Mule deer meat

6mm Remington

Very Active Member
Mar 27, 2011
978
49
Western Montana
Mule deer are great to eat! As so many said you just need to take proper care of the meat. I think where a lot of folks make a mistake with mule deer, antelope, elk, whitetail, sheep, or anything else is they COOK IT TOO MUCH! Wild game has almost no fat marbled in the meat like a beef and all of the fat on the outside is removed as that "can add a wild taste to the meat".

I feel that it needs to be medium rare with some pink in the middle. It dries out and gets tough just like any other meat does if you cook it too much.
This is my favorite way to cook wild game meat. Chicken fry it!!!
1. Mix up several eggs with some milk in a glass or plastic bowl. Don't use metal as it can impart a metallic taste to the meat. Stir this mixture up.
2. Take thawed wild game steaks and put them in the egg/milk mixture and make sure the meat is covered in it. Cover with a piece of plastic and put the bowl back in the fridge for a couple of hours. It is not necessary to let the meat soak like that but I have read that the enzymes in milk help break down the meat possibly making it more tender.
3. Take a tube of Ritz crackers and begin by crushing them up while they are still in the tube by hand. This does a pretty good job. Then when you think they are crushed good enough put the crushed crackers on a large flat plate.
4. Have a skillet heated to medium- medium high with vegetable oil and butter in the pan.
5. Take the steak and make sure it is coated good with the egg mixture and pull it out of the bowl and dredge it in the cracker crumb coating both sides of the steak. Put the steaks into the frying pan. Cook until the cracker crumb is starting to get golden brown on one side and then flip the steaks over and cook the opposite side the same way. You still want just a bit of pink in the middle, and they will turn out that way if you get the cracker crumb just lightly brown. Once you do it a couple of times it's real easy to tell if the meat is done by how the cracker crumb is looking on the outside.
6. Put some salt and pepper on them and you are good to go. There will be some egg and cracker pieces that might fall off the meat in the pan. Mix some water in the pan and bring it to a boil and make some gravy out of it and it will taste awesome on your mashed potatoes!!!
 

BigBy1

New Member
Thanks! Speaking of deer meat prep made me wanna share this burger recipe of my uncles. I may just be late to the table on this one but for those of you that haven't mixed a batch of this up you've gotta try it. I mix in a pound of bacon ends with 3-4 lbs of deer meat as I'm grinding it. Then for every 20lbs I mix in a jar of hogie spread. I am addicted to this burger. Before this I never made just plain deer burgers on the grill. Just added it in with meals (spagetti,etc.). These things are juicy, a little spicy and delicious!
What the heck is Hogie spead?
 

BigBy1

New Member
Mule deer are great to eat! As so many said you just need to take proper care of the meat. I think where a lot of folks make a mistake with mule deer, antelope, elk, whitetail, sheep, or anything else is they COOK IT TOO MUCH! Wild game has almost no fat marbled in the meat like a beef and all of the fat on the outside is removed as that "can add a wild taste to the meat".

I feel that it needs to be medium rare with some pink in the middle. It dries out and gets tough just like any other meat does if you cook it too much.
This is my favorite way to cook wild game meat. Chicken fry it!!!
1. Mix up several eggs with some milk in a glass or plastic bowl. Don't use metal as it can impart a metallic taste to the meat. Stir this mixture up.
2. Take thawed wild game steaks and put them in the egg/milk mixture and make sure the meat is covered in it. Cover with a piece of plastic and put the bowl back in the fridge for a couple of hours. It is not necessary to let the meat soak like that but I have read that the enzymes in milk help break down the meat possibly making it more tender.
3. Take a tube of Ritz crackers and begin by crushing them up while they are still in the tube by hand. This does a pretty good job. Then when you think they are crushed good enough put the crushed crackers on a large flat plate.
4. Have a skillet heated to medium- medium high with vegetable oil and butter in the pan.
5. Take the steak and make sure it is coated good with the egg mixture and pull it out of the bowl and dredge it in the cracker crumb coating both sides of the steak. Put the steaks into the frying pan. Cook until the cracker crumb is starting to get golden brown on one side and then flip the steaks over and cook the opposite side the same way. You still want just a bit of pink in the middle, and they will turn out that way if you get the cracker crumb just lightly brown. Once you do it a couple of times it's real easy to tell if the meat is done by how the cracker crumb is looking on the outside.
6. Put some salt and pepper on them and you are good to go. There will be some egg and cracker pieces that might fall off the meat in the pan. Mix some water in the pan and bring it to a boil and make some gravy out of it and it will taste awesome on your mashed potatoes!!!
Now I'm to hungry to pursue this conversation !!
 

EZ7

New Member
Nov 21, 2013
15
0
image.jpgimage.jpg
What the heck is Hogie spead?
Same thing I once asked! It's a jar of spices & seasoning you add to hogies. I've never heard of it until my uncle gave me this recipe. You can buy it in the grocery store. That's all I can till you!
 
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Never in Doubt

Active Member
Jul 9, 2012
304
0
mule deer is great, if it's cared for properly and cooked right. Venison fajitas are a good way to go. The only times it's tasted gamey are when all the blood hasn't drained out after it's thawed out from the freezer.
 

BucksnBulls

Member
Aug 28, 2013
58
0
South Dakota
I pretty much live on midwest whitetails but believe it or not best venison I've ever had came from a Colorado high country mule deer. It was an early season 2 year old. As others have stated, a lot has to do with how you take care of it. Aging it helps as well. I like to hang mine for a week if temps allow it.
 

d.kerri

Active Member
Sep 17, 2013
167
0
Minneapolis, MN
I grew up on Whiteys also. This year I was fortunate to take my first Muley from the Colorado high country, and it tastes spectacular. I couldn't agree more with the folks who stress it's all about how well you take care of the meat.
 

blueboy59

New Member
Nov 16, 2013
16
0
idaho falls, idaho, 83402
I have hunted both mulies and whitetail and have ate 20 mule deer Bucks and white tail Doe deer I love mule deer wild taste but the white tail Doe meat was mild tasting the difference I hunt mule deer at 7000 feet in the mountains and the white tail in crp and wheat field I have also eat some 35 Elk and had some that you hardly could stand
 
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tim

Veteran member
Jun 4, 2011
2,423
1,071
north idaho
it is funny, my wife don't like deer meat, but rides my ass to the ground, making sure I fill the freezer with elk meat.
 

Musket Man

Veteran member
Jul 20, 2011
6,457
0
colfax, wa
My freezer gets filled with whatever I get tags for and am successful harvesting! Last year it was 2 antelope and 1 mule deer. This year it was 2 antelope and 1 white tail. I like all of them but have to admit I am liking this young grain fed white tail I got this year alot:)
 

Snydly

New Member
Jan 30, 2014
12
0
Grew up poor so we ate big game almost exclusively here In Wy. I can tell the difference between elk, mule deer and whitetail. They are all very good but as stated before it depends on if they are in the rut, or feeding in hayfields or on scrub. My favorite is Whitetail here in Wy because most of the time they are in some farmer or ranchers field and most of the time, the Muleys are on the mountain slopes or up in the high country and the food up there tends to make them taste just a little different. Elk steaks are good but the hamburger does not taste as good to me. Anyone who says they taste awefull has not taken care of the meat properly or has shot an old buck in full rut.
 

Orion/CO

New Member
Jul 12, 2013
42
0
I'm mostly a meat hunter, so I'll take doe deer or antelope or cow elk any time to fill the freezer. I used to hunt a spot that was mostly aspen trees where I have taken several doe mule deer during September muzzleloader season, and they all tasted great (made mostly into sausage myself). But a few years ago I shot a decent buck in late October north of Craig in the scrub. The scrub we were hunting in had a very strong odor, and that darn buck smelled and tasted like that nasty scrub no matter how I tried to fix the meat. A lot of people rant about how the taste of game is completely dependant on how it is "taken care of", which I agree will make a difference to some extent, but I think taste is a lot more dependant on what the animal had been feeding on (alfalfa vs sage), along with the sex (bucks are generally more gamey and tougher than does), and age (a young animal is generally less gamey and more tender), at least from my experience. By the way, doe antelope taken from grasslands or wheatfields is pretty good stuff.
 

DBurrr

New Member
Feb 17, 2014
30
0
55
it is funny, my wife don't like deer meat, but rides my ass to the ground, making sure I fill the freezer with elk meat.
Mine can't stand deer meat either. But loves elk. They do taste completely different.


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