Headed out on my first ever mule deer hunt this fall. From what I can tell, it’ll be pre-rut in New Mexico the week I go, November 7th- 11th.

To date, I haven’t heard from any hunting buddies that the meat is that tasty. What’s your opinion? Eaten whitetail all my life, elk , moose too. My first antelope last year was fantastic.....just wondering how mule deer compares.

Thanx in advance.

Not quite as good as elk, but very good.

I shot a rutting Mulie a few seasons ago as he was pushing some does. When butchering, there was a definite odor. Meat was still really good.

We actually had Mule deer backstrap last night.

I can't tell any difference between mule deer and anything else, myself. Even if they've been rutting, if the critter is cooled down quickly it should be OK.

Are you hunting sagebrush deer or mountain deer? Farmground? That's made a bigger flavor difference for me than anything else.

^Absolutely this.

Grew up on mulies. They are good eating.

Yep.

I have had excellent, good, bad and in between

If I kill a big buck in the rut, I try to age the meat as long as I can. They start rutting after it is cold and snowy here, so getting the meat cooled down quickly is easy. I can smell the testosterone in the meat. The longer it ages, the more that smell goes away. Then it is ready for final butchering.

I try to shoot deer before the rut gets hot and heavy now, and will kill a good meat Muley before shooting a rutty buck anymore.

I like a good fat mule deer killed before the rut better than any wild game other than moose..

Rut does make a difference, a Thanksgiving buck in full rut isn't the best venison. It also makes a difference what they eat......if you shoot a prerut buck or a doe in an alfalfa field, it will be good.

Mule deer give me buck fever more than any other big game animal (to date), and I’ve shot quite a few. It might be my favorite big game animal to hunt.

Anymore, it has to be a real big one to get me to pull the trigger. I’d much rather eat whitetail.

I canned a stinky rut buck a couple years back and it seemed to help, but I still have a few quart jars on the shelf I never seem to get to.

Big one or nothing for me. The eating is a big part of that decision.

Will be hunting mountain bucks for the most part. In the lower elevations, if I run into one there, they tend to fill up on oak brush.

Big mule deer bucks in general aren't that great to eàt. The ones I kill in Sept are ok, the rutting bucks are terrible. I don't shoot small bucks and I know they would be better,but for meat, nothing beats the whitetail does in the field. I spend all of my time hunting big mule deer,a truly big one, is the hardest trophy to get in North america, and a great challenge, so eating them is secondary.

Oh, I like mule deer meat just fine. I hunt them year after year.

Yes, some aren't the best, not up there with elk & whitetail, but it can be quite good. Sometimes I "cheat" and end up shooting one that's been feeding on alfalfa... That's not all bad.

Guy

I prefer to use them in things like sausage or jerky where I "hide" the taste a bit. Like hunting them, but they are not near the top of my list of favorite critters to chew on

I've had mulie bucks from both Alfalpha fields and sage brush flats, both very good. Take care of the meat and it will take care of you!

A big rutty one are not good eating. Last one I shot I could not finish as it was very gamey.

I think individual taste buds have a lot to do with this. As I mentioned earlier, I absolutely can't tell the difference between mule deer and elk, nor whitetail and antelope for that matter. Same for moose, caribou and whatever other wild red meat.

I know people that prefer mule deer to anything else. I also know people who won't touch whitetail, but like everything else. How it was taken care of and how it was cooked I am sure has something to do with some of this, especially with a bad taste that was etched in stone in a person's mind when trying a critter for the first time. I guess my only advice to the OP is to try it, and if it is too gamey or nasty either give it away or grind it into sausage. I think New Mexico allows game meat to be made into dog food, so that's possibly another option.

I like mule deer, and have eaten a slew of 'em. If you think it's good, then you will go apeschittttt over axis deer. Getcha some.

Godogs; I hope you and yours are doing well today. Very much like TInman i find very little difference in the flavour betwixt whitetail and mule deer. We eat a lot of mule deer the vast majority of which are shot in the SE corner of Alberta which is dry short grass prairie with lots of sage and very few acres in crop.

Have great hunt enjoy the meat and please share pictures with us.

If we get some snow in late Oct, they'll start moving in with the does. Around here, though, the snow usually comes a little later, Thanksgiving last year. Our general deer season closes Oct 31 so unless we get some early snow, they'll still be high and hard to find.
Several years ago, we had a good snow about the 25th of Oct. The bucks moved down and my partner and I both got decent ones out of herds of does. Their necks were swollen but I don't think the rut had really started yet. They were both very good eating.

Unless they are rutting or have been living in mostly sagebrush country I can tell little difference between them and whitetail. If anything the muleys are a bit more flavorful.

We shoot both in Eastern Oregon near the Wallowa valley. They mingle heavily.

The desert Mule deer here in Texas are some of the best game meat I have eaten, I like it as much as I do Axis deer. The lechaguilla and sotol diet produces an almost grass fed beef flavor although I can tell it is venison.

Rutty bucks or ones that have been eating sage brush benefit from not only the aging but also from brining the meat. An acidic marinade helps or just putting some white vinegar in with the brine will kill any off odors usually. If this doesn't do it then it is jerky and sausage time.

Pre-rut anything is generally good, but other factors, as said, are involved.. I prefer mule deer meat to elk, myself. Haven't eaten much of either, tho.

I try to avoid killing for meat in active rut. Except female critters. Some folks can't seem to manage to kill anything male that isn't rut crazed tho......

Meat can, in any species, be the good, the bad, and the ugly, depending on a number of factors.

I don't want to talk about my last two, too-close-to-the-rut moose (one on each side of the rut - dog ate well tho).....We ate too, but it definately wasn't "good". Closer to the "I killed it, gotta choke it down, with the living hell spiced out of it".

On the flip side, one of the best moose I've eaten came in all wall eyed and blowing snot, neck swollen, pink tongued, stomach empty....Sept 13, well before active rut starts around the 25th.. But then he had effed up antlers on one side - probably either testicular damage or horn bud damage, so that may have had something to do with his pre-rut rutting status.

The last time I'd seen him was 4 years before, at which time he had a fair, but sub-legal (if matched) antler on one side, and about a 20 inch spike on the other. Said spike actually made him legal (slot regs) , but he didn't show me the spike side until he was stepping into the brush, too late to shoot. When I killed him, on the damaged side, all he had for brow tine was, a 3 inch diameter , 5 inch long lump of antler material hanging down where that brow tine should have been, and negligible 1/4" points on the palm. Had he had antlers balance to the good side, he would have had a 59" spread. As it was, he went about 51" IIRC.

Two 2 or 3 year old bull moose that I have killed were "tangy" - and they were both killed several weeks before the rut. I have a theory, perhaps unfounded, that some "teenage" bulls, like humans, have their hormones AFU, until they get a little older.

I seem to keep killing culls.....but most of them eat fine.

All this is to point out that when you pull the trigger, you take your chances. Every critter is an individual. Work the odds.

Good luck.

One w year got a mulie here in CO and three whitetail in KS. FIL was going on about WTs being the better table fare and invited him and other relatives for a grilled meat day. Put a slice of each along with some elk on his plate and MR Epicurean couldn't tell the difference. Take care of the meat right and it is all good.

i won't digress from mule deer. most mulie meat i have had was great. one was like veal.
two were like boot leather soaked in formaldehyde with skunk sauce. that was only two out of maybe 35.
almost the same with black tail....oops! i digressed
oh well! since i have sinned , never had a bad whitetail........... except that gal in 1966!

I live in southwestern Michigan and my wife and I prefer Wyoming mule deer to Michigan white tails.

Two years ago, I shot two mule deer and three white tail. I could not tell the difference in taste - all good. The mule deer were in Wyoming - grass fed, the white tail - one was in the Black Hills, one was western South Dakota in the river breaks and the third was on my place a few miles from Minnesota.

True rut will affect the taste, but the main thing is taking care of the meat.

Big bucks are usually pretty tough and a little gamey but still make decent tacos and sausage. A depredation doe out of a farmers field is wonderful. I think that any male elk, Deer or Antelope that reaches trophy size is going to be less edible.


mike r

I like it.

I have both around my place and I shoot them in about equal numbers. The valley around here is as low as 4800 feet and can be a bit over 5500 in some places. When they are eating the same things, I can't tell any difference between whitetail and mule deer.

When I shoot deer at the higher altitudes, say, above 7500 feet, the mule deer are actually better tasting then the white tails. High altitude White tails are pretty rare compared to Mule Deer so most deer shot over 7500 feet are mulies, but I have killed a few WTs too.
However because the numbers are off sides, the comparison may not be 100% valid. To be sure of that I admit I'd have to kill the same number of WTs as Mule Deer and eat them all. Thinking back now, I can only remember and count 5 WhiteTails I have killed over 7000 feet high in my whole life, and the number of mule deer I have killed between 7000 and 10,000 are more then I can easily count.

With one exception, we've been happy with our takes. Scored a larger buck on the Id side of the Snake that was near inedible. Neighbor's dogs really liked me for about a year. Also scored a post rut buck in late Nov that we gave away with out sampling to a family that were sausage fans. That one was exceptionally lean and somewhat bruised.

I shoot and eat a lot of mule deer both rut and pre-rut and have only had one that tasted bad - you could smell him from 50 yards away walking up to him. My observation has been that the meat from rutting bucks typically smells stronger than pre-rut bucks but brining steaks and roasts in cold salt water (or with a little of your favorite seasoning) overnight prior to grilling works very well to neutralize any strong flavors.

When I was growing up the opinion was whitetail were better eating than mule deer. Most of that thought came from west of the divide where most whitetail hunting was done lower down than mule deer and the food was different for them. People used to say mule deer eat pine needles and that is what gave them the bad flavor. We started hunting east of the divide for mule deer in grain fields. There were very few whitetail. No wild taste no matter when are how old the buck was. I did get one old buck that was in the foothills of the big belts that walked like he was full of arthritis and during the rut that was pretty rank. My wife refused to eat it and said it reminded her of whitetail from northern MN.

I have also shot plenty of mule deer in the breaks and badlands that have no grain fields near by that tasted as good as those grain fed deer.

My wife and I have killed a bunch of mature mule deer and whitetail bucks over the years, and not just in Montana where we live but various other states and provinces. Have yet to find any universal difference between the flavor of either--or elk. Have served meat from BIG mule deer bucks to guests, who guessed it was elk.

The only really off-flavored mule deer we got was a 5x6 buck my wife killed on November 17th in central Montana. But the big cuts, without much connective tissue, were just fine. The problem was tougher stuff, like stew meat and burger. It tasted fine at first, but after a few months in the freezer started to get a musky taste. So we turned it into sausage, which solved the problem.

About a decade ago my wife killed a mature 3x3 mule deer on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so rutted out it had only tiny traces of fat. We were worried until we ate a test piece, which was as tender and mild-flavored as any buck deer we've ever eaten, of either species. Oh, and it came from sagebrush country.

Have killed a number of big mountain mule deer bucks from New Mexico to Montana, either before or barely into the rut. All have been excellent, including one I got at over 9000 feet in New Mexico a couple years ago. They had a great crop of Gambel oak acorns, and the buck was really fat from eating acorns--and tastes great.

a old friend said this the best tasting deer he grew up on were all shot in August before the rutt and before they had sex that year. i ask a Montana butcher who has butchered plenty deer ,elk and domestic animals and he said my old friend was right,the best tasting wild deer and elk that are shot early before the rutt are the best eating. i myself when i do shoot a nasty stinky rutt`in buck i skin the buck,wash the carcass will and hang it in a clean ,cool place for a couple weeks or put the quarters in a large cooler full of ice ,meat always taste better then.

Elmer used to let big bucks in the rut hang for 30 days and age before skinning and eating... He was a meat hunt compared to almost any writer from his time and most of those from today!! I have had only a couple bucks killed late that were gamey , had I followed Elmer’s advice, they may have be better...

I have killed mule deer and elk in northern NM in that timeframe and have preferred the mule deer. The meat has a hint of sweet to it that I prefer.

Last year’s buck was a nice mature mule deer specimen taken in November but way closer to the road than normal for me took him to the butcher at 9:00AM. We had the best breakfast sausage we have ever had in over 30 years of me killing & her cooking. Were grind most of my venison & elk because I love the lean burgers. My wife is a gourmet cook and does lots of things with venison but isn’t a huge fan, lately she has been impressed by the quality of the meat (we have gotten faster at cooling it down)

We are lucky to have a big group of hunters who gather for a Wild game pit BBQ so have had whitetail from Virginia and Mississippi and Axis from Hawaii. The pineapple & mango eating Axis is the reigning taste champ but it would be impossible to name #2.

Diet is all important. Years ago my BIL and I got 2 does in a December hunt. It was about 10 degrees and 6" of snow. Whatever they'd been eating, the meat was horrible. it smelled terrible when cooking and even my dog wouldn't eat it. We had to toss it all.

It may depend on the individual animal, feed, rut, care, etc. North Dakota is really fringe muley territory, so there are many on here that have taken and eaten far more than I have. That being said, I have never had a bad one and I have had muley and whitetail backstrap side by side on a plate and could not tell any difference. Good luck on your hunt and have fun.

Been feeding on mulies my whole life. Always enjoyed it. Will put at least on in the freezer this fall.

In terms of taste, antelope, elk and mule deer in that order for us. And the mulies are generally a distant third, although we've had some really good ones, including nice buck I shot several years back.

Mule deer in comparable to whitetail and Ive eating dozens and dozens of both. Get the hide off and field dressed or just bone out. Eat great

I dont care for any meat from rutted up horned or antlered antelope, whitetail, mule or elk.

Fat bucks or bulls taken early as in Archery season.znd before the rut can be great meat there is.

I've had whitetail bucks taken off sorghum fields by the vaqueros who lived on huge ranches in South Texas taken in August and September many years ago that were unreal good.
I can respecially remember a couple of big velvet racked bucks covered in fat, but that was a bygone time and place.

I think that's why so many bulls and bucks killed late and after the rut in snow country become edible.

I.killed a big old antelope buck once that stunk so bad I was nearly puking the entire time I gutted it. I gave it away.

Between Northern Montana muleys and whitetails I prefer whitetail, both of which are rutting when I hunt them!

Mulies are good. Take care of the meat and it’s good

I prefer the meat of a smaller Mule deer buck, 2pt or smaller 4pt to other game meat from any horned animal. I have shot lots of Mule deer, and later in the rut the bigger bucks are pretty hard to eat.
We always marinade with sage and Olive oil, and I also find Mule deer to be consistantly good if taken before the rut even the big bucks. The stinky bucks get the sausage treatment and even then it can be nasty if its a really rank buck.

I think what happens is the fat on a Mule deer tastes rank at anytime of year, so when they go to rutting they dont eat and run all over the place using the fat reserves up and it runs throughout the meat, making it unpalatable

sound's so good, make chili verda, food of the hunting gods!

Any animal is better if killed on the gain. Have had early season whitetails taste better then late season elk and I love elk. At my house elk and antelope go on the grill. Deer (mulies and whitetails) go in the burger/sausage and to friends that need meat.

Yep! 👍

I imagine diet plays a pretty big part, as well as carcass condition.

Have taken both off of wheat fields and both were excellent. A tired old sage buck might not be as good.

As many have said, proper care goes a LONG ways. Get the hide off, then get any leftover hair, weeds, dust, and visceral material off then get the meat cooling and it'll be great.

Wrap it up in a blue tarp, strap it down onto the "yuppie-rack" plugged into the receiver hitch for a few days marinating the carcass in dust, diesel fumes, all while not allowing any moisture to escape and you might just as well find a dumpster for the whole works.

While this may sound sarcastic, I see carcasses on yuppie racks wrapped in tarps headed down the interstate every fall. Even when it's really cold the hide holds heat, the blue tarps hold moisture, neither keep out the dust nor exhaust fumes. BLECH!!!!!

I figure any wild game you have to add a bunch of spices while cooking to mask the flavor and smell isn't worth shooting.Best mule deer for me have come out of high mountains. Particularly the Flat Tops in Colorado.Worst were in the eastern CO plains where they fed on on prairie grass or west of Colorado Springs in the sage brush/oak brush country