Southern California Deer

[HigsB]

In your opinion is there a big difference between deer meat flavor whether they have been grazing in dry or wet environments? Do deer further north have a different taste?

[gotime]

You are what you eat. It's well known that an animal's diet generally does have an effect on the way it tastes. The one CA deer I've had didn't taste particularly "gamey", but then again he wasn't a sage muley. At least not at the time he was taken.

[elk hunter]

Deer don't graze they browse. There are huge differences between deer and what they eat equal to what they taste like when you eat them.

[HigsB]

gotime - thanks! was it a black tail?

elk hunter - Good to know that you for clarifying that. Good thing I know the difference between horns and antlers lol.

[gotime]

Forkie mule buck out of Kern county. High elevation.

[garagemonkey]

I know nothing first-hand, but my buddy moved to SoCal from Vermont (he's Border Patrol) and has been a very avid deer hunter his whole life. I was asking him some advice about wanting to start deer hunting locally and the first thing he asked me was what I planned on doing with the meat. He still travels back home to hunt Vermont each year as well as in SoCal and says he can most definitely tell a difference. Says he mostly makes sausage with the SoCal muleys he bags down near the border and cuts steaks, etc from the deer he harvests in Vermont.

[NickTheGreek]

Best tasting deer I've ever harvested were in dried wild oats and oak savannah. I don't think moisture content matters as much as the type of feed. A buck eating green wet sage brush will probably taste the same as one feeding in dead sage brush.

[TrailerparkTrash]

Deer from the Angeles NF tastes different than deer taken from the Lake Isabella/Sequoia NF area.

...plus, I’ve nver seen more ticks on deer than from those taken out of the Angeles NF.... insane difference.

[elk hunter]

Best tasting deer I've ever harvested were in dried wild oats and oak savannah. I don't think moisture content matters as much as the type of feed. A buck eating green wet sage brush will probably taste the same as one feeding in dead sage brush.

Yep sage eaters gonna taste sagey, antelope live on the stuff.