I knew an old guy(old as in pre-refrigeration)who claimed his family always wiped a carcass with salt. My thought was: this is an 'old timer' solution to help prevent flies from laying eggs during warm weather butchering.
I did.In my 50+ years of hunting here in Texas I have found only 1 deer unpalatable, the only deer we've ever had processed.
As far as gamey(?).........goat tastes like goat, squirrel ....squirrel, sheep tastes like sheep,.... deer, elk, nilgai, moose all have their own flavor. Eat raccoon once and you'll know it when you eat it the second time. Can't imagine every deer being taste prohibitive that it needs dunking. No one has said they determine the need for soaking based on smell or taste, it is just "procedure".
Thanks for the replies