Does it actually affect where the deer go if a gut pile is left in one of the areas they frequent? It seems to me that if I gut them somewhere else, I am able to get another deer on consecutive days in the exact same spot until someone shoots one and guts it at the same spot.

I've never seen a gut pile bother deer. At the most, some deer will small it, but never spooked any deer. The guts are gone by the next day, coyotes and buzzards down here.

this year i shot a blacktail @ 1:00pm my buddy shot one @ approx. 3:00 less than 50 yds from my gutpile,

I shot a buck a few years ago that ran at the shot. That afternoon, another buck came up the same trail. When he got to where I shot the buck that morning, he paused to smell the beginning of the blood trail, then casually strolled on as if nothing had happened there.

I've also watched numerous deer walk past old (and sometimes very fresh) gut piles. Some will stop and sniff, others act as if they have no idea (or care) that it's there.

I'm convinced that it doesn't matter.

5 years ago I shot a buck at about 30 yards. The next morning I shot a doe standing about 2 yards from the remains of the gut pile from the previous day. Later that day/night,the ravens and wolves cleaned up the majority of the piles. The next morning I shot another buck within 5 yards of the first two. The gut piles didn't seem to have any effect on the deer.

I have never seen a gut pile influence deer movemnet at all, once my wife shot a 4pt whitetail early in the morning it dropped in it's tracks every buck that came by after it stopped and jabbed it with their horns it was very interesting to watch.

A few years back , one of my neighbors and I posted one evening in my back pasture. We had barely got settled in when a spike came along and I shot him . We quick gutted him out , and I told Dale there is plenty of hunting time left , might as well sit right here until dark . I drug the carcass ten or 15 steps over the edge of the crick bank so it was out of sight .

About a half hour later a NICE 5x5 comes in from the NW . He has his head down sniffing for does every step of the way , comes right up the crick bottom and RIGHT to the gut pile . I was just amazed as we watched him sniff all around the guts , and our human scent had to be there too , and the dead spike's carcass is only .a few steps away .

Dale shot the big guy , and after that experience , I would say strange odors , blood and guts , do not bother a whitetail in rut much at all !



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My experience coincides with all the above. It also seems to suggest that human scent is less of a factor than is often written about, although that may be more the case when hunting in areas where human activity is common (e.g., near urban or suburban or in agricultural areas) rather than far back in the wilderness.

A friend of mine just got back from a guided hunt in Canada somewhere. They do not allow the deer to be field-dressed because it attracts wolves to the hunting areas. All gutting is done at the camp. I suppose the same problem might exist in areas with grizzly bears.

I've never seen it make a difference out here in upstate NY. I have also seen deer walk right past the pile - some sniff it, some walk around it, but all seem to accept that it as just another natural thing. The few additional coyotes that show up don't seem to bother the deer, but do make for additional opportunities during the season.

Years ago ,I shot a buck within 10 yds of my stand.The next day,I shot a doe within a yard or two of what was left of the gutpile.Last year,I shot a sika hind on Assateague Nat'l Seashore.I drug her back from the water,and gutted her in the lee of a small clump of bayberry (it was blowing 40mph!).Since,it was early,and I was on the only dry,relatively sheltered spot around,I stayed put.About an hour later,I hear a slight splash behind me.I turn my head to the right(right handed,so I can't shoot that way)and a really tall sika spike was within 10 feet of me! He was in belly deep water,crawling THROUGH dense bayberries,1 turn and 2 steps and he was gone.He had come in downwind of me,the deer,and the gutpile,but the "breeze" may have had him confused.My brother took a small buck a fe weeks ago,and another walked up and sniffed it.Idon't think it bothers them at all,at least in my experience.Dave

We had this very discussion in our lease camp this year and concured with all the above. No one had seen a gutpile have any adverse affect on deer at all. Some even went so far as to add that all the trouble some of us go to to urinate in a bottle was also not needed as ammonia is ammonia and it would not influence deer at all.

I think it all depends on where you shoot the animal. If shot on the edge of a big field, it may have little effect. If you shoot it back in the bush near scrapes,it will have a major effect. Those big bucks get big for a reason. We always haul our animals out of the bush before gutting. We have found that even dragging the animal out of the area will slow down the action for a few days. In our area we do not have high consentrations of deer, but the ones you see will be big. The number of deer in an area and the number of gut piles they see and get used to may have an effect.

SuperMagnum,

How in God's name does a deer know what entrails are?


Good huntin',

Tom

quote:

I think it all depends on where you shoot the animal. If shot on the edge of a big field, it may have little effect. If you shoot it back in the bush near scrapes,it will have a major effect. Those big bucks get big for a reason. We always haul our animals out of the bush before gutting. We have found that even dragging the animal out of the area will slow down the action for a few days. In our area we do not have high consentrations of deer, but the ones you see will be big. The number of deer in an area and the number of gut piles they see and get used to may have an effect.

This has been my experience as well. We try to drive an atv right up to the downed animal and load them there. We gut while the animal is hung on the skinning rack. During archery season when the temps are warm, I usually don't even gut the animals. Our camp is close to where we hunt so we hang them by the neck, remove hide, shoulders, Backstraps, Hams, and Neck roast then, through the carcass(ribs, guts, and backbone) away. If I'm in an area where I'm many miles from the camp, I'll usually gut them at least a 1/4 mile from my stands and then take them to the packing house as they only charge $7.50 to skin and Quarter one.

In our area the guts can get quite rancid before consumed therefore they can have a great effect on game movement.

I have also seen fresh gut piles kill a spot that was thriving w/ deer just days before. For instance, this happened to me on a hunt in Alabama, I hunted a stand and saw deer everywhere the first day and then the next couple of hunts I didn't see any. Well after doing some scouting I found where some pecker head had gutted his deer about 80 yards from my stand really close to where alot of the deer were traveling prior to. It totaly shut that spot down for a while.

We also let spots lay for awhile after taking an animal to let things get back to normal.

I'm a pretty scent conscious hunter. I strongly believe in rubber boots as well as a strict scent elimination process that is very anal in most folk's eyes but, it just plain works for me.

Good Luck

Reloader

Thanks guys, I guess the effect varies in different areas. The particular reason I asked is because I am hunting an area that I was seeing from 15-20 deer daily with 2 big bucks by a row of thickets. Anyway, someone shot one of the bucks and left the guts just 50 feet from the thickts where they bed and I haven't seen anything since. Guess I'll give them few days and see if any come back.

There is no impact in my experience. I've not shot a deer by another gut pile, but in Central Texas I shot a deer by another deer.

I had an axis buck come to a feeder. I shot it with my S&W .41 Mag and it dropped at the shot. It was early in the morning so I never got out of the blind. Within thirty minutes a Sika buck came to the feeder, walked right past the axis, jumped the fence into the feeder, and I plugged him as well. It seemed like the dead axis could just as easily been a rock for all the sika cared. I then gutted both deer.

In my experience, it ain't "gut piles" that ward off deer, it is human activity. Deer have no idea of their biological composition.


Happy New Year,

Tom

I believe deer do no what gut piles are. This is one reason a doe will clean up afterbirth around a newly born fawn. Because it knows it will draw preditors. This may be instinct but the results are the same.

pioneeroutfitters,

Afterbirth is much different than entrails. It is the process of birth that triggers natural instincts.

I would love to see research that proves the hypothesis that deer know anatomy. Hell, I'd bet a zillion deer tags that a deer has no idea that should the thing pumping in its thorax stop, it'll die! Further, I'd bet another zillion deer tags that a deer can't distinguish between what is natural and what is not. In short, a deer has no idea of the concept of firearms.

Deer, like 99% of all wildlife, do not reason. They act instinctually. You gotta remember that coyotes are thought to be one of the more intelligent species in North America, yet where I live I routinely see them dead by car. Moreover, I have seen them in my front yard. Fact is, they have no concept that trees grow and houses are built! Further, while they will rarely approach a human due to scent, they will walk right up to parked cars and in front of moving ones!


Happy New Year,

Tom

Oh, BTW, a friend of mine killed a 4 point a few years ago in Utah...right next to more than one gut pile! I have seen God knows how many deer travel areas where other deer were cleaned.

Human scent will scare off deer. Deer entrails smell like deer and therefore do not scare them. Deer have no idea where entrails originate!


Happy New Year,

Tom

Just another point of view,

Whether or not a deer knows what entrails are seems to be the answer to a different question.

I would guess that a deer wouldn’t know what a battery powered television is either but it might deter some from coming around (especially with most of the programming).

The very fact that they didn’t know what it was might deter them.

I have not heard of a world class buck being seen shying away from a gut pile nor have I heard of one being shot over one either.

Personally, I would not base my opinion with regard to these bucks on what does and smaller bucks do as I have observed that they are less concerned with distractions than the old timers.

I would even guess that deer could each be different and what would cause concern to one might not bother another.

What concerns any given deer could also vary on any given day based on what has gone on in his life recently.

In the end, I doubt you could ever truly know the answer because if the buck of a lifetime was deterred by it, and didn’t get close, you would never know.

As a NY deer hunter (going back to 1946) I never even thought about the possible spooking of deer by field dressing on the spot. (I regularly shot deer in commercial apple orchards under special permit from the NY Conservation Department granted to the commercial orchard growers. I often shot deer in the late Spring several times a week in the same area. I think I agree with the Western posters who have indicated that they never noticed any "spooking" of deer.

I do have to say that on my first bear hunt in Ontario, the guide requested that I not field dress the bear if I should get one. He felt (and so did the lodge owner) that bear were spooked by the odors of field dressing - and so the particular stand would be ruined. I obeyed him then and ever afterwards. ( I never thought to ask - Why are bear spooked and not deer?) (I do know that fur trappers try to kill the animal with a 22 -and get him away from the trap area without spilling blood so there must be something to the whole idea. just my thoughts.

Suppose this, the big boys get big by being very skittish. Instictively hiding in the thick stuff at the slightest distraction, going nocturnal at the drop of a hat. (literally and figuratively) Anything perceived by them as being out of the ordianary will put them off in a different direction. I think this is probably true, but this and all other bets are off when the rut is on. That's the reason most of your big bucks are killed then, they are not in their right mind when chasing the does!

So.......I think almost anything out of the ordinary might cause a deer, especially a big buck to alter his routine. Having said that I don't think that they differentiate between one dead smelly thing or another, e.g. gut piles or dead possum, but they will certainly know if something is dead in their normal travel route, when it wasn't previously.

We don't gut in the field on our ranch, but haul them into camp for weight and then field dress them--lots easier on my back to do it on the pickup tailgate than on the ground too. Guts, etc. go into tubs which we haul to the brush/cactus and dump--always in the same place. We'd like to dump in the field where we can shoot coyotes, but landowner doesn't like that due to risk of tractor tire damage from bones, hog teeth, etc.

And, as many animals as the oil trucks kill along the highway frontage of the ranch, our deer and hogs have plenty of experience with the smell--my vote-not a problem.

If any preditor or bird knows what blood is than why would a deer not. If a Timberwolf sees blood on the ground it will follow that blood trail because it knows something is wounded. Natural Resourses in Manitoba at one time put blood meal and bangers around Farmers hay stacks to detour the deer from eating at the hay. This usually only worked for a while until the deer got too hungry and ate anyway. They now build high fences around the hay stacks.A pig is a hoofed animal and I believe they know what blood is. No one knows for sure, but until proven otherwise I will haul my deer away from my hunting spots and I'm sure my paying hunters would apreciate it.