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Post by tomthreetoes on Nov 26, 2007 8:46:58 GMT -5
Saturday as I was field dressing my buck I noticed the fat on his belly was as yellow as butter. Last night my taxidermist caped him out and the buck was butterball fat, the fat being more yellow than any I've ever seen. My taxidermist friend said he'd never seen a deer with fat that color either. I think, from the appearance of his hooves, this deer had survived a bout of EHD, but he appeared to be in good condition, in full rut, and at least 200 plus lbs. live weight. I've probably dressed 50 or more deer and I've never seen this before, any guesses as to why the deer had such strange color fat. I'm mildly concerned about eating the meat and I'm looking for some opinions, thanks.
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Post by drs on Nov 26, 2007 11:37:05 GMT -5
I've shot a couple of Deer in Ky, several years ago, that had a yellowish color to their fat. Also there was an aboundance of acorns that year, which could explain it. Does your Buck have a funny or strong odor? If not it is perfectly safe to eat. The two Deer I shot this year had no odor at all.
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Post by varmint101 on Nov 26, 2007 11:53:40 GMT -5
I've dressed them before with the yellow fat also.
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Post by hornharvester on Nov 26, 2007 11:59:28 GMT -5
a few years ago I shot a small buck that had real yellow fat. i butchered it and we ate it with no problems. h.h.
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Post by jkd on Nov 26, 2007 12:16:54 GMT -5
If you do a google on "yellow fat in deer", you'll see an article link to Leonard Lee Rue III's deer tips...
Basically older buck's fat tends to be more yellowish than younger deer, and all deer fat turns yellow later in the season as a function of the deer metabolizing the fat... since bucks get to a stage in the rut where they're not eating at all and living off their fat reserves, taking a buck at the end of the rut would have yellower fat than one taken early during bow season.
It makes sense that a deer which had only low fat food sources or inadequate food sources would have yellower fat as well.
Bottom line is there's nothing wrong with the meat...
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Post by tomthreetoes on Nov 26, 2007 12:20:16 GMT -5
Thanks, I did call the biologist and he said it was normal and was related to it's diet.
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Post by drs on Nov 26, 2007 14:22:27 GMT -5
Back in 1986; I shot a Buck on the very last day of the general firearm season. The Buck had little if any fat and it was the only Deer I've ever shot where we could actually BBQ the Ribs and eat them without having to deal with any fat. One of the best tasting Deer I've shot!
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