# What taste better mule deer or whitetail?



## hill billy

I was just curious I have never eaten mule deer, what's the difference as far as the meat goes?


----------



## People

The mule deer I have shot all taisted gamie and only a few of the whitetale were that way. I perfer eating whitetale and killing mule deer.

Chuck Norris does not go hunting because "hunting" implies a chance of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.


----------



## buckseye

I like whitetail, but it depends a lot on what the mule deer are eating. The mule deer country usually has sage and that adds a taste you can't spit out.


----------



## djleye

Not much eats better than a MN whitetail that is eating sweet beet tops and corn!!!


----------



## natemil373

In my experience, all Mule deer taste like old Whitetail, no matter how old they are. Whitetail on the other hand taste great young but the older they get the tougher and more gamey they are.
On a side note-People, you have a weird obsession with Chuck Norris :beer:


----------



## apeterson

My buddy gave me some of him mule deer meat this year... I made chilie with it... had to throw almost all the pot way... I could not even eat it... and I love whitetail....


----------



## Plainsman

DI have never talked to anyone who prefers mule deer. They are not that bad though if they get good food. Our whitetail have improved tremendously over the past 40 years. I remember when there was no sunflowers, and very little corn. Whitetails back in the 1950's were not nearly as good as they are today.


----------



## roostman

I've hunted and eaten both, Buckseye's right, alot of Mule deer eat sage and taste more wild then whitetail but are they a blast to hunt. I've hunted Antelope and have found out it depends alot on what they are eaten as how they taste, Iv'e found some Antelope to be sagey and some are better eaten then whitetail so I think it really depends on the food source. There's always saugage and jerky to be made if you get a old tuff one.


----------



## Albertahunter

this year i shot a yound mule doe, with archery really early in the season and it was one of the best tasting deer i have had. it was a definatly a grain fed doe.


----------



## Trapper62

I somewhat agree with the sage aspect of Mule Deer/Antelope and meat flavor, BUT by number one beef is that people don't know how to care for these animals when harvested and they are no where near home. To many people drive around with them in the box or hang them in the shade thinking that a day or two won't hurt.

Example: Last fall my brother in law and I drew antelope tags. Opening saturday he harvested a nice mature doe and the temps later that day were in the mid 80's. We took our normal pictures and then decided the best plan of attack for caring for the animal. He wanted to get it to the pickup and get it hung in a tree, I wanted to keep hunting. When I said that, he thought that I was nuts, Oh ya, he has never harvested an animal in the badlands during warm weather. I told him that if it wasn't any good when we cut it up that he could have mine.

I know the area that we were in as well as my back yard as I have hunted it faithfully since the early 70's (when you actually had a chance of drawing a Mule buck tag). We took his antelope to a deep draw that has a natural flowing spring, layed in on some dead branches on its back, proped it open and went to the truck to hunt somemore. We retrieved it at the end of the day, it was shot in the morning around 10.

We agreed to hang it that night and hunt until around 10 the next morning, if I had nothing by then we would bone it out and put it in coolers. Needless to say I tagged out and we got to bone it out at home in luxury.

That morning I saw a friend that also had a tag and he looked at our does and said that we were lucky we both tagged out the same morning. When I told him one was shot yesterday morning he said "Good Luck with that one being any good." I had him feel the inside quarters and he was surprised at how cool they felt. That animal was just a good eating as the one I shot the next day.

I see so many things that people do to their animals after harvesting one that can ruin them, even in cold winter temps. I really hate to see animals on those carriers that go into the reciever hitch!


----------



## Tator

Our mule deer get made into burger, and honesly I can't tell the difference, but I eat deer all year long, probably 3 times a week, I"m eating deer meat (burger (which I use for everthing) I haven't bought burger out of a cow in a copule years, and I can't tell the difference, the only thing you can taste a difference in would be a hamburger, they are a little dry and I can taste it then. It probably depends on a preference, if your picky, you probably taste the gamy flavor, if your an outdoorsman, it tastes delicious!!!! just my .02

it's all good


----------



## Burly1

Excellent points Trapper62. I shot a dry mule deer doe last fall, and it was easily as good as the white tailed deer we shot the weekend before. Diet is important (I look for Winter wheat fields). But the quality of care given to the game makes all the difference. Good hunting, Burl


----------



## zogman

I have tasted/consumed about 8 mule deer in my life and possably more than 50 or 60 whitetail. They all tasted great. Burl hit it right PROPER CARE is the key more so than diet. When the weather is warm we carry a cooler full of ice to place in the cavatity, also water to wash excess blood away. We always skin within 24 hrs and butcher within 48 hrs.
Same goes for Praire Goats, never had a bad one :sniper: Oh and brown the liver while its still warm. Bacon, onions, and green pepper.


----------



## Fossilman

I like em' both.................Whitetail,just a little better............ :wink:


----------



## Ref

Last year, my son and I were first-time muley hunters in ND. We both shot muley does. We have hunted whitetails in Mn and ND for years. We both liked the mule deer better than the whitetail. Even my wife would eat the mule deer, and that's quite a statement.


----------



## Gohon

Mule Deer, like Moose has a natural gamy taste but with proper care and selective cooking this can be easily over come. With both deer the fat should be cut off and discarded. Deer fat is not like beef fat and will become rancid even when frozen like tallow. Roasts are better de-boned as the marrow in the bones contains fat that gives a strong flavor. Having said that do add some beef fat to what ever you are cooking or the meat will be very dry and do not over cook as this also causes dryness..


----------



## Fossilman

Beef fat is the worst too,good way to ruin wildgame burger and sausage.


----------



## Starky

Gohon I don't mean to pick on you, but I'd take North Dakota moose over elk any day.


----------



## Gohon

Starky I like the taste of moose also, as well as mule deer and whitetail. Just like elk a little better than all of them. Take those backstraps, slice them about one inch thick, marinate, wrap a piece of bacon around them and grill them. Doesn't get much better than that. Unless Angelia Jolie is the one bent over the grill........


----------



## Guest

> Unless Angelia Jolie is the one bent over the grill........


 :beer: :thumb:


----------



## Azian

I have shot Mule deer, white tail, and antelope in sage and the only one I could taste the sage in was Antelope. I personally don't think there's much difference between Mulie's and Whitetail for taste. I would say its because of the diet, but everywhere I hunt has lots of sage so I'm not sure. All I know is that the deer diefinately didn't taste like sage!


----------



## Starky

Another factor in meat tast that nobody has mentioned is adrenelin. If a deer is run hard before it is killed the adrenelin will still be in the meat and cause it to be tough. I don't know how true this is, but this is my theory. Deer that are killed with bow and arrow seem to be more tender than deer that are killed with a gun. My theory is there is a lot of shock involved with a gun shot deer and deer that are shot with a bow have an initial surprise but them calm down once they have run a short distance. A deer that has been shot with a bow, unless you hit bone, do not necessarily know they have been shot. I once shot a small 8 point that had been sparing with a small 6 point. When I shot the 8 point he turned and went after the 6 point like he thought the 6 point had jabbed him in the side. Then they both stood there for a short period until the 8 point lost his balance and fell over. The 6 point just trotted off.


----------

