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.
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.
