Deer meat in rutting season

Deer Hunter DL

has anyone here ate meat from a stag during rutting season i was told that its not good due to all the hormons running through the stag,can someone shed some light on the matter for me:)

kerryman12

I havent eaten any myself, but that is what I have heard also

Tackleberry.

have you ever smelled a rutting stag... my jacket still stinks from a buck last year(ya i dont wash my jacket from year to year)but i'd not eat the meat of a rutting stag either and why should i when there are so many buck fawns to lay my crosshairs on??

Double Barrel

DH DL,

A 'rut' stag has one thing on his mind and it has nothing to do with filling his stomach.

The best explanation that I've found as to why the meat of any ungulate generally tastes worse during the rut is this. Most vertebrates have an organ in the roof of their mouth known as the vomeronasal organ (VNO),or Jacobson's organ. The Jacobson's organ is basically a complex chemical analyzer, and deer, along with numerous other species, use it to determine breeding status of the opposite sex.

If you've ever seen a stag, stallion, puck goat, bull, or ram, doing a Flehmen (lip curl) what he's doing is trying to use his Jacobson's organ to test the hormonal readiness of a receptive female.

They can use the Jacobson's organ to simply test the air, but they also use it to directly test the urine of receptive females. When they do this they end up ingesting the urine. At the height of the rut males will often ingest so much urine that the nitrogenous toxins present in the urine overload their kidneys. Once their kidneys are overloaded the toxins remaining in the bloodsteam begin to accumulate in their musculature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomeronasal_organ

Deer Hunter DL

thats a good enough reason for me not to eat it then so , it seems an awful waste to shoot a stag and not use the meet or what could be done with it , i`m not one of these hunters that will take the head with me and leave the body

jwshooter

Deer Hunter DL wrote: »

thats a good enough reason for me not to eat it then so , it seems an awful waste to shoot a stag and not use the meet or what could be done with it , i`m not one of these hunters that will take the head with me and leave the body

mince it and it will be grand the rut has not really started very stags sika in there black mane ,heard reds are starting in parts of donegal ,fallow will be a few weeks yet .i thing there always be a good reason to kill something