What’s the consensus. We have a bunch of ol goobers in a club who think if you gut a deer in the woods, it’s gonna spook the deer or establish coyotes in the area and drive off deer? Consequently, they “encourage” you to bring the deer back to camp and gut it there (no meat pole) or just take it straight to the processor. Just seems so much more inconvenient to me (I process my own deer) rather than just gutting it where it falls (unless it’s in a green field-then I would move it a couple hundred yard away). If you gut em back at camp, then you gotta go dump it somewhere. Anyone else run into these debates?

Why would anyone want a gut pile near their camp?

Proper field dressing is paramount, especially in warmer weather. I like getting all the crud out of the animal as soon as possible. That meat can get tainted very quickly,imo!

We gut back at camp for the most part, but we're set up for it.

First off, let me say that if we have a deer that's down in a ravine and there's going to be any delay it getting it out, we gut in place before transport. That is maybe 10% of our deer.

The overwhelming majority are dropped where we can get to them easily with the truck. We radio for a pickup and somebody drives out with the deer wagon. We have the deer back to the meat pole in under 30 minutes. We have a hoist and lift the deer out of the truck, head up, and gut. Some folks say this is backward, but I learned how to gut from a guy from Alabama. From what I've discovered, this is a Deep-South thing. If you need to empty out a carcass in a hurry, this is the way. Everything goes into a washtub and then the carcass is dropped back into the truck for transport to the processor.

The big consideration is speed. We have a processor that fills up quickly on The Opener. It's a half-hour drive to get there. Therefore, we need to be quick about it. We have been able to get 2 down after sunset and have both out to the processor before they close for the evening with 45 minutes to spare. It keeps the interior cavity spotless.
The other benefit is that we have the meat pole lit and the gutting tools are all right there.

Yes, we do have gut buckets to deal with, but that's fairly easy as well. There is a hillside a few hundred yards from the house. We take the bucket out and dump it on that hillside.

Depends on how far from camp. Temp and location of deer.

I gut em where they fall. Gut piles don't scare deer. Have shot several that were sniffing a fresh gut pile.

I always gut in the woods. I'm not dragging an extra 50 lbs. of schit out of the woods so that I can try to find a place to dump it. It doesn't make sense.

It doesn't spook the deer. Matter of fact, it's gone by the next morning. The coyotes are there anyway, but in a lot of cases, the foxes will beat them to the punch. There's a lot more of them. Plus, if there are any remnants left, it might serve as bait in order to shoot a coyote.

Bingo. Gut them where they fall unless it's right in the trail or creek. Start them cooling right away, and don't need to drag or lift the extra weight of the gut pile. The scavengers gotta eat too.

No camp, I hunt my own place and can haul deer to the house very easy. I have a trailer that I pull behind my ATV, a home made one, not the rattling metal things that they sell for ATV's. I have a winch fastened to a tree, with the cable through a pulley on a limb, in fact 2 of them on the same tree. In reach of a water hose, and a tub for the guts. If warm it is quartered and put in a fridge, in my shop. Back when I was a kid, all of the magazines said not to get water inside a deer, but that is pure
BS. Did not know better when reading that, as we had on deer here. Or at least very few. miles

Had to add-head down. The way I learned on beef and hogs.

In a single year, I may dress on the spot, cut-up on the spot, move deer a couple hundred yards before dressing or get out whole via cart, quad or truck.
So, I guess the answer is, "it depends".

If I can get them out whole (with innards) I like the added benefit of placing entrails prezactly where I want in hopes of filling bonus coyote tags.

i leave the guts in the woods. it doesn't scare them. i've hunted over gut piles before and had deer walk right up to them.

I too gut them where they fall.

Right where they lay on my side of the fence. My neighbor who lets us hunt on their property prefers that we don't leave gut piles on their place.

Their land, their rules. I respect that.

In the woods, for the reasons given above. Can't think of a good one for doing it later or elsewhere.

Since I hunt alone for the most part, and getting up there, I'm thinking about going gutless, though that may impact meat quality by cooling it too quickly and removing it from the bones before the rigor cycle is complete. I have game bags, and a packframe, but I also lucked into a free, very nice game cart which I can chain in the woods near my stands so I can bring them out whole. If my seasons go well, I may try both ways to see what works best for me for the near future. Unless I uncover the Fountain of Youth back in the bushes, sooner or later I'm gonna have to come up with "Plan C".

We hunt our own place and have for decades and I've always gutted them where they fell. A gut pile won't spook deer...have no idea where that comes from. Besides, I like to shoot the yodel dogs off the gut piles. Gut piles won't establish coyotes...they do and have done just fine establishing themselves about everywhere without the benefit of gut piles. If gut piles established coyotes then every rancher in the US would have to be out gathering the placenta of cows calving to prevent their establishment...and that ain't gonna happen. Same goes for deer and every creature that births on the ground. Gut piles establishing coyotes is a crock of hooey.

Camp is never too far an ATV ride from anywhere on our property. Why gut in the field where you can get debris inside!

We always have a nice skinning rack and water at camp.

I’m just amazed folks still gut deer for reasons other than lightening the load on a drag or if it’s real hot and you can’t dress them in an hour or so.

I haven’t gutted any of the 150 or so I’ve killed in the last 15 years and the ones I’ve eaten have tasted just fine and nobody else has complained either that I’ve given them away to. Of course I don’t gut shoot them either.

If cleaning them myself, I just leave the guts in the body cavity. If taking to a processor, let them deal with the guts.

I bet some of you still cut the tarsal glands off too as soon as they hit the ground.

I'm not inclined to leave a deer hanging to age for a week or more with the guts in said deer. YMMV

The above could also be used my Merriam's as the definition of provincialism.

You've apparently never shot one that you can't get to an ATV. It the thought of a twig and leaves getting inside causes you so much anguish, completely breaking one down in the field to a pile of meat will likely snap you.

Aging would be another good reason to gut them but I’m certainly not setup for that.

Coyote tags?

↑

Out west, deer (and certainly elk) are normally cut up on the spot, so this question is kind of a moot point for me. Deer killed somewhat close to a road which are to be brought out whole are gutted at the kill site. Exceptions may be if a road is close by, then it is only to keep the body cavity clean. No need to drag unnecessary weight or keep the heat in longer than needed.

I have seen zero indication of a gut pile scaring off deer. I've actually seen them eating whatever was undigested, out of the pile.

Honestly, I have never seen this kind of debate come up in my circle of friends. This is just how it's done out here I guess.

Gotcha. If it was the sarcastic emoji I'd of not questioned it...but the whistling one didn't click in as quickly.

Right on Scott.

Depends

Never met a single local in SE AL that would clean their own deer.

I used to quarter mine where they fell. Locals on the lease would get so upset, bitching about the gutpile scaring other deer off.

I finally explained to them, that taking one of these deer in still intact, you are looking at $50 just to have them skin and gut it. Big buck or little doe, you are in for 50 as soon as it hits their door.

I agree with Scott, there is no "one size fits all" answer. The post is in "Deer Hunting" forum, so that should encompass Whitetail, Mule Deer and Black Tail deer habitat with a plethora of conditions.

This fascinates me.

As was said up the page, it depends. I've done it all ways. But I usually just throw 'em in the truck and bring 'em back to camp. Then I string 'em up head up (Found that the hide comes off easier) start skinning down to the front legs, then put a smooth rock or a golf ball in the hide and tie around it with a rope long enough to reach my vehicle. Then pull the hide off with the vehicle. Then quarter it throwing the meat into my 150 quart cooler with ice. The last place I hunted for 8 years was only 30 minutes from the house so I usually brought it home to do that because we didn't have a camp.

I do all this out of laziness, but I've never been able to detect any difference in taste in the meat from one I gutted when they hit the ground. Also, I like clean running water available when I gut it. washing the body cavity out immediately does more good once the body cavity is open to the air. Now if it's going to be 2-3 hours before I get to where I'm going to gut it, then I'll field dress it.

I saw a couple of you mention you did this to keep debris out of the body cavity. But more importantly it keeps a lot of hair out of the meat if you skin it first before gutting. Hair is a biotch to get off the meat.

I gut em in the woods unless there’s a creek nearby. If there’s a creek, I gut near there to have the luxury of rinsing the deer out in the creek. Maybe that’s bad , but how I do it.

Yeah, what PC state is he hunting in?

Gut piles scaring off deer is an old wives tale, shot several out of the same stand where a deer was field dressed the previous day. I've also field dressed in camp, dumped the innards into a trash barrel and carted to a spot on the property that we don't hunt. Usually by the next day the coyotes have things all cleaned up, surprising how fast they work.

I have absolutely no desire to gut my animals anywhere other than where they died.
I also have never paid someone else to gut and process my animals whether deer of elk.

Some of y'all need to outsert the stick.

The way I hang deer after skinning, I leave all the guts inside the chest cavity. Then I remove the backstraps, shoulders, neck meat, tenderloins, and finally the hams.

The guts never leave the chest. Then what is left is hauled off to a gut pile away from camp for the buzzard (aka county road crew) and coyotes.

This is thread is interesting to me, but not very relevant because I've never hunted deer east of the Mississippi. In my stomping grounds deer, with few exceptions, are gutted where they fall. Then again, if there is no road close by, I may use the gutless method on one.

Not gutting them right away seems like a Southern thing which given the warmer temperatures down there, seems just the opposite of what most think is the best meat handling practice. Innards weigh 21-23% of the deer’s live weight and I don’t want to drag out any more weight than I need to.

I wish that I’d kept a piece that a friend of mine sent me on amateur wild game processing. According to the piece, these guys took a beef cow out in the woods, shot it back in the swamp, dragged it through the dirt, hung it it the sun, cut it into hunks on the garage floor with some well meaning friends, let the dog lick it and freezer burned it. The conclusion was that yes, venison tastes just like beef.

What’s with the washing out of the cavity? The only thing left inside there after gutting that I eat is the tenderloins, which on our deer are about the size of a ballpark frank and they’re easily removed and put in the ziplock with the heart.

I just don’t understand what a couple twigs or leaves in there is going to mess up. Of course I admit that I have zero use for the ribs

I never move them further than necessary to gut my deer.

I dont even know if it is just a southern thing.

Have hunted deer in WA, WY, AZ, KS, TX, KY, TN, AL and FL.

SE corner of AL, around the Ft Rucker area, is the only place I have ever seen it. Other Army friends said the same thing.

I asked alot of folks around there about it. My neighbor was a big-time archery guy, had his own TV show, he said that almost no one around there guts them before hauling them out. Right after I moved there, he went bowhunting in KS and shortly thereafter, he went to WY to bowhunt antelope. He said it was odd to see the guides dress the animals where they fell.

I wrote it up to just a local thing. Who knows.

Honestly I’m not surprised about the lack of AL guys dressing their own deer. The more expensive the club, the greater the chances they aren’t dressing their own game. It’s fairly common just to take them to processor shortly after they are killed. I’d say 90% of deer dropped off at the processors around here aren’t field dressed.

That is weird. I don't know anybody around here that doesn't dress them in the woods immediately. The majority process it themselves too.

In my 60+ years of hunting, I have never dragged a deer or elk or antelope anywhere with the guts in them. I never knew anybody that did either! I just assumed everybody guts em where they shoot em!
A few years ago, I shot a cow elk sniffing a fresh gut pile!

Where I hunt, we can haul a kill to the skinning shed quickly with AVT and small trailer.

Kill a deer, get on the cell phone, let'em know and soon there's transportation.

Works well for us.

DF

One of my all time favorite deer hunting memories was when I dropped a buck on opening day, gutted it and hauled it out. Then since we can legally hunt for each other here and we weren’t filled up, I went back to that same stand the next day and had a mother bobcat and her three mostly grown kits come in and eat at that gut pile.

I’m not real sure about a gut pile scaring off other deer either. Reason being I‘d shot a buck early on opening day, gutted it and went back up in my tree stand. A couple hours later I shot another one and it ran over to where that first one with the gut pile was and lay down right there not 20’ away.

I bone them where they hit the ground. I'm not packing out hide, head, bones or feet. And I sure as heck ain't gonna haul out guts. And it does not spook game. I remember a time back in CO when my father shot a bull elk. We pieced it down on the mountain and just took out edible meat and the antlers. The very next day I shot another bull less than 30 yards from where we worked on Dad's bull the day before.

That has been disproven so many times it is not funny. Nowadays they are weighed back at camp and gutted, in the past it was a long drag back to the car/truck and it was gutted a short distance from where it dropped.

I just load them up on an ATV, SxS, or truck bed and drive the 5 minutes back to camp, where there's a skinning shed. Dump guts and scraps in a cut down plastic drum to haul off to the dump-hole. If somebody else wants the deer (or hog), I'll run it to the game processor right up the road (10 minutes). If the weather is hot, I'll gut them before heading to the processor.

Any Zombie tags available with coyote tags? OTC or draw? Asking for a friend. Thanks

Just gotta scroll down the page on the website to procure - zombie is betwixed the oppossum and armadillo tags.

The only reason I load them up and field dress them on the other side of the farm, is because several neighbors dogs show up on the gut piles while I’m hunting the area for a few days. I don’t think dogs or coyotes spook them permanently, but I damn sure don’t want them promenading through while I’m waiting on another deer.

On public hunts, I gut them where they fall.

Gut them where they fall. Sometimes 4 or 5 miles to the nearest road, and one is not allowed to do cross country runs with ATV's. If an early evening take, one might hang pieces and do a workup next AM.

I've seen elk grazing within yards of a gut pile 1 and 2 days after the deposit.

Done it a lot of ways, but on average gut in the woods where they die. If long ways away, use the gutless boning method. If it's easy and will get me to a proper gambrel, I'll gut later. But usually in the woods.

Hard to argue with an instant 20 - 25% weight loss.

I am not afeered to drag a deer to a more suitable spot to gut, cut up or load into an ATV, trailer, truck, boat, canoe, etc.. Don't like to leave camp, vehicle or watercraft without a drag rope or drag. harness.

55+ years chasing whitetails here in PA and I’ve never seen (or heard of) anyone taking a deer out whole.

I have seen people dragging gutted deer backwards a few times over the years.

Gut em where they hit the ground, have killed other deer within 5 gut piles in the same area the same last week of hunting cleaning up and using available tags before seasons end, also pissed down a tree four or five times one day, had a doe come by two different times and take a poop where I pissed, she had to back up to the tree to leave it that close.

They know it's piss, but don't know it's people piss, let er fly men!

All I know is, I'm not dragging one of these beasts very far across the sandhills. Unless I have some help i gut 'em where they lay.......

roundoak,

Being so prepared is a surefire way for me to come home empty-handed.
Leave my knife at camp or in the truck - BANG.

were i am we take them out hole back to camp. we can clean 4 at a time. we do all of the cleaning, cutting grinding , and eating . i think if i get to were i can't do it my self i will quit killing them

I gut them where I have a reasonable shot @ seeing the coyotes on the pile and maybe get a poke @ them too.

Or, I don't gut them @ all. Top-down gutless and leave the guts-n-bones behind.

Neither does a dead deer. Shot a buck a few years back, gutted it, then left my pack beside the carcass and gutpile, then climbed back in my stand. In a little bit, his spikey companion returned and walked right over to the scene of the crime. Only thing that bothered him at all was my pack, which he sniffed, then returned the way he came.

They see dead deer all the time, as well as half-eaten ones. Anywhere there are vultures, deer guts in the open get cleaned up pronto. I forgot the liver of a PA buck once. Went back in an hour or so to retrieve it, and only a wet red smear in the grass marked the spot where I had dumped the innards.

Hunting deer is a leap of faith anyway and to test that throw a fork and salt and pepper shakers into your day pack.

Depends where Im at. If hunting at our cottage up north, I bring them back to the cabin, hang em and unzip them there. Have several two-tracks that run thru our property and its never too far of a drag to a truck. If I am hunting somewhere else, usually gut them where they fall.

I field dressing them in the field and if they are over bigger than average, I'll cut them in half to make them easier to handle and load.

I hunt on family or leased land that is between 25 and 125 miles from home, so hauling the back whole isn't practical.

I’m a primary public land hunter. I either guy where they fall if it’s a short drag to a road or do the gutless method if I have a good hike back to the truck. I like to process my own when I have time, if not there are a couple of good places local I can take the meat to.

But I agree probably 90% of the hunters I know in Alabama aren’t processing their own and many do take deer whole to the processor.

This! I take them to camp, quarter, slap in ice chest.

Damn nice buck! The country at the Matador Wildlife Management area in Cottle county looked like that. I used to quail hunt there. Mule deer and Whitetail on there.

Two hunters were dragging their dead deer back to their car. Another hunter approached pulling his along too. "Hey, I don't want to tell you how to do something ... but I can tell you that it's much easier if you drag the deer in the other direction. Then the antlers won't dig into the ground." After the third hunter left, the two decided to try it. A little while later one hunter said to the other, "You know, that guy was right. This is a lot easier!" "Yeah, but we're getting farther from the truck," the other said.

Take em back to camp.

Out of the wind, rain. Lights. Running water.

Cold beer.


Don’t gut - skin and quarter. Peel the back straps amd sweet meat out.

Or debone it hanging.

I'm not sure when the last time is I've cut something up not on the ground. Texas 12+ years ago I reckon.

The bucks JG deals with are fat porkers!

I haven’t read the whole thread so I assume It’s already been said, but I have seen deer and elk walk right by a gut pile without batting an eye more than once.

That’s a pretty decent buck there Gregory

Had a pard tell me hunters in his locale don’t even know how to run a knife on a game animal. They wear them on a belt only for show.

Everything goes from the field into a rig, and off to a processor. Guts inside.

YMMV
😎

Absolutely...Seen it many times, and killed deer and elk within 60 yards of a gut pile from the previous morning.

😎

Yep to these fine fellas....

One of the funniest things that I've seen while hunting deer was a coyote running across a cut corn field while dragging a gut pile by the trachea with three other coyotes chasing along behind in a effort to get their share.

I couldn’t tell you the last time I gutted a whitetail. Just haven’t found the need for it.

Gut'em where they drop.

This perplexes me more than a pete53 paragraph.

Exactly. 👍

That's sounds like a Cajun joke, (Boudreaux and Thibodeaux) or at least an Aggie joke....

DF

I was puzzled as well, after being told a lot of custom knives are being worn as jewelry. Then I saw it, several times.

😎🤷🏽‍♀️

Here in South Carolina it is illegal to leave a gut pile on state game lands. I dont know anybody around here that has ever field dressed a deer. I dont think they know how. I have seen deer laying in the bed of trucks with the innerds still inside for several days before they get to the processor.

Bonus coyote tags? Where in Sam Hell do you need a tag to shoot fuggin coyotes? Amazing....

Et tu, Brute?

Where down Georgia or Pennsylvania? That’s funny actually

The only time I ever drag or carry any game with it's guts still in are the times I have killed them on farmers fields. I think it's rude to leave gut piles on cultivated pastures and fields. So I get them to the edge of the field to feed the coyotes, wolves and birds . But the longest drag I ever had in my life from the center of a field was about 500 yards.

By far, the largest number of animals I have killed were not on farm land. So I gut them right there. I see no reason to move the guts and I see several reasons not to. Cools the out better and faster. Removes the blood from the chest and body cavities before it starts to gel. Simply easier to move them. And of course in the case of elk moose and the occasional Buffalo you are NOT going to move them unless you have a vehicle or horses and/or mules, even if the guts were out, so guts-in makes no sense at all. In 99% of the cases with elk and moose they will not stand next to a road and let you shoot them, so having a vehicle is not likely to happen either. 4Wheelers can be helpful, but more and more you are not allowed to use them, so it usually comes back to a back-pack or a sled.

I bring out most of my antelope and deer in one piece after it's gutted but sometimes I cut them in half.

Elk, moose and the occasional buffalo or bear are always skilled or field quartered and brought out in pieces. Sometimes I have the luxury of horses or mules, but not always, so gutting and field butchering are the way I always bring out game from the wilderness areas and fields ----- other then farm land.

The only time I've ever taken an animal out whole is when I was guiding on a high fence operation and we had a trailer made for loading elk and bison whole. Didn't want a bunch of gut piles in the hunting pasture where animals were harvested. That was the only reason we took them out whole. Otherwise I like to pack them out in pieces when more than a hundred yard drag to the truck. I never heard of people leaving guts in a critter until this forum. Why pack it out just to dispose of later? Bones are bad enough but necessary until rigor sets in. I like to hang as long as weather permits. Tenderloins come out prior to hanging so they don't dry out. Keep the skin on too, provided you can get the critter cooled down quickly. Worked for me the last 28 years of hunting. Never lost any meat from doing it this way. I'd think you southern folks would want to gut ASAP with how warm it is down there, doesn't sound like that's the case though. Ymmv

Why would deer smell in the woods run off deer? I've seen deer near a gut pile before. The only thing that might run them off is if a bunch of coyotes are attracted to it.

Cut up and into a pack. Guts never touched.

An hour or so after you kill a deer is no bIg deal even in the south. However, I would NEVER leave one in the bed of a hot truck like someone said they see.

In fact, unless it is under 45 degrees, we don’t leave one in the woods overnight. We make sure to recover them right away. Besides, if you don’t the coyotes will ruin it.

If it is under 45 degrees we sometimes gut and leaving them hang till morning.

After skinning and quartering, it does the meat good to sit in ice for week. The taste of our deer in the south is as good as anywhere in the country.

right on the spot. gut pile does not last 18 hours in Maine.

The first time I saw this, it was opening day, honcho that ran the place shot a doe and a yearling about 3:30. Put them in the back of his truck, headed to the sign in shack. Sat there, truck in the sun, at least 80 degrees, until we all came back to sign out. Those things were bloated up like road kill. He was all excited about how fat they were.

After I commented on the yearling, he claimed there were 2 species of whitetail deer in SE AL, long bodies and short bodies. He said he got one of each. Dude was serious. When I asked him if he had ever seen a short body with a nice rack, he said short bodies dont grow big racks, thats why they shoot them.

I thought my buddy and I were gonna piss ourselves, we were laughing so hard.

I have always gutted in the woods. Get the stuff out quickly and lighter to drag. The woods critters will soon clean up the gut pile.

Gutless method then onto my back or if snow on ground onto a sled. Dragging a whole critter makes no sense

I always gut in the field. I will take a buck back to camp and butcher after a few days. I generally butcher the does in the field.

Generally gut them or gutless process them right where they die. There have a few exceptions. If I have a downhill drag, and don't want a bunch of dirt and crap inside the body cavity, I'll sometimes move the deer, then gut just uphill from the truck, so it gets loaded right after gutting. Better to make an intelligent plan based upon all the factors than to create standard course of action that ends up running contrary to all the goals. Recovering as much good meat as possible is very high on the goal list.

+1.

I haven't gutted a deer or elk in many years. Put the animal on its belly, slit the skin from the crown of the head down to the tail, peel off the hide, remove the backstraps and quarters, put the meat into game bags and haul them out by backpack, ATV, game cart or horse. I leave the carcass with the guts inside at the kill site.

I hunt in SW MS and this is how we do it too.

In the woods if they die in the woods or in a field if they die in a field.

Gutless boneless where they are.

It wasn't in Pennsylvania. We field dress our deer where they drop.

With the exception of Tommy, who carries the knife the Marine Corps issued him before his two tours in Viet Nam, no one wears anything remarkable on their belt.

Never seen anybody with a custom knife here. Most of the guys I've hunted with don't carry any knife on their belt but will have a factory folder of some type in a pocket.

I never had a custom knife until I met Beaver and usually carry a Spyderco Impala in my pocket.

Maybe it's just me, and the distance from where I hunt to a processor (not that I normally use them anyway), but it is absolutely baffling to me that some hunters don't gut/quarter their deer before taking it to a processor, and even more so that some don't even know how to do it.

I guess it's all in how you learned....and what you're comfortable with.

So true! I am usually no where near a vehicle and the times I have been I still have done gutless boned out. The responses on here always crack me up. Keep them coming!

I can't fathom why anyone would want to haul an deer with guts still in it, back to a camp to gut it.

I gut em where they drop. Or within a few yards of it anyway. Plan to 1/4 one up this fall...hopefully.

For the record, I never carry a knife on my belt, never have, they always reside in my pack. Hardly wear a belt, suspenders all the time

It depends on if it is morning or afternoon and how cold it is. In the morning I skin cut the meat off of them. Put them in a cooler under salted ice. Gut them to get the heart and tenderloins out. Afternoon And cold enough. I might gut and hang.

...............

just a question . do ya'll eat the liver & heart out of deer elk bear & prong horn ? i never been out west .

Nope. Some folks do

Nope, I don't eat internal organs....liver, heart, etc.

I’ll eat butthole waaaay before liver!! 🤣🤣

I never eat the organ meat, nor do any hunters I know.

I like the heart so will save it if it ain't blown to shyt. My gramps liked the liver so I'd save it for him when he was still alive. Since he died don't know anybody else who wants it so it gets left with the guts.

As long as the heart wasn't all fuggered up when I shot the deer I will save it and the liver.


Same w squirrel liver, never tried the hearts.

I would “accidentally” forget to bring in the heart and liver back when I hunted out of a deer camp. I tend to agree with the old guy I heard when the topic came up when he said,”Dems guts!”. Since then the doc has told me to lay off the organ meat. Works for me.

Woodchuck liver is the best of any I've ever tried and big for such a small animal. Very mild flavored and I've eaten quite a few.

I love about any liver but tame rabbit liver is the schitt.

Can't say that I've ever tried rabbit or squirrel liver despite having killed and eaten tons of them. Guess the internals always seemed too small to bother with.

I would rather eat heart and liver as about any other part of a deer or elk. Especially good when cut up and soaked in ice cold saltwater for 24 hours and then chicken fried in camp with fried potatoes and onions. Only thing I could never do liver on was caribou, every one I tried to eat there’d be flukes and worms floating out of it when I soaked them.

Gut piles don't spook deer. I shot a buck standing sniffing the still warm gut pile from a buck my brother had just drug back to camp. The one I shot was DRT and literally fell in my brother's gut pile.

I used to think guts were a bad thing. After several incidents over the decades, they're not a problem for the remaining deer at all. It used to be that after taking a deer, I'd rest that stand for the rest of season. It used to be. . . it used to be a lot of things.

A golden rule of deer hunting that I learned here: The best spot to shoot a deer is close to your pickup truck.

The reason we haul out the majority of our deer before gutting is it is just easy and fast to do so. Mind you, we've got it down to where a deer can be cleaned and out to the processor about 90 minutes after it's shot if all goes well. If we gut in place, it takes longer, but that's buried in the overall project of removing the carcass from the ravine.

The only remaining worry is what is attracted to the gut piles. We started off dumping guts on a wide-open part of a pasture, thinking we'd get a shot at coyotes. That never materialized. We've got coyotes and feral dogs in the vicinity. We've also got two species of vulture. If the guts get exposed out in the open, the vultures are more likely to hit them and clean them out before the dogs do. They're usually efficient and leave nothing but the stomach contents after 24 hours. Gut piles in the woods may sit for a few days before they get found by the dogs.

Not much of a bother since you are already peeling the guts out of em but I see where you are coming from.

We have even tried a few hearts, livers and gizzards from old gobblers, nutz too.

This is it. Trickiest part is getting the tenderloins out but after doing a few you learn. I always cut up and process my own deer, elk, antelope. Enjoy it as much as any part of the hunt. Last time I walked into a game processing facility I about threw up. Amazing the [bleep] filthy carcasses that are brought in. Learn to process your own game. Invest in a solid commercial type grinder. You won’t be sorry

How do you guys get the tenderloins out doing the no-gut method?

I've shot deer while gutting deer...

Makes a bloody mess on the gun though.

To remove tenderloins stick your fingers into the cavity behind short ribs . Carefully separate the loin and carefully use a short knife to sever the ends where it connects. Easy. Takes a little practice

I wouldn't wait to take out internal organs, the heart and liver removed and taken. Then I will strip the loins and tender loins etc. I usually look over the liver if the animal is in poorer shape. What is the point of the gutless method anyway?

It’s Clean. Removes all usable meat. Meat cools quickly and stays clean after placing in game bags. Quarters ready to put in pack or if early season ready for cooler and ice. Usually hunt miles from truck in steep terrain. Dragging isn’t much of an option especially by yourself. Back at home meat is ready to process

This.

I always take the heart. No exceptions. The liver on the other hand........
On the rare occasion that I do gut a critter (as opposed to gutless quartering) I get the liver, wind up and disc throw that nasty thing as far away from me as possible. It's my tradition.

Just say no to gizzards and such....

Where I hunt it might be several miles back to the road/truck. I want to get rid of the weight. Gut it where it falls.

Gut 'em on the spot.

Ditto

I didn't think meth heads ate much.

Bears and wolves have learned that a rifle shot means a gut pile here. if at all possible i drag and gut at home. shot a whitetail 2 miles from the truck 3 years ago. sat on him for a while hoping my partner would show up and help drag. it started to get dark so i figured id quarter it and start packing. 5 minutes after i opened it up there were 7 wolves in a ring out 75 yards. buddy showed up to help and we were escorted back to the truck by a pair. the rest were dining i guess.

[ What is the point of the gutless method anyway? [/quote]

Big animals by yourself esp in bear country a lot less work and less blood. Easier in my opinion

I’m Curious where you moved to Idaho from?

You drag critters (sometimes) several miles? That's got to get frustrating.

I guess I've never thought about it, but I haven't done that either. I just carried a small folder in my pocket when I was younger, and buried a knife in my pack ever since I started carrying a pack. I don't think I have ever worn one on a belt.

Gut them where they fall. Been doing it nearly 70 years. Keep and eat the heart. Buck knife on the belt.

I almost always have fully field dressed the deer I've killed at or very near where the animal falls dead. I don't just remove the guts but the whole shebang -- lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, and as much of the larynx / esophagus as I can reach and leave it all there. The one time I can recall that I didn't was the biggest and heaviest deer I've killed so far. Coyotes were out thick that evening and several were within yards of us and it was almost dark. I wound up field dressing that deer at the truck which was about a 1/4 mile give or take from where it dropped.

I will just throw this out there. As you get older and your back gets bad, you like to hang them up. miles

I'm of the belief that if you wear a fixed blade knife on your belt long enough, something bad will happen.

I've never boned one out in the field. What all do you guys carry with you to do this. I'm thinking this might be the way I go moving forward, as I had heart failure not real long ago and have to be super careful about not over exerting my self. I'm thinking not hauling the whole carcass out would lighten the loat considerably. I'm thinking a couple different knives to work with, some cheesecloth sacks, and probably a bigger backpack then I usually carry, and some paper towels and a bottle of water to clean up with. Should I need much more than that?

Gut ‘em in the woods and pee on the gut pile.

All you need is a suitable pack, a knife, game bags and experience with knowing where the joints and muscle groups are. I don't carry multiple knives nor paper towels.

I’d never remove an animal from the field with guts in it. Typically I gutless quarter everything and haul it out that way. If I’m uphill from the truck and close to the road, I usually roll the guts out of them and drag them whole to the road (rare occurrence)

If I shot a deer on the sheriff's front lawn, I would not gut it there..... but that has not happened... yet.

Thats about it. I have a small steel for touch ups, Use a plastic garbage sack to place meat on before placing in game bags sometime. Early season antelope I'll keep water jugs in truck for a washdown before meat goes in cooler. A good pack that converts into meat hauler is a must. Sometimes for elk quarters I'll switch out to a frame pack for return trips. Late season I'll use plastic toboggan. Its like filleting a fish. Why would you gut it first? Especially if you cut and process your own.

And buy good quality game bags. Good ones can be laundered and used again.

Go in next to the hip. Be careful not to poke "the bag" and you can pretty much pull them out.

Always gut where they fall and never ever take them to a processor . I enjoy skinning and quartering. Get a spare frig and some good meat pans. Leave in the frig for a week then process when I feel like it. Cut,Cube , grind,Wrap. All part of the fun

I always gut them where they fall. I usually hunt alone (deer, antelope, elk, moose, sheep), and I see absolutely no reason to move the extra weight of the guts.

A few years ago I shot a whitetail buck in my pasture about 150 yards from my house. I gutted him where he fell, and the next morning I watched two more whitetails walk by the gut pile and one stopped and sniffed it. It was gone by the second afternoon.

On two separate days last winter coyotes killed a deer within 100 yards of my house. I noticed the first one when I got up that day at 7:00. I immediately walked up to examine it. There were already magpies on it and nothing but coyote tracks in the snow around it and about half of the meat was already gone. I kept watching it throughout the morning and the magpies were joined by ravens and a bald eagle. By noon there was nothing left but some of the hide and the bones. By the end of the next day there was only a spot in the snow.

No kidding. It can take a long time. Also can make the hide look like crap, With no snow it can get rubbed pretty bad. If I am with someone and it is not too rough we sometimes use a pole and tie the feet around it carrying it on our shoulders. Just like the crazy old cartoons. I know it sounds funny but is alot easier than a long drag. Does get rough on the top of your shoulder though.

Often hunt on old logging roads which are blocked off to vehicles. Can walk a long way in a day.

I used to do the big drag , but the campfire taught me I could do the gutless method and get the quarters, backstraps , tenderloions, rib meat off a deer in about 30-40 minutes and its a lot easier to tote out the meat and head in a backpack than drag or carry a gutted carcus.