Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Think I made a mistake...

I've been going over to my neighbor's place and killing deer for a few years now. The first year When I had my freezer fall I killed a fawn for him. A nice big fat one. I butchered it and vacuum paced it. I made all the grind meat into burger. He sad thank you and put it in the freezer but never ate any of it. His kids would come to visit and take some home until it was gone. I asked him why in gods name he didn't eat some and he told me when he was a kid his mom made venison and it was tough and tasted like crap.

Yesterday I gave hi wife a meal of chops out of a freshly killed yearling doe and told her just a little oil, a little butter, salt pepper and a little garlic salt. Brown each side, DO NOT cook past medium rare. Had my phone off while I waited for another to offer itself up for my table. This morning there's a voice mail that they managed to choke that down without gagging and they probably could choke down a little more if I would please shoot them another one.

The problem comes in when the kids come home now and find the freezer locked. They have already discovered that the whole muscle venison I have been smoking for their parents is well worth snatching up. In the last three years on the roads surrounding the half section I live in the cars have killed forty. I have killed ten with ML/crossbow. From the sound of last night's voice mail I think preventing the cars from getting so many is going to be next up on my to do list.

So far it's been a nice ride, I just walk over next door, go up to the second floor of the garage and crank out the window and wait. No rain on my head, plenty of room, Out of the wind, and fairly warm. Put out some trail cams and I know pretty well what time to go over to wait.

I always hear about how bad antelope tastes. The problem is that antelope season starts when it's often 90F and there's no easy way to cool the meat. If it can be cooled and cared for properly it's excellent meat.

I agree, hunting season for speed goats is too early here too.

I drop and dress them, load 'em up and get straight to a garden hose, even if the guys with me have to go back for each animal. If I don't have a buddy who lives within an hour or two of where I'm hunting, I try to find one before I go. I like to get to the hose and wash/cool it for a few hours while I am skinning it and washing that at the same time, to "wash" the core temperature out of it hanging in the shade, then I get to a refrigerated cooler room asap.

Healthy fat antelope, dropped in their tracks, especially from cropland, cooled and cleaned well, and cooked right is hard to beat.

The ones people didn't like, somebody probably missed a step and ruined it somehow.

I hear people saying how bad venison is, but just don't get it? I can't think I've ever had any that was less the delicious, except perhaps once or twice in a restaurant..

Care with selection of the beast to be shot, where it is shot, and care for the carcass afterwards is the key..

Never had any. Never shot one.

Had many within range, and even looked as few through the scope, but just never did have a hankering to shoot one. Don't know why... I've shot about everything else that walks, crawls or flies.

Sounds like you had better get to shooting Miles .

Rock Chuck ,
I have always heard how horrible antelope is for table fare -never shot one -now I'm mad that I never filled the feezer with one.
My family in ohio have tried venison -the kind of venison with a big rack on its head that didn't get gutted for 3 hours and was rode around being shown to many buddies.
They too 'don't like venison' .

Better than deer in my view.

And my story is about my BIL and SIL...they refuse to eat deer because its just not good. Will eat only elk...ONLY elk.
Had them over for supper one night and prepared some of that nasty mule deer meat for them. Didnt tell them.
Yep! They LOVED it! so I told them what it was.

Surprise! " We may have to go kill one of these!"

I've never given venison to anyone with an open mind that didn't say they enjoyed it. If they were new to game meat and followed cooking directions they usually said they were honestly surprised how good it was and would definitely eat it again. Of course there are those that already had their mind made up and refuse to try it. The only way I can get my Mom to this day to eat game meat is by sneaking it into something like lasagna and then telling her later. She gets pretty angry (even after saying she enjoyed the meal) so I have given up. I'll just share it with people willing to be open-minded.

For antelope I've only eaten my own as there are no fellow antelope hunters in my family or circle of friends. I really like it but agree you have to be on your toes for meat care due to temperature and remoteness. So far so good.
I like the quote by Steven Rinella in one of the Meateater episodes where he says something akin to 'People who say they don't like antelope meat just don't like meat'. I agree.

I have had deer venison cooked to boot leather grade and it's horrible,(in Cananda, a guide always over cooked it and they enjoyed it that way)
Our deer here in New Yorkistan,are delicious,corn,bean grass fed,Mountain browsers seem to be a little tougher.
Can't beat a yearling doe for the table..

Yeah, pick the right one for the table, do a good job killing it and then processing it well is 90% of it. All that's left is just don't screw up your good work getting it to the stove while you cook it is the last 10%.

Now that I am killing them with a bow again the possibility of shooting a pre-rut buck in good shape is much higher. I still won't expect a 3-5 year old buck to eat like a yearling doe, but having eaten passable bucks in the past, I can see where they can be edible. Right now, with so many deer in the neighborhood, I can't kill enough does to knock back the population and don't have to worry about killing bucks. If it weren't for the cars doing the heavy lifting I'd really be losing ground fast. Shooting a dozen a year and I'd have just stayed even.

Never had an opportunity to go after 'lopes, but your post here is precisely why I didn't even try to muzzle load a deer this October!
Every day in the upper 70s or 80s. Only way to take care of them after the shot is pack 'em with ice after you field dress.
If it's this warm I stick to hunting squirrel with a .22. And those are skinned right away.
7mm

Dress it where it drops, get the hide off and quarter. Then get it on ice as fast as you can. Never had a bad tasting antelope when following that rule. We prefer antelope over venison.

Have seen others shoot one at first light, dress, but leave the hide on and not quarter until later in the day, in the mid to high 70's. Both of the guys I saw do that threw their meat away after cooking up the first bunch of it.

And there is no reason for shoulder shots on them. They almost always drop with a double lung shot. Other than shooting them right on a property line, its not like a 50 yard run is going to make them hard to find.

Being as I'm just hunting over at the neighbors place,it's easy for me. I keep some coolers in the garage and it's easy to hang them and get the hide off and remove the quarters into a cooler. Layer of blue ice packs, layer of meat. Layer of blue ice packs and another layer of meat. Gets 'em cold fast and it's easy to move thee meat to a second cooler in the layers to change out ice packs. I've killed four now when it's above 70, and to tell the truth, getting the hide off, the shanks removed, the quarters removed the chops and tenderloins out and the neck meat off and everything on ice is actually easier when the meat is still warm.

I bring them home in the cart behind my lawn tractor, gut them in the garden (payback for eating my veggies)hang them, break them down and on ice in about two hours time. The wife usually goes and gets the tractor and cart when she's with me (she helps blood trail too). She'll bring the cart when I she's not with me, and she holds the light while I gut, and then fills the hole so things go a little quicker. When I am at deer camp, we use pretty much the same system.

I figure as much as I put into putting Bambi on the ground makes me willing to put everything I can into putting the best quality meat on my plate.

I'm pretty sure that if you took a prime Angus Steer and fed it nothing but sagebrush and weeds and made it run ten miles a day, it would taste like crap. Conversely, a speed goat raised on alfalfa and grain could be pretty good eating.

Jerry

Dug an antelope roast out of the freezer last week and sliced it when thawed. Threw it on the Traeger grill for a few minutes a side and had about the best eating I've ever had. This animal came from Unit 32 in Wyoming last year, hardly crop ground, but it was great.
Our whole family agrees, antelope is the best wild meat we've tried.