I live in VA, and have only eaten venison from Whitetail deer. I have an old Army buddy that lives in NM, and he claims Mule deer are better tasting than Whitetails. Can anyone who has sampled both care to offer his/her opinion as to which is the best tablefare? Thanks, Bill.

If you're a trophy hunter, New Mexico has some Big friggin Mule Deer, very exciting country to hunt. I too have yet to eat mule deer & I don't expect it to taste a whole lot different, just gamey lean hay-tasting meat. I will be hunting Muley this year near Roswell, Nov 13-16 & see for myself.

Good Luck,

CMJ

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Thibeault:
I live in VA, and have only eaten venison from Whitetail deer. I have an old Army buddy that lives in NM, and he claims Mule deer are better tasting than Whitetails. Can anyone who has sampled both care to offer his/her opinion as to which is the best tablefare? Thanks, Bill.

i hunt both here equally and i've never noticed a substantial difference in how they taste, all things being equal.

to me, it depends more on what they have been eating, what conditions they die under and how you treat the carcass. in general (at least in this area), whitetails can be found in the creekbeds and near the alfalfa fields while muley's can be found on the prairies in the breaks and sagebrush. under these conditions you can taste some difference in the meat, but as long as it is taken care of well mit is not a difference that causes me to prefer one over the other. where their habitats overlap or where you find one in the other's general habitat (very common here), i see no difference.

kill it quickly, treat the carcass right (this includes keeping it cool, hanging and aging the meat, and trimming the meat well (boneless, no fat, membrane, silverskin etc.) and packaging it well) and you will ahve no problem.

Either species can range in taste from excellent to dogfood. It largely depends on their diet, time of the year, and state of the animal.

Many years ago I hunted elk near Jackson, WY with some natives. They told me not to bother to buy a deer tag because the natives had them on their licenses if I wanted one and they wouldn't use the tags otherwise (this is well beyond the statutes of limitation, and even so I did NOT use someone else's tag). It seems they regarded mule deer venison as almost inedible. The cause seems to be their diet in that area (whether natives of the area would agree today I don't know, but these guys were adamant).

On the other hand, only a few years earlier I had killed a young spike desert mule deer in the very dry reaches of far West Texas. The meat was barely pink and was as close to milk-fed veal in texture and taste as anything I've ever had.

I've never had a whitetail as bad as the mule deer the Wyo natives described, nor have I had one as good as the W.Texas spike I shot. So, in my experience, the variables are greater than any difference in species.

i've eaten both and prefer whitetail for
fine table fare.
i grind my mulies into burger.

I've ate a lot of both. Of the 2, I like the mulie better. But, given the choice of any deer, I'll take a blacktail. All of them I've taken and eaten have been fantastic.

But, since I can hunt deer and elk at the same time in my native Colorado, I'll only punch a deer tag on the last afternoon. I'd much rather have an elk.

I will give one admission: I've never tried to eat a trophy deer or elk for that matter. I hunt them for meat and not antler size. So, I guess it is entirely possible that a trophy mulie may not be as of good table fare as a whitetail.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Thibeault:
I live in VA, and have only eaten venison from Whitetail deer. I have an old Army buddy that lives in NM, and he claims Mule deer are better tasting than Whitetails. Can anyone who has sampled both care to offer his/her opinion as to which is the best tablefare? Thanks, Bill.

I think it could depend on where the deer was killed. Here's my order:

1. Coues whitetail from AZ, hands down, the best.
2. Muley meat from CO around Cortez
3. midwest whitetail from Iowa, Ohio, Missouri

Those all tasted better, with the same care, than Alabama whitetail, Kansas whitetail (was not good...those deer were eating a lot of milo), and Wyoming mule deer.

The most memorable venison I had was backstrap on the grill at my buddy's place in Cortez. It was a mule deer buck his wife killed. Aged in his fridge for about a week or more.

I prefer whitetail

IMO here's how they rank.

Elk
Deer, on average, whitetale better then mulies.
Antelope.

The biggest factor in quality of the meat is its care.

As with any free-ranging animal, the quicker it is skinned, parted out and brought down to 34 degrees, the better.

I have completely boned-out elk and deer where they fell and put the meat on ice in a cooler. I have also quartered big game and let it age on the bone in 34- 40 degrees. I have seen no real difference in quality of the two processes.

The mule deer loins have been as tender as filet mignon with little or no game flavor. Antelope handled properly is the best big game I've ever had. Similar to mild lamb in flavor. Oryx is the most nondescript. No flavor and down right the toughest loins I've ever had. I think I would jerky and grind all of it next time. I've killed 3 and every one was tough as hell. The steak cuts from the hind quarters were more tender than the loins.

The whitetail I've had was similar to the mule deer, but I had no idea how the hunter took care of the meat.

I believe the differing opinions of wild game like/dislike has everything to do with its handling. The average hunter is not a cook or butcher and ruins what he "harvests".

I've eaten quite a bit of both and I like both. I've never made a consious comparison of the two however. My wife was an excellent game cook and so it was a matter of which package was on the top in the freezer. Either one came out finger lickin' good.

use to shoot big mules in the rut we call them stink bucks here in western montana. was all good until wife was pg than one night she got sick cookin and that was the last we had mulie venison in our house. whietail only for deer meat here. did have some mulie from east side of the state that was feeding on grain and alfala hay real tastie

Mule Deer Bucks shot in the Rut can be pretty funky.They can be good as Whitetail when they are in alfalfa.Corn field Whitetails are hard to beat on the table.

The problem with mulies is that much of their territory is sagebrush. One muie deer I got was fairly young and flavor OK .However when I made broth from the bones I had to throw it out as it was so strong !!That's the problem with pronghorn too. Though I had delicious pronghorn but it had been taken in a wheat field.
Whitetaols are nice especially in a very good acorn year or where they've been eating fruit.

The key for me is to hang these deer (dry aged) and even the most stinky mulie will taste good. I live in blacktail country, but generally shoot a mulie every year. I've had some great whitetail too. If you cut them up 1 or 2 days after harvest, they won't taste good at all. I try to hang them for at least 7-8 days depending on temps, but have hung them for as many as 14 days @ 36 degrees.

quote:

Zinfandel and venison are GOOD!

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Zinfandel and venison are GOOD!

I saw a T-shirt once that read "Friends don't let friends drink Zinfandel."

I started hunting when I lived in Colorado, and the only deer we had was Mulies. After I moved to Montana, I started hunting both Mulies and Whitetail.

There are many factors that affect the flavor of venison, but generally I've found the flavor of Whitetail venison to be less "gamey" than Mulies, probably due to their diet.

From what I've seen (and I've had both on my little 10 acre chunk of Montana) the Mulies tend to prefer browsing on sagebrush, etc in the hills and mountains, and Whitetails do a lot more feeding on alfalfa, wheat sprouts, etc in the lowland fields.

quote:

The key for me is to hang these deer (dry aged) and even the most stinky mulie will taste good. I live in blacktail country, but generally shoot a mulie every year. I've had some great whitetail too. If you cut them up 1 or 2 days after harvest, they won't taste good at all. I try to hang them for at least 7-8 days depending on temps, but have hung them for as many as 14 days @ 36 degrees.

bingo

I prefer whitetail but mulie is not bad. It seems to me that mule deer fat has a much stronger taste than whitetail. When I take a mulie I cut every bit of fat off before I package and freeze it. Right now I am out of everything but a couple of packages of elk steak so I would take either one if it was legal. Only 35 days until bow season!!!

I agree with tasunkawitko; If you take proper care of the animal from the shot to the pan I think that it is all good. I enjoy Mulies, W-tails, and Elk regularly and prefer it all to any beef.

God Bless, Louis

Those Nebraska ones I shot from around the cornfielda were great.

Other than that do the Texas dove or duck recipe. Wrap meat in bacon and jalapeno. Grill. Remove. Eat bacon. Throw the rest out -

Seriously some of the older and bigger deer with the big racks have got to be a little tough.

As they say diet, handling, processing, and of course preperation all make a difference. One of the guys want to shoot some Axis deer now. I dont know about that Axis meat either - and not while it is so hot outside.

I took this guy in 2006 from dad's milo fields. He had at least 1/4" of fat covering most of his back and hind quarters. I pulled a chunk of fat off of his tenderloins the size of a football when I processed him. I was able to let him age a week as well in a neighbors walk in cooler. Best eating deer I've ever had, meat was so tender that you could cut it with a fork. Sure would like to get another one, too bad it takes nearly 5 years to draw that area for a buck tag.

quote:

Originally posted by TexKD:
Those Nebraska ones I shot from around the cornfielda were great.

Other than that do the Texas dove or duck recipe. Wrap meat in bacon and jalapeno. Grill. Remove. Eat bacon. Throw the rest out -



Seriously some of the older and bigger deer with the big racks have got to be a little tough.

As they say diet, handling, processing, and of course preperation all make a difference. One of the guys want to shoot some Axis deer now. I dont know about that Axis meat either - and not while it is so hot outside.

That Axis deer meat is the best thing I have ever eatin. Got two Free Range does in the Freezer. Not much tenderloin left though. Dang its good. Gotta go back for more.
W.

quote:

Originally posted by taylorce1:
I took this guy in 2006 from dad's milo fields. He had at least 1/4" of fat covering most of his back and hind quarters. I pulled a chunk of fat off of his tenderloins the size of a football when I processed him. I was able to let him age a week as well in a neighbors walk in cooler. Best eating deer I've ever had, meat was so tender that you could cut it with a fork. Sure would like to get another one, too bad it takes nearly 5 years to draw that area for a buck tag.

Nice healthy looking Buck right there!!!!

Like others have mentioned, the way you treat your animal after the shot greatly affects the taste of the meat.

I process all of my own meat, and I don't use a bone saw, as it gets bits of bone into the meat, I cut away ALL of the bloodshot tissue, and, even for the burger, I trim away 99% of anything white.

Everyone's taste's are different. I don't like a strong gamy flavor.

When I was in northern Canada on my Caribou and Musk ox hunt, the cook cooked Caribou steaks in the oven one evening. At dinner I carefully trimmed all of the fat off of my steaks and pushed it to the side of my plate. I later noticed the Eskimo guides eying my plate. I then asked them if they would like the fat and they excitedly said yes.

I was helping my guide cape and skin one of my Caribou when he sliced off a big chunk of fat and offered it to me, saying "Candy?" I politely refused then he grinned and ate it.

I had both last week. Mule deer shot in Southern Utah, WT from Wyoming. I prefer Mule deer, a bit more flavor(gamey), the WT a bit more mild. Both were voted better than a left over fillet mignon from Ruth's Chris restaurant. Not at tender as the fillet but more flavor.

Ya gotta try mulie ribs....way meatier than whitetail and yummy.

I have ate both and when it comes down to it I cannot taste a difference in it at all. My choice is a nice yearling though.

How about Texas hill county white tail? Taking my son there in two months?

I've had California mule deer (old deer) and wyoming white tail (young). The WY buck was better.

As above, a lot of factors go into what the meat will taste like. I live inthe land of corn and grass fed whitetails, and a young one is the best meat you will ever eat. My oldest daughter was married to a guy from east Texas and I used to hunt there quite a bit. The deer didn't taste bad, they just didn't have much flavor compared to what I shoot here. I have shot mulies in Colorado, and pretty much the same story, not bad, but not as good as home, just spoiled I guess. I am also very partial to elk venison, excellent meat.

i hear what you're saying, 375 - i see people going on all the time about corn-fed deer, but to me there isn't anything epscial about it. here, the deer are raised on alfalfa and that, to me, rpoduces the best-tasting meat; a matter of geography and personal preference.