I think people take their first bite of a venison steak hoping it tastes like beef. This is probably how a disdain for the taste of deer meat starts. Well, that and preparing it wrong or overcooking. You shouldn't look to venison as a substitute for beef. Those two meats are very different experiences. In the same way that lamb or duck or lobster or rabbit all have their own unique flavors, venison is also in a category of it's own.

But, like any exotic or subtly flavored food, it helps to have an open mind and a desire to WANT to like it in the first place.

Then again, I hate cottage cheese. And there's no way anyone could ever talk me into eating it