cook it up for the cats, or just throw it out. It almost always has a smell that we don't like. I'm afraid most of it was handled like the steer mentioned above.

I shoot big ones and small ones. Gut and rough butcher them within 24 hours and freeze. Pull them out later and thaw in the fridge, finish the butchering and refreeze. The thaw in the fridge ages the meat perfectly. Even the big bucks taste fine. I should mention that by "I", I mean my wife. She also drove me to my stand when I had a broken foot, and picked me and the deer up after dark. Some day she may butcher me...

Isn't it true that the deer's diet has a significant effect on the taste of the meat? Corn fed trumps deer confined to forest land.

I think it does, Bski. I've done most of my hunting in two different parts of Texas, and the deer have a slightly different flavor that I attribute to diet.

I've heard that midwestern cropland deer have a better flavor than, say, mule deer out west that browse on whatever they can find.

But shot placement, field dressing/gutting, and getting the meat chilled right away (or a lack of any of the above) will change the flavor much more than diet.

Mine are grain fed which helps a lot with flavor and size. Adding the pond (and 3 wetlands) has helped bring a lot more quality deer in.

The small ones are the best. The other day I was mowing the walking path around my dad's property and there was a really spotted up one that darn near charged the tractor to keep it away from "his foodplot". I think I'll eat him this fall.

I see you've never tasted a deer that was living on browsing jumipers and hemlock for a month before it was shot. Up there agriculture means managing your woodlot for timber production, and the only places that deer have stuff to eat is the swamps and clearcut areas that start growing. We hunt a 1700 acre parcel that is 90% mature Maple trees, with cedar swamps in the other 10%. Between the habitat, wolves and bad winter the past 2 years, we only cut 7 deer tracks in 5 days of hunting in 2" - 7" snow.

I will normally hunt in the Northern reaches of WI for a week, and also here in Indiana. The difference between the deer is night and day. I use the deer from up there for sausage and deer sticks, here they get wrapped for table fare.

MY FIL claimed that deer from where his family used to hunt in PA always tasted like pine needles.

I usually check stomach contents after cleaning for curiousity's sake. There have been some wild variations over the years (corn, soybeans, forbs & grass, even turnips once), which have never correpsonded to a change in taste. But wrt overall diet, all the deer I've taken here pretty much eat the same things - their last meal doesn't make any difference compared to what they've eaten all year long. That overall diet is pretty constant, I believe.

You forgot to add in all of the research you have had to do over the last several years and equipment necessary to kill the deer, and all the equipment upgrades needed to kill the deer quicker. We are probably talking an additional $22.39 for every pound of deer meat that you produce here.....Tell you what, just change my order from one pound to one piece and we will go out for a steak dinner Wed night. Even though deer obviously tastes better than cows, it would be cheaper and more convenient for us just to have a chef fix us up and serve us a big juicy steak.

Yep much cheaper to just go buy the steaks cooked but don't let the wife know that. Jeff Foxworthy I think had the price for the deer meat at $200/lb time he figured cost of bullets from missing so much. I will try to hookup whoever I can with some prime jerky pieces. I like to take it on roadtrips anyways, good protein source.

I think I have noticed a little better taste from the deer taken in midwest but agree much more about proper care and most butchers don't care as much as you do.

I don't hunt for food. I eat venison because I hunt. I love bow hunting!

Yeah, if I was hunting to get cheap deer meat I'd be wasting a lot of money! Greg, I agree ground meat and many other prep ways, you cannot tell the difference. However, when eating a nice back strap steak, I can tell the difference. As others have posted, I can tell the difference between deer in PA who eat mostly woody browse and wild forbes, those in VA who eat people's backyard gardens and those from Kansas who eat corn and soybeans. When I make deer chili, I love having non hunters eat it who would die if they knew they were eating venison. I never let them know. I am not sure why people are so worried that deer and cows taste different. Goats, sheep, pigs etc all taste different! Each person may like one more than another.

In PA on our hunting land, my dad and I only harvest adult does because that is biologically best for the deer herd and the occasional mature buck which is rather rare in those parts. In Virginia, I mostly hunt in the suburban areas outside Washington, DC. There if it's brown, it's down... The land owners who have so graciously given me permission to hunt on their properties want all the deer removed. The county biologist who works for the county I work in said most areas of the county have deer populations in the 300+ deer per acre range. At least 10 times the healthy number. They taste worse than any other deer I have eaten. Consequently, they are given to hunters for the hungry program. Last year I donated 18 deer to the program. There was a very high demand with the downturn in the economy...

300+ per acre? That's a deer for ever 140 square foot! You sure it was 300 per square mile?

No aiming required. The 18 donated deer were taken in one shot.

I put two does down last year with one shot! It was so perfectly lined up 60 yards from my stand. I couldnt believe I got them both. They both dropped 15 yards apart!

H and R single shot slug gun with a hornady slug. I hunt for meat cause I like to eat!

Hunting an old railroad track I shot a pheasant as it crossed low over the track. The dog ran out there to get it and came back with an almost dead rabbit. Then I sent the dog back for the pheasant. If it hadn't been for the dog I would have never known. Don't think I could possibly pull that one off again!

Cj yes glad to see your doing your part in urban deer control. You mean 300/sq mile that is still super high. And the norm in many urban suburban NE areas. You can follow a CDC map of lyme disease and it follows where deer herds are over carrying capacity. Csteffen that is cool story.

Yes, 300 per square mile... Good lord, if it was 300 per acre it'd be a deer farm! HAHA Or... a high fenced hunting operation... Not that I am against someone paying $5k to kill a buck that way.

I put one of my game cameras down by the pond last week to see what might be visiting. The deer are already trying to get themselves invited in for dinner at our house. Either one will be satisfactory around Thanksgiving time.



And then there is this poor deer! Just look at the flies and ticks on this critter.




I don't really hunt anymore. We just thin them out, just like the bluegills and bass from the pond. But we do enjoy the meat.

The county where CJ and I work is ridiculous. Between the deer and the non-migratory Canada Geese we've got more wildlife around my office (Chantilly) than we seem to have out here in the wilds.

Ken

I haven't noticed an increase in the herd this year, probably cause of the brutal winter we had.
Here's some twin's at the cabin 2 days ago, they looked fine but mom was real thin.

Ya know, guys...wild pork ain't bad either.

We've got a target-rich environment down here.

... i'm so jealous of all you right now. i haven't had venison in probably 6 years, the last time i visited my uncle Dave in Illinois.

I gotta get to Texas and kill me some wild pigs! I've tried everything to get on some of the wild porkers in PA, but there just aren't many of them and the ones that are around are smarter than a 5th grader! I'd love to shoot a wild boar, but I am not going to a high fence place to do it. So that means I gotta head south I guess.

My friend shot a couple of shoats in Virginia several years back. They were in a group with several other little ones and a couple mother pigs. Rumor has it, some guy down the road was raising a couple dozen wild pigs in a fenced in enclosure. They got lose as almost always happens and started breeding in the wild. That is until the locals found out they were lose. They haven't been seen in a several years now. They weren't your average looking feral pig though. They have the more wild Russian boar look to them.

AP, your fawns look healthy. With the hard winter you had this past year, it's amazing the mother birthed twins let alone any... Our deer are pretty thin looking right now also.

Ken, that deer is disgusting with ticks! My dad said he found a dead deer by his house the other day. He said it had so many ticks still attached to it he thinks they sucked the deer to death! I about puked moving a road killed buck the other night at work. The ticks seem to particularly like to attach to the growing antlers. I think its because they are so blood rich with the fast growth. It too was just covered! The antlers didn't have an inch not covered by a tick. Even the new tips where the fresh growth was already had ticks on them... Is it just me or are the ticks particularly bad in mid-Atlantic area this year?

When we moved up here from Virginia 27 years ago, our shaggy dog Nikki was like a tick motel, but after 3 weeks here they all dropped off and he never had any more ticks. I think they headed back south.

Davatsa,
Let me know if you need any help hunting down them pigs! Nov-Feb I have plenty of available time.

Davatsa,
Let me know if you need any help hunting down them pigs! Nov-Feb I have plenty of available time and since last november a stockpile of ammunition.

Nate, hunting and shooting pigs are a lot different. On my place they are 100% nocturnal. I might see them once a year. Maybe not. They come and go and right now, they are mostly gone. And, they are pretty smart. I had a couple of guys come to my place and stay up most of the night hunting them. One night they stayed up until 4 am and called it off. Sometime after they left, the pigs came and destroyed a feeder. I have tried to trap them with no luck. So, I let another guy who has trapped a lot of pigs try. NADA!!

I don't particularly care for venison. So, the deer I shoot wind up as ground meat. I use it for enchiladas, chili, and spaghetti with meat balls. I can still taste a little difference.

Nate,
I'll let you know. February is always a good month to hunt them. The weather is still fairly cool down here and the ticks/parasites are gone.

Dave,
They can be nocturnal here, but we have so many that you can usually spot a few whenever you try hard enough. Plus, since they are a non-game species with no limit, night hunting with a spotlight is a fun alternative even when they're nocturnal.

Dave, for about 6 months I was overloaded with them. Then they moved on and now I only see tracks.

I guess this is as good a time as any to start the 2009 Best Deer Stick Competition.

Hopefully the event can be larger than 2008's which unfortunately had no participants, but many threats to participate.

Rainman and Cecil have tried mine. Well, I think Cecil did, I gave him some. Mebee a taste test comparison at the conference?

Now I really wish I could attend the conference! Just so I could eat lots and lots of deer sticks! Mmmmm...

Sunil,
Get the competition rules and regs etc posted. We probably need one more judge for thursday night. You, Me, and ??? I will let you choose the third member. $10 entry fee mailed to me by Sept 1 or $15 at the door. Grimes and Catmandoo already are in, anyone else think they can make something better than them?

I guess it doesnt even have to be venison, any sort of meat would do? Baked goods would even be fine too now that I think about it?

... so we can start ignoring them this year as well. :p

I guess we could waive the entry fee or simply make it voluntary?
Theo has been assigned to clean up duty.

I think I started too early. All the talk of venison in the last week or so, got my mouth to watering. I dug out about 7 lbs. of backstrap and top round yesterday to start a batch of my venison pastrami. It is now "curing" in salt, sugar, salt peter, pepper, and spices. It takes about three weeks to make, but it seems to get consumed in hours. Maybe there will be a piece left by the middle of September.

But then . . .



If I look behind the dam, the carcass of the last raccoon may still be there! It should be pretty well sun dried by now, kind of like "sun jerky." And, as I was coming into the "old folks home" last night, I saw a pretty nice deer on the side of Route 7. It sure was fat -- looked kind of like a balloon with lots of flies on it. Maybe it will still be there when I head for home on Thursday night.

It may not be quite as fat by then, but I bet it has some rice pilaf with it.

catmando and theo I need to think you for curbing my appetite. I was starting to get hungry reading this no worries now.

I will have to pass as a contestant in competetion due tio fairness since I fully feel I have earned the right to be a judge especially the baked goods segment.

Man how this thread has changed directions.

Ken, when it is ready to eat give me a call, I'll make the trip just to eat some! Mmmmm!

Sorry Mabro (grimes) your already entered and Sunil is in charge of picking the third judge.

Right now, the pastrami is pretty ugly looking. I have it here at the old folks home (Leisure World). It will cure until about this time next week. Then it will get smoked and stored for two or three days. After that, it gets boiled. Then it gets packed in ground black pepper for several days.

Kind of like cherries on a tree, the food vultures make it magically disappear at the absolute moment of perfection. In five years, we've had one unknown and lost visitor on our property. He had Florida license plates, was greeted by me and my 12 gauge, and he never came back. Yet, somehow our neigbors and relatives seem to know the absolute right moment to diverge on our place without any fear.

So, if you want to taste some of the pastrami, you better be ready on a moments notice. We are 20 minutes west of US 50 and Route 37.

Ken

Is that a Freudian slip?

Did you really mean: " . . . in charge of pickling the third judge." ?

First, I'm going to have to remember who made threats to send me some deerstick last year and did not. They will not be considered worthy of judging.

Oh Oh!

Well, the venison pastrami didn't last long. I started smoking it yesterday morning, just about the time that a friend and his dad came over to "borrow" his tool trailer that has been parked in my yard for the last three weeks. They immediately knew what was in the smoker. Next thing, we're invited to a cookout. And, my friend tells me, in front of his dad (who is also a good friend), that the cookout is because it is his dad's birthday. Now, just how do you squirm out of that??

Anyway, it turned out great. I don't think there were even any crumbs left. This is what a piece of the venison round steak and a rear hock looked like before consumption.



Good Eatn'
Ken

Ken, that looks great!!! Kinda takes the thrill out of that TV dinner I'm getting ready to eat.

What's that upper inscription of the Grymala family cutting board?

'tis in the best traditions of the Jaeger Wald -- "Guten Appetit!" The board was a gift from some German friends.

Dang Ken, here I was planning a day trip to PA and was gonna stop by your place for the sole purpose of stealing some! That stuff looks good! Mmmmm...