Advice: Love hunting; don't like the meat

[Qmandan]

Posting under a new account because I'm almost embarrassed to ask this question. I love everything about hunting: the challenge, the solitude, getting out into the woods, the sport of it, I hate hiking just for hiking's sake....but give me the same hike with a tag in my pocket and a purpose and I love it....BUT, I don't like the game meat at all. Call me spoiled. I've taken a few elk: a bull and a cow. I enjoyed the steaks of the cow and some sausage with breakfast, but that was about it. My bull was older so even the steak wasn't great (to my taste). For both of those, I ate less than 10% and gave the other 90% to friends and to people online (was lucky that I found someone in my area that had a son with a medical condition where he couldn't eat much fat...so I was able to give them a bunch). I found a lot of joy gifting so much to that kid and his family. Is this all weird? Is not liking the meat enough of a reason to hang it all up? Is it legal to just give/gift the unprocessed quarters to other people? (I'm in Utah). I've heard that you have to keep the tag with the meat...so how would that work if I gifted different quarters to different people? With my two elk, I paid for it to be processed and then just gave most of it away...so I'm thinking of this time giving the quarters away so I don't have to pay for processing. Here is another thought: would it be weird to post in my local hunting facebook group: "help me pack an elk out, and take home whatever you pack...." and to have a list of people I can text when I've got an elk down to come help, with the promise they can keep whatever they pack out? I'm just not sure if something like that is unethical or legal or if I'd have any takers.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

find a place to donate the meat. I know several guys who just have more than they can eat, and that is what they do.

 

[WoolyBugger]

I know a few people who hunt and don’t eat the meat. Some hunt to spend time with family members because it’s the only time they are all together. The state I live in has a program to donate meat to help feed the hungry

 

[TaperPin]

Paying for anything with game meat will be illegal, even if it’s payment for helping you pack it out. Of course there’s nothing wrong with a friend that helps you and you donating meat to him. It’s the difference between placing an ad offering dinner in exchange for sex, verses swiping on a hookup sight for a date who wants to go out for dinner.

 

[RockAndSage]

I have a buddy who gave me a "venison sandwich" last fall, when I was helping him move. Best damn venison sandwich I've ever had, and would have enjoyed 2 more. It almost felt sinful to be eating venison in a sandwich, given how hard it is to get tags out here in Nevada. It's just a rare gift to get, in any form. But man, was it good.

After enjoying every bite, he asked, "So, you wanna know what meat that really was?"

Now, I've spent a lot of time working overseas, in some really low-down, dirty places. And he's been around the block a time or two himself. So I started completely expecting him to tell me something like, "wokked dog", or "stirfried cat", or something. Maybe even jackrabbit.

Nope.

It was coot.

No sh*t, it was real, actual, marshfed, free-range coot. Just another one of the nasty little oil-slicks out on the duck pond.

And it was the best damned venison sandwich I've ever had in my life.

As a kid, my family tried to cook up coot once or twice, just to see if we could - and it was absolutely inedible, trash-can bad. It turns out, we just didn't know how to cook it. Coot is not duck - but if you prepare it like venison, especially if you brine it in buttermilk or some other things, and get every speck of fat off during the cleaning of it, it can be phenomenal.

The takeaway here, is that if you don't like the elk or deer you're getting...it's only matter of finding the right game care and cooking recipes to make it exceptionally good fare.

 

[waspocrew]

Not a problem at all to donate the meat. I did that with my buck last year - paid to have it processed and donated.

Also had a friend who didn't have a chance to get out and hunt 2 seasons ago. I gave him half of my cow elk.

 

[def90]

Have to wonder how you are processing and preparing your food.. What’s your procedure for cooking a steak? Honestly I hate sausage so I can’t blame you for that. Ever make an elk roast aka prime rib? How about pan sauces or are you just throwing on some sort of grocery store rub?

 

[Jebel]

The takeaway here, is that if you don't like the elk or deer you're getting...it's only matter of finding the right game care and cooking recipes to make it exceptionally good fare.

I agree with this. If you like meat generally, than you can enjoy well cared for and prepared venison. The biggest affect on taste comes from how well the meat is cared for in the first couple hours after the kill.

That said, I have no problem with gifting meat. I’ve taken quarters from hunting partners who didn’t want it all (an entire deer in one case).

 

[KsRancher]

Curious what types of meat you like and how you like it cooked? Maybe some guys on here have a few recipes for some cuts that might like. I will admit that there isn't a piece of wild game that will compare with a 180 day corn fed fat calf. But my family still eats a lot wild game. Especially grind mixed with 25% pork. My wife likes to hand slice our jerkey. She will slice up 50lbs at a time and cure it we munch on it while at track and cross country meets.

 

[HuntFishCamp]

How long have you been harvesting and eating your game? It may take years to develop a taste for it. I'm in whitetail country. I prefer my deer and bear to any store bought red meat. There's a different aspect to consuming food you personally killed, carried home, processed and prepared. Agree with mixing in pork or beef fat to tame down the burger but now I get most deer straight ground. Keep on chewing.

 

[chizelhead]

I don't think you have to give up hunting if you don't like to eat the meat as long as you care for it and donate it.

My family isn’t particularly fond of game meat, though they’ll eat it when prepared in sauce-based dishes such as chili or Bolognese. I also mix it into burgers and have also made charcuterie, including bresaola. Personally, I enjoy the tenderloins and backstrap and grind the rest. I often share extra with friends. You can donate the ground you don't eat.

You can call the game department about giving quarters away.

 

[steelheadmike]

There’s a lot to be said about learning how to deal with game from the moment the critter hits the ground to when it ends up on your plate.

A lot of guy who “don’t like game” have never taken a deep dive in how to prepare it, regardless of the animal. Except for mergansers. There is no hope for those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RockAndSage]

How long have you been harvesting and eating your game? It may take years to develop a taste for it.

In reading more of what people are sharing here, I realized one more thing: one of the great joys of hunting, especially when new to a certain species or a new area, is the satisfaction of learning how to get it done. Figuring it out. The very reasons it's called hunting, not shooting meat, right?

My wife gets a similar satisfaction in hunting down, and dialing in on, how to make the best meal possible with the game I bring home.

I brought home a pair of sage hen last year, and it was a first for her. Online, it was a lot of reviews of how terrible they are, tasting too gamey, dusty, or like sage. She did some sort of prep with butter, blackcurrant jam, red wine vinegar, and maple syrup that was just out-of-this world good. It was something she hunted down online, and made happen.

Don't feel bad if you don't like it, and want to make sure you're doing the right thing in how you give it away. But we've all probably had wild-game dishes we didn't like. But once you dial in on how to prep a given game animal, and prepare it, it takes on an entirely different level of hunting satisfaction.

 

[Nine Banger]

Ask your processor if they have a list of folks that can't or won't hunt but want the meat and are willing to cover the processing costs.

Ask your friends and family if they will pick up deer and if so how many they want.

These were game changers for me and all the doe tags we get here.

I want to fill the tags to reduce #'s and enjoy shooting too.

I have a list of folks that want deer, and I send them a photo of processing order # tag on drop off and they pick up and pay when its ready. I used to go get it all and give it away but I had a few thousand dollars in processing fees per year and had to figure something else out.

This sounds crass but on the enjoyment end: learn how to cook.

Almost everyone is overcooking ungulates or messing with the meat too much.

You see folks busting out all sorts of heavy marinades, soaking in milk, adding eggs and cheese to ground meat, etc.

Helpful examples:
- sear whole loins or pieces of loins and serve rare or med rare (not well done or in a crock pot)
- cut loins into dice sized cubes, season and sear in a hot cast iron pan with oil, pull from heat when some red and myoglobin are still visible but at least one side is seared hard
- smash ground meat down thin by itself, season the outside, spray with oil and grill or pan fry for burgers...spray with oil before you flip it. Stop cooking at medium temp. Cheese on top and bottom of the patty.
- we only braise rear quarters for gravy or green chili, everything else gets ground besides loins
- don't let the processor add trim or fat to your ground meat...or if you can't get past that...use bacon instead of tallow

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Except for mergansers. There is no hope for those.

You just haven't had my Merganser Pot Pies yet. It'll make a believer out of anyone.

 

[SloppyJ]

Similar to ninebanger, we harvest a lot of does here and i find ways to help others out and help out the deer population because we couldnt eat all of them. Last year I even took two guys on separate trips that have never hunted before and they were able to get their first deer.

Also, similar to what's been stated, take a look at your field prep and meat care. If I only used processors, I wouldn't like deer meat either. I do all of mine myself. Im very particular on what goes through the grinder and I mix in ample fat. It turns out about 100x better than anything ive gotten from the processor. However, there's one not so local processor that makes the best summer sausage ive ever had so theyre not all bad.

As long as the meat isnt wasted, I see no reason why you should feel bad about that man.

 

[keystone112]

I think all are not the same. A younger animal is different than a 6 year old. I’ve had a couple of deer that were terrible. All the rest were great.

Having said that, my favorite venison is
1. Moose
2. Deer
3. Elk.

 

[OneGunTex]

The takeaway here, is that if you don't like the elk or deer you're getting...it's only matter of finding the right game care and cooking recipes to make it exceptionally good fare.

Not to dogpile too much but I want to double (triple?) down on what Rocky here said.

Do you eat ground meat/burger/sausage at all in your normal diet? If so, I GUARANTEE you can make venison taste just as good as that. The secret is that most people's fancy "venison" recipes suck (esp sausage). You need to add fat (I like beef fat for burger, pork fat for sausage), and then you can make Italian sausage and chorizo and kielbasa that tastes just like anything you'd buy from the store packed full of MSG and preservatives. I would be very very surprised if anyone would be able to tell that the ground meat in your enchiladas was venison, once you add 18% beef fat and slather it in sauce.

If you don't like elk steaks cooked straight up, or don't like one particular processor's sausage, that's totally okay. But I really doubt that you'd spit out a bowl of my chili because you thought you could detect venison in there under all the spices and tomatoes and a can of beer.

 

[mjh]

I’m no expert butcher or chef. I do the best I can to take care of the meat from an animal I kill. I’ve never had a bad meal form any animal I have taken myself.

Take a look at the state regs about donating meat. I’m sure you will find happy recipients.

 

[full choke]

OP- you should take up photography. You will use all of the skills you use hunting to get up close to animals. Actually, you usually need to get even closer for a photo than a rifle shot. It can be much more difficult to get a good photo of an animal than to shoot it. The rush is still there, and you don't need to worry about drawing tags. You can still go shoot at the range or in the woods all you want too. No down side. Give it a try.