Count me in on those who say what they've been eating makes a big difference.....Different people have different taste buds. I absolutely 100% can NOT tell the difference between antelope, mule deer or elk, but I absolutely 100% CAN tell the difference between a critter eating sagebrush and associated grasses, and one that's been eating alfalfa.
Diet can make a huge difference. Some years ago, my BIL and I were hunting mulies in a December doe hunt in the mountains. It was close to 0 and there was 5 or 6" of snow. We got 2 does from 2 different herds. We dressed and skinned them right away. When we got home we cut them up after a few days of hanging. The meat was totally inedible. When cooking, it smelled so bad that we had to open some windows. The taste was awful. Even the dog wouldn't eat it. We ended up trashing it all.
We never figured out what they'd been eating. It wasn't sagebrush as there was very little in the area. It was brush of some kind.
