I quit gutting deer a few years ago. I hang em, skin em, take the backstrap and debone the hindquarters and some of the shoulder meat. Then we put the meat on ice for a few days, draining off the water occasionally. If it’s a gamey buck, we’ll salt the ice (a tip I got from a lady hog hunter).
The gamey taste isn’t spoilage. It’s in the blood. That’s what a few days on the salt and ice do, is to remove the blood.
Many years ago I spent some time trying to get within range of a big buck who loved eating wild onions. He often fed in a big patch of them. Finally got him. His blood had a strong onion odor. My hands smelled like onions after I cleaned and deboned him and so did the meat when we cooked it. I think 3 or 4 days of the meat in salted ice might have made that meat edible.
The grandson killed a big stinking hog last season. I’d have thrown it away, but he was a starving college kid and wanted the meat. That’s when I first tried the salted ice soak. After a couple of days, the wife cooked a bit of backstrap just to see how it tasted. It was great. Not at all gamey/stinky.
Try it.
well,to this I say ,bullshit!! blood always leave a animal faster when its warmer. I never soak or ice down a deer. all you do then is bleach the blood out and ask for bacteria to grow.
