For years, I shot deer. For years I tried making it palletable. Came real close with deer bratwurst, but I just couldn't overcome the dry texture without adding a 50/50 pork fat.
Made the switch to elk a few years ago. I have yet to find a single recipe I can live without. Every bite of every dish is pure amazeballs. Tasty creatures those giant beasts are.
I add 20% pork fat to both ground elk and deer basically to act as a binder and add a little pork flavor.
The deer I take spend the year living on corn, soybean, milo, etc that the farmers around me plant for crop. It’s like feedlot beef in the wild. Never had a bad one.
That being said, I’ve had some whitetail off sagebrush in the far NW and it can get a different taste.