RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

i have left deer in the woods. at times its the best thing because pushing the deer can result in losing the deer like what also happened to me. check for maybe an hour after dark and if you hear the deer get up again, just leave it. in pa, the morning get cool with some frost sometimes so the meat is still good. just make sure once you find it to gut it out and skin it if possible to cool it even more.....hope that it never happens again but sometimes you can' t help it with bow hunting

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

legacy, I would agree with you that depending on the shot and hit, leaving it in the woods overnight is usually a good idea. Following a blood trail in daylight is much better then by lantern.

However, there are circumstances when trailing at night can benefit the hunter, things like the certainy of a good hit, amount of coyotes in the area, chance of heavy rain or snow, etc. I don' t think that there is a reason to limit yourself to the first hour of darkness. Even in the case of a liver hit deer, why not wait three hours and return if there is a chance of loosing the deer to predators or loosing a blood trail for other reasons.

But I would certainly agree that pushing a gut or intestine shot deer is never a good idea. But I think that if I was sure of a good hit, I' d rather get the deer out of the woods as soon as possible.

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

Only left one over night, had to share one one of the hind legs with a bear. Maybe I' m greedy cause I want the whole deer and will nopt leave one over night again. Had I known it went down only 75 yds away I would have trailed it but did not want to take the chance of it running on to private property.

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

This all depends on how the weather is going to be that night. If its going to be warm than i would get it out ASAP. but if its cool it wouldnt hurt to leave it in the woods. Unless there are coyotes or bear in the area. Around here anymore you cant leave a kill lay for more than a few hours before the coyotes get to it. Last year i shot an 8 point and brought it to the road where i left it to go get my truck, When i came back the coyotes had eaten most of the hind portion of the deer. So i wouldnt leave a deer lay for very long around here.

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

i live in western n.y. and have dragged deer out at midnight before, and carried
a pistol, so not real sure what the issue is? BUT if you have no other choice but
to leave a deer behind, and a sure method to keep the yote' s off the animal is
to hang sweaty under clothing and even your sock' s if you have to, it' s better to
get a blister on your foot, then have the yote' s get to it, last season while blood
trailing a doe, the yote' s were already on here trail out in front of me[:o]:D

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

norsemen, please reread my reply from the NY DEC concerning carrying a weapon at night.

pistol=firearms

You may want to contact NY DEC directly if you have any questions.

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

Hi Bob, and thank' s very much for the welcome, But the way I see it, fish and
game law' s are one big gray area, and I know what you are saying, but
who is to say that when I carry a legal 357 mag, any time of day, any place I want
that I am braking any law' s, nobody, If I ever were to get questioned on this, I would just tell them I was out looking for my dog or somthing, If I' m dragging a
deer and a conservation officer objected, I would tell him to write me a ticket,
I' ll let a judge figure it out, :D

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

norsemen, lets say that you walked upon your deer that you were tracking at night and you had your 375 and you found that the deer was not dead yet, what would you do?

NY DEC: Dick Henry
Big Game Biologist/Wildlife Services
NYSDEC , Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754
Phone: 518-402-8867
Fax: 518-402-9027
[email protected]


Not trying to start trouble, but it doesn' t seem too grey to me.

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

I don' t like to leave game over night after a shot, main reason is because of foxes... The foxes around here are on that deer quicker than you can blink...

RE: Leaving a deer in the woods overnite?
 

Here in TX it' s still mighty hot during archery season so leaving it overnight is usually an execption not the rule. If you want the meat you' d better find it pretty quick.

Also, Thanks for the tip Kevin. I didn' t know that service was provided and will diffinately take advantage of it if the time comes.