Elk, Buffalo, etc--do they taste good? Help needed!!

I was recently in the Northern rockies (Wyoming, Idaho, etc), and of course, some menus listed elk or buffalo in some form.

I ordered a dish that had elk *loin*, and it didn't taste very different from beef. As I thought about it, I realized that the reason was that there's probably more taste in fat than in protein, especially lean protein.

I also had an elk "chop"--actually, some elk attached to a piece of bone--and it was similarly low in taste.

I have two questions about this stuff:

1. What happens to the other parts of the animal? Where can you order the elk or buffalo (etc) chops, roasts, etc? Liver? Etc.

2. Do elk, buffalo, etc actually have a taste that differs significantly from beef?