We see the same difference in taste and quality in pretty much any meat we consume. I worked with a guy during college who also raised high quality beef for very high priced New York City restaurants. The ribeye steaks he brought to work to cook for us were out of this world. He told us how he raised his ultra-prime beef. He was raising Red Angus cattle, and at 6 months, they were penned so they had minimal exercise. He said he initially fed them all the corn they would eat, but he gradually switched to barley before slaughtering. He claimed that the method of slaughter was very important, and he said he fed them several bottles of beer so they would be very relaxed when he killed them. He was adamant that they should never be in any way alarmed or distressed because adrenaline would affect the taste and tenderness of the meat. Then he went on about properly bleeding, butchering, and aging for the best quality.
It makes sense then, that our game will probably taste better if we hunt where the feed quality is best, and if we make a clean quick kill on an un-alarmed animal. It isn't often that we get the perfect day and night-time temperatures where I can hang and age my deer for a week without either spoiling or freezing solid. But I think it makes a difference when I can. When someone tells you that the steak they are about to serve came from an animal that was gut shot and tracked for a mile before finishing, don't expect a great tasting piece of meat. There are too many variables to make a blanket judgement about the taste of any game animal based upon one or two tastings. The final quality starts before you pull the trigger.
