A friend of mine was telling me a storry last week, seems he has a friend from New Jersey and my friend is from my home state of Missouri.

They meet every year on a 1600 acre farm they lease and share with 12 other hunters. My friend and the man from Jersey hunt in the same area close to each other but out of each others way by asking one-another where the other will be hunting the next day.


To make a long story short the Missouri man killed a doe on a ridge they both hunt at any given time and field dressed the doe where she died, on the ridge. The New Jersey man was livid with him for gutting a deer on a travle route and bad mouthed him for doing so to all at camp but never confronted him all season only to leave without a handshacke or a "see you next year".

Questions abound for me at this point. I say that I side with the Missouri man. I gut them where they fall. What is your take on both things here?

Where should a deer be field dressed?

Should a gut pile drive a man to bad mouth another man to all others in camp but not to his friend?

I told him I would put it up to you guy and gals here.

I'd go with the NJ guy.
Since they hunt the SAME ridge and I'm assuming the NJ guy wasn't done with his hunting then there is no sense in field dressing that doe there.
If it were a ridge that wasn't going to be hunted for another couple of weeks, then there would be time for the carcass to be 'neutralized' by varmints and the varmint's scent activities to wither away. Otherwise, I don't think any deer is going to want to be around a lot of varmint activity.

I forgot to add this property they hunted gets hunted for 7 weeks before they get there by archery hunters. These guys are rifle hunters.

You might drag the deer a short ways off a trail but otherwise dress it out there. Animals make quick work of the gut pile .

I gut them where they fall.

I've hunted with folks that believe a gut pile will scare deer and others that could care less. I've witnessed deer sniffing gut piles from the previous days kill and other than the curiosity they seemed unaffected. Predators/scavengers may be an issue in some parts of the country but the coyotes, fox and vultures we have here don't seem to worry the deer.

My belief if that it is a regionalism adhered to for little reason other than regional norms, not much different than hanging head up or head down, cutting tarsal glands or hanging a scrotum.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.

I don't hunt from a stand so I gut them where they drop. This might spook some deer from an area but that hasn't been my experience I have often seen fresh tracks walking by a gut pile. Gut piles don't last long with coyotes bears and crows around.

Our gutpiles are usually gone within a few hours. We shot one a few weeks back in the morning and in the afternoon all it was was a blood stain on the grass.I'd drag it off an obvious trail and do the dirty work there.

the chef

Unless they fall where the gut pile will be a nusence I gut them where they fall. (like the wifes garden} had to load that one in the trk and move it a couple hundred yards.

I too have seen deer not pay any attention to gut piles.

The NJ guy was making to big of deal abut it.

Whether stand or still hunting I gut it where it drops. If need be I will move it a few feet to a more clear location but that is it. I don't think it bothers other deer much if any.

Greg

Gut them where they drop. I've never seen other deer affected by this and, as others have said, the pile is gone very quickly. BTW, the NJ guys seems like a little bitch if he rants about it to everyone except the guy he should talk to. Tell him to be a man and then have a beer together afterwards.

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
Our gutpiles are usually gone within a few hours. We shot one a few weeks back in the morning and in the afternoon all it was was a blood stain on the grass.I'd drag it off an obvious trail and do the dirty work there.

the chef

This has been my experience as well. Sometimes even the bloody leaves are gone.

Just gut them where you can see the pile and then you get to shoot the coyotes or the hogs that come to the free meal.Works for me

I have done it both ways.

Where I hunt now most of the time I take tha animal back to camp and gut it there, then take the guts where we hunt varmints.

I did hunt on a lease one time where the land owner insisted that all guts be bagged and taken to one place.

He felt they would attract coyotes taht would kill his sheep.

I've had deer walk right past a gut pile with just a cursory sniff.
You do have to wonder if the NJ whiner is doing all that talk behind the other fellow's back, what's he saying about you that you don't know?

FWIW,
We do all our gutting and skinning in camp, then take the guts and hides to "the boneyard".

Its a shame to let something like that ruin a friendship. If it was a question of getting the guts out to keep the meat from spoiling, thats one thing.

I think that it should have been discussed beforehand, and the fellow that field dressed the deer be sensitive enough the others feelings to not be offensive.

Having said that, the fellow that was offended should have said something to the fellow that field dressed the deer rather than to piss and moan to others. Only makes for hard feelings and you don't need that in deer camp.
GWB

However informal their "club" might be, it would seem that there would be standing rules for such actions. I've hunted places that did it both ways. Most of the places around here, you'd simply drive an atv to the kill, load it, and dress it in camp, then dump at the "boneyard". Other places don't allow any atvs, so they would dress the deer where it falls. I'd not at all feel that a small gut pile would ruin the whole area, but there should be clear, pre-determined rules for such activities so everyone knows beforehand how it goes and nobody can will should bitch after the fact.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:

I did hunt on a lease one time where the land owner insisted that all guts be bagged and taken to one place.

He felt they would attract coyotes taht would kill his sheep.

Sounds like a place I hunted on W of San Angelo . . . except the landowner was worried about his meat goats . . . and I don't think we ever saw a coyote anywhere near the place.

Troy

I usually gut them where they fall however, I once got into with a guy and he told me I could not hunt on his families farm any more. I had another place to hunt just down the road and everytime I shot a deer I would drag it out and gut it on his place where he would see it going in or out. You could hear him all over the coffee shop complaining about poachers shooting deer on his place. I could not help but smile.

I have always gutted it where it fell. The same goes for the group I hunt with. An interesting thing happened this year. My partner shot a nice blacktail and we gutted/deboned it were it fell. I hunted the same area later in the season and saw my first cougar laying 30 yards uphill of the bones/gut pile.

Thank,

Greg

quote:

Originally posted by The Slug:
Gut them where they drop. I've never seen other deer affected by this and, as others have said, the pile is gone very quickly. BTW, the NJ guys seems like a little bitch if he rants about it to everyone except the guy he should talk to. Tell him to be a man and then have a beer together afterwards.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Say it to his face or not at all.

I ordinarily don't gut my deer, but I wouldn't have a problem gutting one where it fell and hunting the stand again the same day. I have killed as many as three does in one sitting, and each was sniffing on the prior carcass. From my experience, blood does not bother deer.

I gut em where they fall. Besides the yotes and birds will take care of the pile within a few hours.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Sullivan:
I ordinarily don't gut my deer, but I wouldn't have a problem gutting one where it fell and hunting the stand again the same day. I have killed as many as three does in one sitting, and each was sniffing on the prior carcass. From my experience, blood does not bother deer.

Who guts your deer?

I gut them where they fall, but I don't hunt with other people either.

Gut 'em where they drop is why I do and it doesn't seem to have any negative effect on the movement on the deer in the area.

I gut them where I shoot them.Deer dont pay any mind to the gut pile.

Oh, by the way critters die all the time in the woods without hunters help.Seems it it a way of life.

I gut them where they fall.

I've shot deer DRT (leaving a horrendous blood splatter), stayed on stand to wait for a friend to come by and pick-me up. To my surprise, other deer would come by stop and nibble at the feeder not paying any at all attention to the dead one!!!

I gut them where they fall. I have never seen it cause any change in deer activity. Last year I shot a nice buck and gutted it. I walked the mile back to get the ATV since I only use one to do retrieval. When I got back to my deer, there was already another one standing over the down one.

I usually gut them where they hit the ground. I honestly don't think a gutpile has much of an effect on game.

Several years ago, my father and I were hunting elk south of Silt, Colorado. Dad tagged out on a raghorn bull and we gutted and quartered him on the spot and cut off the antlers. Guts, skin, lower legs, head etc... all stayed right there. The next day, I tagged out a bull on the same hill. Matter of fact, the second bull fell less than 50 yards from the first. He sure didn't act very spooky.

I'd say the guy from Jersey was out of line. But then everyone I've ever met from that state acted just about the same way.

quote:

Originally posted by plainsman456:
Oh, by the way critters die all the time in the woods without hunters help.Seems it it a way of life.

This is true. Game animals are used to seeing dead critters, why would a gut pile be any different? I gut on the spot unless there is a reason to move the deer before you gut it (like it's in your neighbor's rose garden).
Tell Jersey to quit whining.

quote:

I've witnessed deer sniffing gut piles from the previous days kill and other than the curiosity they seemed unaffected.

I've also witnessed this many times.

I've shot 3 elk and 3 or 4 deer within sight of my house. I always gut the animal where it falls. In almost every case, within hours or at least by the next day, I'll see deer or elk grazing within a few yards of the gut pile.

This past season, I watched a guy kill a cow elk in a field below my house. He gutted it where it fell. As soon as he removed the elk, magpies and ravens were on the gut pile. The next day, the gut pile was completely gone.

I think the idea that a gut pile or blood from a killed animal will scare other animals away was learned from the Walt Disney school of wildlife mismanagement.

For me it depends on the pull required to get the deer out of the area and on the pickup. If I have a long pull then I wait to get the deer near the truck before I gut it. This way it stays clean inside and brush and weeds out of the cavity. I don't think it matters where you gut the animal as far as other deer being leary of the gut pile.

I'm with the Missouri guy definitely! Some stand hunters believe that a smell will linger in the area and kill any approaches to the stand. (I saw the same thinking in north Central Ontario for bear hunting once many years ago. I field dressed the bear (I was over a mile from the log road) and was hollered at by the guide for doing so) Entirely apart from the fact (as one poster has noted) that everything left behind will be gone in no time, what about the deer gut shot and caught up with? I really don't think that dragging such a deer out and taking hours before even field dressing occurs will lead to not losing a lot of meat - and a white tail does't really have that much meat to start with. (At least not in my NY neck of the woods!)

it is called FIELD dressing .I always do it on the spot,or nearby.

quote:

Originally posted by The Slug:

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Sullivan:
I ordinarily don't gut my deer, but I wouldn't have a problem gutting one where it fell and hunting the stand again the same day. I have killed as many as three does in one sitting, and each was sniffing on the prior carcass. From my experience, blood does not bother deer.

Who guts your deer?

No one guts my deer. I hang and clean them with the guts still in the carcass. If you process your deer within a reasonable time(for me, it is within 30 minutes after the shot), there is no need to gut one.

Two people I hunt with (brother and sister) each killed and field dressed a deer out of the same stand the same day.

Other than crows and buzzards i don't think a gut pile is as big a deal to animals as we might want to believe.

Of course deer around here are around people all the time and may be far different than those deer who only see/hear humans during season.

I gut them were they fall and I am from NJ. I have seen trail cams of deer poking thru gut piles.

Almost like a "political correctness" argument.