Do stressed animals taste bad?

TauPhi111

WKR
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
598
Location
Ohio
I'm wondering if anyone has had an experience where they've made a marginal shot on an animal where it had to be chased down and dispatched, and the meat tasted overly gamey or bad in any way? I've heard the adrenaline coursing though an animal in periods of high stress before it dies can really affect the meat. Recently I made a marginal shot on a yearling doe with my bow that required me to actually chase the deer down and kill it rather than let it bleed out and die in peace (how that all went down is a whole other story). The deer was young, and it was promptly gutted, skinned, and cooled after it died. Any conjecture to whether the meat will taste off? Anyone have a similar experience?
 
Joined
Sep 18, 2016
Messages
688
Location
Maryland
I have heard of that but haven't seen any proof of it, I have eaten critters that have been driven, deer drive and no problems
 
OP
TauPhi111

TauPhi111

WKR
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
598
Location
Ohio
Yes I've eaten a lot of deer killed on drives as well and none of those have ever been bad, but I feel this is another world of stress compared to a deer drive.
 

go4thegusto

WKR
Classified Approved
Joined
May 16, 2012
Messages
3,029
Location
Fargo ND
Seems incredibly random. I have had clean kills, ugly rodeos recovered 24-48 hours later dead or sometimes needing a finishing shot. Rut and non-rut, hot and cold weather. You really won't know until it is on your plate. Sometimes I have been fearful and the meat was great, other times all was perfect and the meat was gamey all the way to inedible a few times. Kind of a mystery.

We are fanatics about care, aging, processing, vacuum packing ourselves and still have a few surprises.
 

adamm88

WKR
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Messages
408
Location
Pennsylvania
I had a deer that i tracked and had to finish off that tasted like rutting buck, the buck was rutting and stressed from being shot so im not sure why it tasted that way, it was rough


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

sndmn11

WKR
Joined
Mar 28, 2017
Messages
9,166
Location
Morrison, Colorado
I have two mule deer bucks in the freezer that after field dressing weighed with 9lbs of each other. They were shot within 50 yards and 10min of each other, One took one bullet and was dead in a few minutes, the other took four bullets and about 30min. They are in separate bags from the processor, and when we grab a pack of something from one, we grab the same from the other. Absolutely cannot tell a difference at all. I think that "stress" in meat is an old wives tale for when the meat wasn't cared for properly.
 
OP
TauPhi111

TauPhi111

WKR
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
598
Location
Ohio
Just an update, the deer I had to chase all over the damn woods, tackle and slit it's throat tastes as good as any other, which a huge relief. My worry had actually been brought up by a story Rinella often refers to on his podcast about one muley that was absolutely inedible. At first he wasn't sure if it was the stress or it spoiled, but on another podcast (Joe Rogan I believe) he was more sure it probably just spoiled. On the other hand, this deer I killed was well taken care of and cooled within hours of the kill.
 

cowboy

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 13, 2015
Messages
141
Location
Mt/Id/SD
It is my opinion that it is not the meat that tastes bad - the bad taste comes from the bone, fat and silver skin if it is not all removed. I don't think it is the meat itself caring the bad taste, with that said I've seen some very stressed game that has been processed properly that was tough as shoe leather but it was not bad tasting.
 

Capra74

FNG
Joined
Dec 15, 2017
Messages
31
Location
Victoria
Last year I put two deer in the freezer. The first was a yearling that I headshot. The second was a big rutted up 5.5 year old buck that took four bullets going through just about everything. They both tasted great, aged for a couple of weeks and all silver skin removed.
 

Glendon Mullins

Hillbilly Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 7, 2014
Messages
2,125
Location
Highland County Virginia
I have killed deer that have been shot, chased down and shot again, deer on deer drives, bear that have been chased by hounds all day long, and I have never noticed a "different" or "change" in gamey taste of any of the animals
 
Top