Oh, I believe you. We have had an occasional rutty, mature mule deer buck that was definitely affected--though not to the point where the meat was inedible if prepared correctly, or made into sausage.
The rut also tends to last longer in more southern mule deer, and the drier conditions might result in the meat being more affected because there isn't as much nutrition in mid-winter vegetation. Dunno, but do know the 190+ buck I killed in Sonora in January tasted fine.
Mentioned in an earlier post on this thread that a few years ago Eileen killed a mature mule deer buck on the second-to-last day of the season, I believe the 27th of November that year. (The rifle season goes through the Sunday after Thanksgiving.) It was so rutted-out there were only tiny specks of fat on its body, and we thought it might be inedible. But it turned out to be really mild-tasting, and tender, quite a surprise. I am guessing it was already recovering from the rut, and while it was taken in a wide sagebrush valley, Montana mule deer don't normally resort of eating sage until winter, and there were some irrigated hayfields nearby, which both species of deer flock to as the fall gets colder.
The most inedible deer I've ever killed was a very big fallow buck taken during the rut. Dunno if a dog wouldn't have eaten it, but we sure didn't. Fallow bucks have that reputation, though the does are very fine eating.
Have also taken several axis deer in rut, and they are always excellent eating. But like other tropical deer, the rut is very lengthy and not nearly as "hard" as that of northern deer. In fact axis they breed all year round in Texas, though there's a summer peak.
