Be honest

This is a hunting site. Yeah some are shocked. My question to everyone and no BS. Do you truly love Whitetail venison/meat? Pretty simple question. In all honesty for me if made into sausage, German or breakfast I'm all over it. Chicken fried i'm in. As a just alone and on the grill type of meat, not so much.

If you donate it or other that's cool as lone as it's legal. I know plenty of guys who just give away the meat they take. I can eat it but it has to be to my liking,

Yes and so does my home crew. Venison in the skillet or crockpot is great, on the grill not so much. Axis can grill on the pit but not whitetail just my opinion others may disagree.

Some cuts are good on the grill, some cooked down in the crockpot, and some wrapped in bacon and smoked. There’s lots of good things to make with different cuts, and some cuts are better off being ground up and turned to sausage. Do I love venison as in being my favorite, no, but I sure do enjoy eating it.

Prefer venison for chili and this is a mother great venison dish.




Never for grilling for me. Do the math. Beef is cheaper.

Backstrap grilled to 135 degrees is pretty darn good.

Better than a prime tenderloin?

I haven't eaten ground hamburger in years. I used ground venison exclusively. Love me some fried blackstrap too,

Venison is fine. Axis is devine.

I truly enjoy eating whitetail venison. There are many ways I enjoy it grilled, fried, chili, sausage, jerky....

I like beef but if I have a choice between a home cooked steak or a back strap I will take a back strap every time.

Just me but I really like it, now if talking about Axis or whitetail, axis wins every time and prefer axis bakstrap to beef ribeye.

I am on a low fat low salt diet so these days I go for the leanest beef and when doing that no doubt I prefer venison to beef

I’ll say it’s better than a prime tenderloin. I don’t cook it over 130 and it’s delicious. I don’t care to much for the overly fatty steak cuts. Having said that I prefer a dry aged prime steak over venison. I don’t like fried food ether so I typically grill or sous vide the backstrap. Vensiom just needs to be cooked different then beef. I’ve learned most people have never had it cooked right. The problem is it cooks very fast due to the leaness and if you don’t like medium rare steak than your going to have a tuff time enjoying .

But you really can’t compare it to to really prime beef cuts. There just different animals all together. Seems like comparing chicken to duck. I really do love venison. That doesn’t mean it has to be my single favorite type of meat. My favorite would be a dry aged ribeye. But my second favorite would be a sous vide backstrap at 129 degrees.

It can be equally good.

I like it. I enjoy the flavor it’s has, and I’m not one to soak on ice and bleed the meat out to make it mild either. I don't try to make it something its not, If you want it to taste like beef, butcher a steer. I like a beef ribeye as much as the next guy, but between a beef sirloin and a deer backstrap, I will choose the deer, the flavor is much better IMO. Backstrap grilled over hot Mesquite coals to about a rare plus makes a good steak. I like it chicken fried, and when ground with a little fat or bacon added makes a great burger. I prefer the sausage I make 30/70 Pork/Deer to any other. The flavor and texture of the deer is excellent.

yep, I truly love WT venison cooked in a multitude of ways. Of course my favorite is Chicken or German fried. I also really like to take tenderized cutlets, season with salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, marinate in zesty Italian dressing for a few hours, then onto a hot grill over coals for a few minutes per side (while still moist) and use for fajitas. Another favorite around my house is a stuffed/wrapped whole (or 1/2) backstrap in the smoker for a few hours. My mom used to do a whole bone-in shoulder roast in the oven that was okay but not my favorite. We also use a lot of venison hamburger in a whole variety of dishes instead of beef HB.

It is my main source of protein daily. But I'm not a huge fan of it on the grill. It is a SUPER STAR in the chili pot. Also it's great in a carne gusiada.(SP)

Yes I really like venison. Cut steaks and grill or sear in cast iron just like you would beef steak keeping it rare helps a lot with the tender ness. I like venison jerky. Many of the ways we use it has it fried or mixed with pork etc. but how many ways do you eat beef that isn't ground or fried or etc? I have also made fajitas that were great also.

My family has gotten to like it better than HB meat also.

We almost never buy hamburger at the store, but use venison burger and tenderized round steak all year. Bacon-wrapped backstrap medium rare on the grill, venison breakfast sausage and German sausage are other favorites. I have tried roasts several, but have never been satisfied...grind it up!

Yep

I love a well prepared and cooked venison steak, but i'd say someone isn't being objective on that taste test. Backstrap/loin is an inferior cut of meat when compared to the beef tenderloin it is also not near a prime cut of marbled beef.

The only way I like it is hamburger with some beef fat added or made into sausage or jerky.

I also think it is dependent on preparation and care of the meat. My wife grew up in a no wild game household, if they ate fish it was at a restaurant and other than that it was beef/chicken/turkey only. We eat something made of venison 3-5 nights a week with no complaints.

Yes I love whitetail meat. My son and I go through 3 deer a year. I cant remember the last time I bought a beef steak to cook but I will eat one if dining out.

Same here. When I was a kid we ate venison all the time. It was that or nothing around our house.

yep!!! all we eat. Ground is the way we use it most. I don't even add the fat to it anymore.

Yessir, we go through about 4 a year

My family kills at least 8 deer per year and it all gets consumed way before the next season is to start. I process all of the meat into a variety of link sausage, pan sausage, hamburger, chili, jerky, steak, roast, etc. We eat it grilled, fried, stewed smothered, etc., many a ways to cook it up. I mix beef fat with my hamburger and chili grind and my family prefers it over the ground meat from the grocery store.

Yes I love back strap and tenderloins grilled. Had the wife dice up a roast and made chili, use the ground meat for many things and of course whatever I have made into sausage links or summer sausage

I need to find a good recipe for making a pot roast or stew.

We like it as chicken fried steak, in chili, spaghetti and stews.

Grew up on venison and rabbit. First time hunting myself was last year. Chicken fried backstrap was fantastic, lots of homemade jerky was a crowd pleaser for sure, and made a darn good stew out of the last of the meat this past weekend. I love it, the wife loves it, friends and family will always be happy to get jerky.

I recently tried Axis butterfly cut country fried just until it got crispy. I can’t think of anything I’ve eaten that’s better than that. Venison done the same way is almost as good but easy to beat. Yeah, venison won’t perish in my freezer.

We really like it too. On the grill for us, med rare on the rare side. Use ground for chili, spagetti, tacos, soups.
Grandkids now like it too so we are out. Oh well, more opportunities will come!

I like venison, especially pounded and in gravy, but can't afford it. I have a very small acreage, just enough to raise and slaughter a couple of mostly grass-fed steers every year. For about $2500, I can put nearly 1000 pounds of beef in the chest freezers. The last two years I hunted I put a buck and a doe into the freezer. That yielded about 75 pounds of finished meat... for the money I spent, that's about $13 per pound.

Recreation is a different story, but still expensive. I haven't been able to find a decent lease, within reasonable travel time from the Austin area. that is affordable for the recreational aspects of hunting. For a few years, I had a lease in east Texas near Nacogdoches but it was a 4+ hour trip so I could only go a few times a year. I decided it wasn't worth the time and money and just eat beef. We are still eating steaks, roasts, and ground from last December's processing.

I enjoy the time in the woods, but I can do that closer to home if I'm not carrying a rifle...

Venison (except burgers) on the grill is not on the menu at my house. But just about every other variety- burger; cubes for chili or stew; strips for chicken fried, stirfry, or fajitas; and ground for sausage- does see its way to my plate. Hard to pick out which method is my favorite, so I WILL TAKE MULTIPLE MEALS OF EACH PLEASE!

For those who don't care for grilled venison steak try this...

Restaurants keep a bottle of clarified butter next to the hot top for grilling everything from burgers to steaks to chicken to vegetables. I never really loved grilled venison steak until this fact dawned on me. Lean meats benefit greatly from the "smoke" that the butter creates. You can grill venison to a final dish comparable to beef sirloin if you grill it right. All you need is to have your grilling surface as hot as possible, steaks seasoned and ready, and a bowl of melted butter. Simply drag your seasoned steak through the melted butter and hit it on the grill long enough to cook to med rare. I prefer rare. If you can't eat butter, brushed on olive or vegetable oil will work.

Yes, venison is a major part of our household meat diet.

I have not eaten much venison and ate none when I was growing up. I make the whole deer into jerky if I grind it using a jerky gun. I used to just make the backstraps and hindquarters into jerky and gave the front shoulders to whoever wanted them. It is not hard to find someone who wants it.

Me and the little woman both enjoy deer meat. We have sausage; both breakfast and smoked link, boudain, tamales, roast and ground meat. We use it for anything we would do with beef or other meats. I generally don't cut a steak for the grill because its so lean, but if I do, I use the back straps or tenders and cook them medium rare so they are still juicy. Generally they are chicken fried or cooked as a roast in gravy.

My whole family loves deer. I usually try to get about 3 deer a year. I love venison breakfast sausage, it’s not as fatty as store bought breakfast sausage. I love venison/jalapeño smoked German sausage, same reason, great flavor and not as fatty as store bought sausage. I love venison/bacon burgers. I love ground venison as a substitute for hamburger. I love chicken fried hindquarter steaks. But my absolute favorite is blackstrap or tenderloin grilled rare!
Had the last of my blackstrap for supper tonight, it was amazing!

That looks fantastic, my favorite way to cook backstrap forget steaks cook a whole piece then slice thin to eat it. On the bacon burger if you do your own processing try smoking your bacon to where it is very smokey and use it in the bacon burger grind. When done well cooked in a skillet it tastes like it was cooked outside over a fire

Yes and no bacon, milk, marinade at all for me.



Little garlic salt after they are grilled/cooked and ready to eat.

Grilling these tonight.



Ok I cheated this time and used this seasoning..it is amazing.

Try that axis or venison steak deep fried with a beer batter, will make you want more.

I have the backstraps cut 2" bone in. Get the Primo up to 700 and set the grates to the low position. Cook for about 2 mins on each side.

Salt/Pepper and a brush of butter when flipping.

Comes our great.

My family goes though 3-4 deer a year. When I do buy beef my kids always ask why it taste funny.

Now don't get me wrong. I love a good steak but if you give me the choice between a well prepared beef tender and a well prepared venison tender, I'll take the venison.