TOUGH Young Doe!

[Nicodemus]

Very well thought out analogy. Not to make light of any of this, but in my humble opinion, based on the example above, "...Houston, we have a problem...". No effective way to speculate how many parcels are in a square mile, and/or how many well meaning hunters are on any given parcel... I AGREE "10 does per hunter" is a ridiculous number, in almost any area!! What is the fix??

Not in plantation country around here. Towards the end of the season they`ll have hunts where 75 to 100 does are killed, every year. They have to do this to keep the herd in check.

 

[transfixer]

As to your original question, I believe adrenaline has more to do with the gamey taste of deer meat than it would the toughness, it may be related to her diet, or just a fluke ? I know the ones that are unaware before the shot, and drop right in their tracks usually taste less gamey than one that ran after the shot,

And yes, how the meat is taken care of afterwards plays a huge part, that's why I have always field dressed mine immediately where they lay, and cooled the meat as quick as possible,

 

[baddave]

some of the toughest meat i've had was from small does . and some of the softest meat i've had was from older bucks . i don't have a theory i just accept that . but i will tell ya , we put tenderizer on our steaks for 2-3 days before i grill indirect . cook to NO MORE than 145 deg... always very soft.. we do the salt water ice trick for 2-3 days before wrapping.. just saying

 

[Thunder Head]

I was walking in to my stand one time and I could here deer walking in the creek bottom below me. I was trying to sneak up and peak over when I heard a foot stomp. I glanced sideways and there was a doe staring at me. I already had my rifle up. I turned very slowly and shot her right in the chest. She was a medium sized doe.
When I started eating on her she tasted funny. (tangy) I processed her the same way I do them all. I'm not sure what happened but I didn't feed her to anybody else.

 

[mlandrum]

No doubt this question will never be answered, good luck on you next one??

 

[Gbr5pb]

The best tenderloin I’ve ever eaten came from deer skinned at cut at camp carried to good friends dad who liked to cook at camp never had a chance to get cool served with gravy and biscuits! Might have been cause everything taste better a deer camp!

 

[Core Lokt]

I'm sure it could be the same for deer but I butcher pigs at a local country store on the side and it is true each butcher, there will be a few pigs way tougher than others and they have been fed the same thing. You'd think you were using a butter knife to cut the meat.

We've done 82 after work Mon-Wed of this week and probably 15 were so tough we ground the tender loin instead of keeping whole to sell.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Very well thought out analogy. Not to make light of any of this, but in my humble opinion, based on the example above, "...Houston, we have a problem...". No effective way to speculate how many parcels are in a square mile, and/or how many well meaning hunters are on any given parcel... I AGREE "10 does per hunter" is a ridiculous number, in almost any area!! What is the fix??

Or, in a scenario like that above, 1 doe per hunter is a ridiculous number.

I liked the old SC regulations where you could kill a lot of bucks, but not does. The deer populations were always good, even in areas where there was NO LIMIT AT ALL on antlered bucks, but the does were protected. And you still saw good bucks with nice racks.

One place where I hunt in SC, the population was getting thin. We quit killing does and started killing young bucks for meat. After about four years of that, you can tell a big difference in the deer population, and there are still plenty of bucks, including nice ones.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Not in plantation country around here. Towards the end of the season they`ll have hunts where 75 to 100 does are killed, every year. They have to do this to keep the herd in check.

The difference in the plantation country and most of the southeast, is that the land is in big tracts of acreage instead of parcels of 10-50 acres, with multiple people hunting on every single one of them.

 

[Blisterapine]

NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS for this statement! Testosterone is the culprit for making any game taste "gamey". Perhaps you like the taste of gamey meat, and that is just fine. But, in general most people do not. So, attempting to further your agenda of killing bucks to manage the herd by comparing a "fat pre-rut buck" is not even close.

Likewise, I suspect no one (OR VERY FEW) kills ten doe a year, regardless of the "stupid 10 does per hunter reg". To manage a herd effectively, does MUST be taken out - that is a scientific fact!!! And they do taste better, in general.

Stick to answer folks questions w/o interjecting your biases. IE, your answer to the question on Bobcats recently.

Did you even bother to read the OP's thread? He said the meat was tough as shoe leather - no one talked about "gamey" lol , pay attention. - With the 10 doe reg , plenty of other people in my county are keeping the herd in check with ample doe harvest. I don't shoot them on my 700 acre farm - , , not anymore - My herd still enjoys a 50/50 ratio without me taking them out.

If your adjoining neighbor invited 3 of his buddies over and they took out 30 does legally - you'd be cool with that? - it's a ridiculous law

Fat non-rutting bucks make better table fare than a typical doe. I've done the Scientific research myself and that's my theory.

 

[Mark K]

The 10 doe limit is for the folks that see 20+ doe’s a sit and only 7-8 bucks on that same sit. Some years we won’t shoot the allotted limit. Some years we will. Still see 15+ a sit. Some sits are nothing but bucks.
Regards to the post about never shooting doe’s on their 700ac and maintaining a 1:1 ratio is impossible unless he has a serious predator population to control the numbers. Doe’s need to be harvested. If you don’t have the population you want then by all means don’t shoot them, but don’t take the opportunity away from those that must take a certain number of doe’s each year to keep the population and ratio in check.

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

Literally, she had the toughest, chewiest, backstrap I have EVER eaten(gnarly old bucks included)...any thoughts on why, and/or a similar experience? She was a yearling doe, harvested last Thursday (dropped in her tracks at 80 yards) and immediately retrieved and taken to processor. Skinned and quartered and placed on ice for two days, draining water regularly. Sunday, I prepared the backstraps and tenderloins for freezing, but left one in frig for another day. Grilled the backstrap as I have done hundreds of times in the past and UGH!!! Tough as shoe leather, even served it medium rare. Any ideas??? Thanks for your ideas...

I’ve noticed a lot of factors come into play when it comes to taste and tenderness.
Age,time,adrenaline, temps, how long it was in the cooler, it all matters.

The very best is fresh non running young deer.
In other words anything I can lesson on on a deer the better it is.
Younger, fresher, faster processing, slow cooking except when frying, low grill temps, colder outside, you name it, it makes all the difference.
Oh and a hammer if it’s an older deer.
It also depends on how you cut it with or across the grain.
It’s a race to keep it fresh as possible.
Like the one guy said straight off the back is the best I ever had.
Occasionally a pack of aged will taste nice but I’ve learned to only age once freezer vacuum packed air tight in the fridge.

 

[dixiecutter]

The best tenderloin I’ve ever eaten came from deer skinned at cut at camp carried to good friends dad who liked to cook at camp never had a chance to get cool served with gravy and biscuits! Might have been cause everything taste better a deer camp!

Ive had backstraps cut 3/8" slices (diagonal bias), salted, peppered, on bacon grease in a skillet at camp while still splitting the quarters and arranging the ice chest. I agree with you It is a fine way to eat it.

 

[jiminbogart]

I've never eaten gamey tasting deer meat and I've killed an eaten a huge mess of deer.
I have not noticed any difference in taste for a deer killed when calm, a deer that was shot with an arrow and ran 100 yards or a deer ran by dogs and shot.
I get my deer on ice asap.

disclaimer: I don't run deer with dogs and shoot them but I had some stray dogs chasing deer around my property one day and as it was the last day of the season and I had a need for some meat, I dropped 4 of the deer.

 

[JB0704]

...and I submit, NO Respectable hunter is taking anywhere close to that, regardless.

I agree that no respectable hunter is killing 10 does, aside from those who are on large plantations. But, I've hunted with plenty of Billy's over the years who do they best to tag out. They are like locusts. Shoot out one place, then find another, and another, always wearing out their welcome cause they can't stop pulling the trigger. The "Stupid 10 doe limit" was misinterpreted by many, who now think they are doing us all a favor by shooting does. I hunted on a state park a few years ago that had crazy high deer psm, much higher than the rest of the state. I killed 2 does weighing 125 and 135 #'s. They were doing just fine. It would be very difficult for deer to get over populated in the wild to the extent they are unhealthy like what happened at Red Top Mountain years ago. Too many cars, yotes, Billy's, apparently boibcats now (still skeptical of that'n), etc. taking it's toll on the population. Im just saying that it's fine to kill does because u want to, but I think there are very, very few hunters in Ga with a circumstance where they "need" to, and I don't think u are helping out ur buck hunting by killing em, that buck will find does to chase, better they be on ur land than Billy's.

To the OP, it sounds like either the meat was mishandled, or you got somebody else's deer back from the processor. If you processed it urself, did you age it a bit before butchering? Or eat immidiately?

 

[JB0704]

Ive had backstraps cut 3/8" slices (diagonal bias), salted, peppered, on bacon grease in a skillet at camp while still splitting the quarters and arranging the ice chest. I agree with you It is a fine way to eat it.

I've never eaten it that fresh. Always try n let it age a bit like they do beef. But, with enough beer, and being hungry enough, I reckon it'd be just fine no matter how fresh it is.

 

[dixiecutter]

I've never eaten it that fresh. Always try n let it age a bit like they do beef. But, with enough beer, and being hungry enough, I reckon it'd be just fine no matter how fresh it is.

Yeah aging is right if you plan on doing something serious with it. For deer chips makes no real difference

 

[buckpasser]

The difference in the plantation country and most of the southeast, is that the land is in big tracts of acreage instead of parcels of 10-50 acres, with multiple people hunting on every single one of them.

I agree. There’s some plantation country down here for sure, but most of it gets hunted pretty hard too. I think you were pretty much spot on with your original analysis. Nic has a really fortunate and unusual hunting situation compared to most us, as is evident by his pictures. The “wood lot and field” country I’m in has a low deer population for the most part that’s gotten lower since doe shooting has become more popular. Heck, any brown deer shooting is popular with the pumpkin army around my area!

 

[buckpasser]

Oh, and sorry your deer meat is tough! Haha