I went hunting saturday and shot a nice fat mature doe. It was about 40 degrees outside so I field dressed it, washed it out thouroughly with water and hung it from a tree close to the house where I was hunting. This was about 10:00 am, and when completed I took my parents to lunch. When we returned about 12:00 noon I returned to the deer to skin and quarter it, it had warmed to about 55 degrees by that time. All over the deer carcass were honey bees, inside the cavity and even in the entry and exit wounds. They were not aggressive but were consentrating on "feeding" on the deer. After I skinned it they were more numerous, I had to brush them off so I could quarter it. They seemed to be eating/drinking juice from flesh.
Anybody ever seen anything like this???
Am just curious if anyone else has ever delt with this.

Eterry

I've seen it aswell, but i dont think the ones we see here are honey bees. Ours look more like some type of small wasp or hornet. They dont sting anyone that i know of. I've heard some people call them meat eating bees but can't really say if they are eating or drinking.

Quite common here in the south. Our biggest headache is the masses of yellow jackets you can get sometimes, and they will sting! I've seen 'honey bees' as well, but like in your case, they weren't overly agressive.

Sprinkling the carcass with pepper seems to be a deterrent, we do it occasionally.

Good hunting--Don

bees are usually one of the first on scene out here in CA---pain in the butt---chris

We've had the Yellow Jackets show up in the time it takes to walk to the downed animal!

We try to keep a little bottle of white vinegar to wipe down the animal if we are bagging it,it is supposed to keep the bacteria at bay as well. Nate