Thread: Gamey Fallow?

Early April had the week off to do a bit of hunting. Wasn't having too much luck with the roaring red stags and was getting itchy to shoot something so I change tack and went in search of a good meat animal. Had a good stalk through one of my local spot X's and shot a young fallow, figured he'd be a good eater... but I was wrong. First thing I noticed was he had gigantic nuts for a young lad ;D. Anyway gutted him, cooled him, hung him in some Kawakawa bushes for the evening. Carried out the next morning and butchered him destined for a couple of days ageing, then vac-packed and in to the freezer. So I've been eating it lately but shit is he a gamey bugger, when cooking, smells like I've sprinkled a little secret ingredient of red stag ball-sack and a splash of wallow juice in there! tastes much the same. Bit gutted to be honest.
I've shot an eaten a lot of venison in my time as a hunter but have never had an animal taste so much like that, especially a young animal, what's going on??
Can I save it by hiding its flavour in salami's, sausages etc?

can't help with the why, but I would definitely suggest salamis, beir sticks, currys or some strongly flavoured sausages would mask the flavour.
the salami or beir sticks probably be best bet, but maybe talk to your butcher about it and see what they suggest ?
I'm sure others will chime in

Accidentally nicked bladder/gland or such? I'm not going to pretend I haven't before.

Originally Posted by Preacher

Accidentally nicked bladder/gland or such? I'm not going to pretend I haven't before.

Yea i don't know Preacher, I took care when removing the bladder, would it taint the whole carcass though? i wondered if it was a blood/bleeding thing

Fallows in the rut are terrible eating the rest of year there awesome, unlike a red were bits arnt to bad the fallow are rank, the Butchers at wild game salami can't understand why people even bring them in

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Yeah I just thought it might be a possibility. But if it is the whole carcass then something else is going on.

I don't think I have eaten a young fallow buck during rut so I can't comment on that but Brads probably nailed it

Wee glands by the tenderloins, get rid of them before hanging any male fallow and makes a big difference to how the whole animal eats, don't pop them while removing or you may as well dog tucker the whole thing

Originally Posted by BRADS

Fallows in the rut are terrible eating the rest of year there awesome, unlike a red were bits arnt to bad the fallow are rank, the Butchers at wild game salami can't understand why people even bring them in

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yes Brads is right certainly been my experience with fallow in the roar - I just dont bother with bucks roar time

Originally Posted by JesseYoung

shit is he a gamey bugger, when cooking, smells like I've sprinkled a little secret ingredient of red stag ball-sack and a splash of wallow juice in there!

a niche market waiting to be capitalized on ? upmarket auckland chefs big new thing for the hoi peloi ?

Had a roast of rump from buck shot last week last night.Was quiet nice with gravey on top n spuds n vegys.
He was a oldish buck,only took back legs as freezer was pretty fill.
When taking h/qs im very carefull with knife around the family jewels n plumbing.

Couple of tricks I've learned, always remove the nuts and pizzle as soon as you can, before starting to gut.

And try a simple 2:1 salt sugar brine, 2 days in that I find that will take away a lot of the gamey taste, even on stuff like billy goats.

I can post up my current goat curry recipe if that's of interest. It'll make anything taste good.

I shot one 2 weeks ago, have eaten the tenderloins, some back steak and ribs and everything has tasted nice so far. Shanks tomorrow night for dinner.

Originally Posted by JesseYoung

Early April had the week off to do a bit of hunting. Wasn't having too much luck with the roaring red stags and was getting itchy to shoot something so I change tack and went in search of a good meat animal. Had a good stalk through one of my local spot X's and shot a young fallow, figured he'd be a good eater... but I was wrong. First thing I noticed was he had gigantic nuts for a young lad ;D. Anyway gutted him, cooled him, hung him in some Kawakawa bushes for the evening. Carried out the next morning and butchered him destined for a couple of days ageing, then vac-packed and in to the freezer. So I've been eating it lately but shit is he a gamey bugger, when cooking, smells like I've sprinkled a little secret ingredient of red stag ball-sack and a splash of wallow juice in there! tastes much the same. Bit gutted to be honest.
I've shot an eaten a lot of venison in my time as a hunter but have never had an animal taste so much like that, especially a young animal, what's going on??
Can I save it by hiding its flavour in salami's, sausages etc?

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I give any stag or buck the sniff test - if the meat smells manky I dont take it out - some in roar especially early roar are fine to eat - Its maybe just how much they have been rarked up - if manky smelling in my experience nothing will change the taste

funny thing...as young fella was taught by older pighunterrs to whip out the nuts and make sure to drain the pizzle ASAP when killing a boar...yet mate who has killed a LOT of pigs reckons thats rubbish... but then again I am hearing quite a lot of the open country pigs from down here arent worth eating.... buggered if I know..will continue chopping them out asap as Ive never struck a bad wild pig yet.....have definately heard the avoid rutting fallow buck thing.