Have had it a million different ways over the last 40y, and no matter the prep, the aging or not aging or cooking style, it never holds a candle to elk, caribou or nilgai. I like whitetail, those three are much much better no matter what though. Yearling whitetail backstrap and tender loin is about as good whitetail gets, nobody at my house will turn it down when cooked, I just rarely shoot one.A lot of people turn good whitetail rancid when they hang it to age.