Most (not all) venison today does not, in my opinion, have a "gamey"
taste like the deer of 30 or more years ago. It does have it's own flavor just like beef, pork, and chicken have their own flavors, and sometimes just requires getting use to it. However there are still times that you'll run into a deer that is definitely stronger in taste and possibly odor. So how can we avoid that?

First lets look at deer themselves:

Older deer will have a stronger flavor than younger deer. (They may also be tougher.)
Bucks will normally (so many customers tell us) not taste as good as does.
Bucks in rut will be stronger in flavor than bucks not in the rut.
Mule deer seem to have a stronger flavor than whitetails.

The bottom line here would be to shoot a young whitetail doe for best flavor. (The hard would be to get most hunters to do that because of old fashioned attitudes about "wasting" a tag on a doe."

Second would be where the deer are hunted and what they eat:
Deer from heavily forested areas that eat mostly browse (acorns, grasses, cedar, tree buds, etc.) are going to have a much stronger flavor than deer from agricultural areas that eat grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Deer from states that allow baiting and feeding of deer will generally taste better than deer from states that ban the practice. (However food plots can help the flavor in those states.)

The bottom line here would be to hunt agricultural areas in states than allow baiting.

Third how was it harvested and handled afterwards:

For best flavor the deer should die as quickly as possible and not travel long distances between the shot and recovery. Avoid questionable shots or running shots if at all possible. Never take a gut shot as that taints the meat more than anything.
Field dress the deer as soon as possible after the kill and rinse it with cold clean water. Hang it in refrigeration ASAP.
Don't left it hang (age) for extended periods of time. (I prefer cutting a deer in a week or less even if it's hanging in a cooler at 32 - 36 degrees.)

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OK. I know that I'm probably boring you with the detail, and you can't change what may have already happened and the deer you have is gamey. So now what do you do?

1) Never expect straight ground venison to taste like ground beef. We will not put our name on ground venison of customers that want it ground straight because we wouldn't want anyone to think we condone that way of making
venison burger! Ground venison needs to be mixed with lean pork and lean
beef for best flavor.

2) Liberally use marinades and/or seasonings on your steaks and roasts!
Unseasoned venison is no better than unseasoned domestic meats would be!

3) DON'T OVER COOK IT! Well done meat of any kind ruins the flavor (and
tenderness.) We cook ground venison to 160F and venison steaks and roasts to around 150F. Use a meat thermometer!

4) Use it up! Extended time in the freezer does not improve the taste of any meat. Stick with the one year rule if double wrapped, less if it's not.

5) Try the recipes in our cookbook and on our video!

Good luck,

Dave & Ruth