Leaving a deer in the woods to retrieve later...
 

Okay, I'll be the first one to say this isn't the best idea. But I'm going to try to go hunting every chance I get for the last two weeks of the season. There will probably be a time where I'll have to cut hunting short to make an engagement or keep an appt, etc. I've wondered what would happen if, on my way out of the woods, I see a deer I want to shoot but I won't have time to field dress it or drag it back to the vehicle (I usually hike two miles into the woods). If I shoot it and field dress it (given it is cold during the day and will be so overnight), how risky is it to burry it under some leaves, etc and come back to retrieve it the next day? Obviously I don't want to retrieve a carcass that's been half-eaten by coyotes overnight, etc. But of course, I've heard story after story of people who have shot a deer at last light and have had to track/recover in the morning.

I don't, either I have time to hunt or not...

my buddy went to ohio last month and bow killed a deer at last light. He went back the next morning and recovered it. the meat was gangrous when he field dressed it. the meat had spoiled over night. I make every effort not to leave it overnight. even on a cold night it takes hours for the body temp to drop low enough to slow decomposition.

If you are thinking about doing it i would carry a block and tackle with me so you can hog dress it and hang it out of reach of the locals. then go back the next day and take it out.

We had a guy shoot a nice buck this season and couldn't find it that night. He ended up finding it the next day and the coyotes had gotten it really bad and the meat had already started to spoil

Turns out we missed this doe by about 40yds. We spent three hours looking for it in the dark. We came back about 9 hours later right at sunup the next morning. This is what we found....


Ron:biggrin:

dont field dress it till you are ready to drag it out

Coyotes got to eat too...

LOL, well I guess I have my answer then!! It's time to start walking out of the woods to give yourself enough time just in case...

Though it's gonna be harder to do that when I'm actually in my blind and there's "plenty of time" before I need to leave!!

You are saying to leave the guts in it?? Doesn't this just lead to the meat spoiling faster? Always what I heard anyways.

I have heard that if you leave pieces of clothing ,that have a good amount of human scent on it , on a deer, it will prevent, or at least deter a yote or bear from messing w/ it:confused0024:

I would think the reasoning behind not field dressing it right away would be to decrease the scent around the area of the deer, but i wouldn't recomend this practice. The block and tackle are a good idea, if you can get the deer dressed and the temps are low enough, I would think u should be fine if you can open up the chest cavity so it cools more quickly and get it hung high enough to keep away from the predators, probably 7-8 ft, you should be fine. look at it this way, say you make a less than desirable shot, would you leave the deer overnight or push it and try to recover right away? Obviously you would let it sit, and this is no different, so dont let people make you feel bad for doing what you have to do, as long as you make a serious effort to dress the deer and recover it as soon as possible. maybe you could even bring some ice in a cooler and hike back to the truck, and put the ice in the chest cavity, but if it's cool enough that wouldnt even be necesary.

I'm not sure of the advice to wait to field dress until the morning. There may be something with that opinion I'm not aware of. I've always felt it's best to gut the deer as soon as possible. It gets the body to cool down faster.

You already have my opinion to gut the deer as soon as possible. Now if you do kill a deer in the scenario you described, I'd also drag it to a location where the ravens, vultures & eagles can't see it easily. I'll tell you what will amaze you... they all can see that white of the deer very easily from the air. So with that said, I recommend covering the carcass to hide it from their eyes. Having it under trees along with some covering will help. I'd also get a stick and use it to prop open the cavity to cool it off faster.

As for gutting, if you do, it will be more of a risk because it will make it easier for the coyotes to find it. I suggest dragging the deer away from the gut pile. The coyotes may concentrate more on the guts than the hidden deer, but not likely. Their nose is very good.

Here's something to consider. You, I... we've read several stories already this year where deer were recovered the next day. I don't recall any of them saying their deer was spoiled. I've only left a few deer in the woods overnight and that was because I didn't find them yet.. and waited for morning for tracking light. The obvious is that when it's colder, it's better for the meat.

iSnipe

the sooner its gutted the faster it will cool out takes awhile for the guts to cool therefore keeping the meat warm and makes it spoil faster then if its gut shot you got all that nasty crap in the to ruin the meat

At least have time to field dress it. Leaving the guts in, is the worst thing you can do. Warmer it is, the worse it is. Its a bactera factory. Thats the guts job.

How about the simplest solution. If you see a shooter deer, but haven't the time to properly dress and care for the animal as you should.

Why not pass on the shot and not have to worry about the work you are putting off for another engagement? The deer may live through the day to give you another chance at it later.

This is really simple, if you don't have time to care for the carcass, then you shouldn't shoot the animal. Follow this simple advise and you'll never have to worry about spoiled meat or carrion feeders.

Mike

Leaveing a kill
 

I always thought anyone leaving an animal in the field over night should either be required to eat it or pay a fine for wasting the meat. Called wanton waste here and frowned on by every good sportsman as well as Fish & Game.

I bet if I called your Fish & Game there, they would DISPUTE that statement! I'd take and win that bet. Especially the way that statement is generalized.

Can't imagine all the deer that are left over night in the woods because they either can't find him immediately and are waiting 'til the morning for better tracking light OR...

...all the deer that are left over night simply because the shooter was uncomfortable with the hit and wanted to give time for the animal to expire. 'Round here in the lower states, we hunters have a saying... "When in doubt, back out".

Now if a hunter shoots a deer, locates it and leaves it over night, they should be required to tag it first. Then if the carcass encounters predation, spoilage, etc, the hunter is out the meat and the tag.

iSnipe

I too agree that at least field dressing is a bare minimum to prevent spoilage. If I need to leave an animal in the woods I take off a shirt or my undershirt and drape it over the animal to keep coyotes away. It seems to help. In the case of birds like eagles, crows and ravens, covering all traces of blood is a must. When we hunted newfoundland we would shoot our caribou miles into the bush and then the outfitter would come in either later in the day or the next day to get it. The eagles would make short work of the animal so we always had to cut spruce boughs and cover it.

While I know some that had left them over night it is a small percentage of hunters that would do that. Here we can call a warden and explain what had happened and then go recover it during the night time hours. We would have to leave the weapon of choice home and can only carry a knife and a 2 cell flashlight. So I really see no reason to just leave it there at all.. I have left a deer for a few hours because of things I had to do. Like others have stated leave some clothing around it to discourage coyotes and other predators from getting at it.. But if it can be avoided why leave it?

I have left deer in the woods overnight, because I could not find it during the night, but I have never left a deer in the woods that I had down. I would be setting myself up for disaster. If its down get it out, at least thats what I would do.

I started my season off thinking I could hunt a couple of hours in the am then go to work. Seemed like a great idea but I needed to be at work at 8 so that left roughly 1 hour of shootable time. If I harvested an animal I would be late for work more than likely, and the what if's that ran thru my head ruined every hunt. After a couple of those hunts I just used that time to scout and did my true hunting when I knew I had the time to do it all. Guess what I'm saying is wait til you have all the time you need. It will make you more relaxed to hunt.

Dress it out and string it from a tree and you should be OK.

djt

agreed with these two gentlemen, if you are worried you won't have time to take care of it, then perhaps you should pass on the shot...you could always leave a bit earlier and still hunt your way back to home/truck

wouldnt do it !!
 

coyotes arnt a problem where I live but a friend had to leave a nice buck over night . He was hunting a federal area and the rule is off property by 8 pm!! no exceptions when he retreived what was left from coyotes it was a mess !! What a waste!!

Bingo, dress em and hang em high unless it is warm out..

I was under the impression that we were talking about a situation where the hunter shoots and locates the dead animal, but still leaves it in the field. Iowa law requires that a deer be tagged within 15 minutes of locating it, or before the carcass is moved, whichever comes first. If you shot one, and didn't tag it, and left it, the DNR could cite you for failure to tag the animal. If you did tag it and left it, and it was found and reported, you might be charged with waste of game/failure to retrieve an edible portion of the animal. I'd think it really depends on the officer, but I doubt that he'll accept the excuse that you were just too busy to drag your deer out. I could be wrong, but that's not a conversation I'd want to have with a DNR CO.

Mike

It sounds like some of you need to do some coyote management. I havent had much of a problem with coyotes in Ohio and Missouri. This Jan or Feb take a few of those guys out.

I would agree gut it, drag it away from the gut pile, and cover it with a few branchs and something with some human scent on it.

Yes, driftrider, that assumption, rather impression, would be correct. However, you give too much credit to some people. I'm sure you've seen by now many of these guys can't stick to the issue and are often mis-stating or mis-understanding what people mean or are saying.

For instance, when you quoted my thread, I clearly stated:

"Especially the way that statement is generalized."

I was referring to the fact that particular poster, aaalaska, wasn't entirely clear when he said "...anyone leaving an animal in the field over night should either be required to eat it or pay a fine for wasting the meat."

That's what I meant by "...that statement is generalized." and that specifically is what I was replying to.

To back it up a bit and to give aaalaska some credit, I do see when he replied, at the top of his reply it states "Leaveing a kill", so in a way, he does make some reference to what he was talking about. I didn't see that originally because most people have something like that in the actual post.

iSnipe

I think if you locate the deer and tag it you would be fine. If you were to shoot, locate, and leave without tagging, it would be the same as poaching in my eyes. If you shoot and leave to let it expire, but have plans to come back a few hours later, you would be okay.

definitely dont shoot the deer!!!if ya aint got time, then ya ain got time...i have ended up stayin up til 4am cleanin deer befor, with flashlights and headlights, in 19f outside. if ya aint got time ta gut it, ya aint got time to shoot it. if ya got time to gut it, aint no thing to strap it to the truck or car!