T Inman,
"Some of the oldest deer I have killed have been the best eating: taste and tenderness wise.'"
This is our experience as well--as long as they're not older mule deer taken a week or two into the rut. But even then there have been a number of exceptions.
Two of the best tasting mule deer bucks we've gotten were taken in the first week of November (the rut starts a week or so later) on the plains of eastern Alberta. Mine was only slightly larger in body than Eileen's, and we got 130 pounds of boned meat off mine. The general rule-of-thumb is that boned meat is around 1/3 of live weight, so he was pushing 400 pounds on the hoof. After a week or so of aging, both were some of the best-eating mule deer we've ever tasted.
I've killed one other buck in Montana that was just about as big, on October. 25, 1992. He was also tender and good tasting. Big bucks like that have usually been taking it easy throughout summer and early fall, putting on weight for the upcoming rut.
