Many years ago in a land far away, there were those hill country folks who would shoot and gut deer by the headlights. If they needed meat they'd declare the season open and go get some. Or so I've been told anyway.
In that case you are absolutely right ,no better than gut shot. Thank god I am just a medicor shot (hence the extra effort to get close as I can) and prefer to shoot the in mid to upper neck area, or upper neck from behind.I've seen too many jaws shot off deer from "expert" head shots.
Everybody to their own thang but I would not want to be seen doing that whether legit or not.My two sons gutting a pile of deer in the headlights, i would think, speaks for itself.
Pay to gut one?
That ain't how it's done around here.
Processing them either. First I enjoy doing it, second I want to know the hands that's been on it, third we couldn't afford to hunt if we had to pay for it all to be cut up. I have a meat shop in my house. Wild game, hogs, and the occasional beef.
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Dear Karen,Everybody to their own thang but I would not want to be seen doing that whether legit or not.
Most of my deer and bear are gutted in the dark with a light, unfortunately. I have more time to hunt in the afternoon hours than in the morning. Most action I see is in the last half hour of shooting light. By the time you get to the deer dark. The only other option is to leave it til morning and gut it in daylight but I will never do that. The handful of times I've shot a morning deer was more relaxed because I felt no rush to get it done, had all day.Everybody to their own thang but I would not want to be seen doing that whether legit or not.
This was my way of doing it for years, I carried a really good tripod 10 feet tall and I would immediately skin the critter as soon as I got there, and then gut it like we did on the ranch I was raised on. Easy to do, just like with mutton. We even did beef that way that we shot in the corral right at home. we could hang them with the tractor on this spot. In older age I built a device that would fit in my receiver hitch and I could hang deer right in the field, skin it, gut it, place in the game sack and bring it home, relatively free of any hair or dirt. This device was in a pipe and I could swing the deer around and lower it in the truck box. I didn't appreciate the advantage of hunting our own private land and even BLM land in those days, and we could drive where ever we wanted to, until my dad and brother passed away, and I don't hunt there anymore. Things have changed now and you probably need to gut wherever the critter is, or even bone it. Started hunting in 1953, and I can guarantee you that times have changed.yes. i do gut my deer,;sometimes after skinning. My old truck has a handy hog/deer hanger
Aside from cooling far quicker than 3 hours being more properly done by any reasonable measure, how do you remove the inside tenderloins (sweet meat) if you're not gutting?I kill my deer about 150yds from the house. I usually heart shoot only and they only run 30-40yds. I retrieve them with my Kubota 4 wheel truck and process them in the tree in the front yard. From shot to cooler (cut up and iced down) usually about 3hrs. The carcass and guts are taken off and given to the coyotes miles away. No need to gut if done properly. Heart shots don't burst the gut for meat contamination. Just blood, which drains out hanging up while skinning.
I hunt out my back door in my old age so I am gutting deer about 50 yards from the house. I used to carry the guts and hide down in the woods for the critters to clean up but it may take a few days for them to find what I dropped off.
One day, while I was recovering from some major surgery, I was too weak to carry the guts off and left them where they lay in an open field next to my garden. To my surprise bright and early the next morning there were at least 25 buzzards on the gut pile, by the next morning there was only a greasy spot where the guts and hide were.
Since then, I do a "sky burial" of all the left overs from skinning and gutting as well as everything I trim off during the processing.
Sometimes the scavengers find my leftovers within a few minutes and rarely over a few hours. I am sure coyotes and house dogs do a good bit of the removal at night as well.
All cleaned up;
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Waiting their turn.
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First off, the name is not Karen. Got that?Dear Karen,
If you've never killed a deer within minutes of last legal light, and gutted in the dark, then you've never hunted much.
Here, legal light is until 30 minutes after sundown, and dark quickly follows.
Had a game warden stop by one time seeing us gut a doe in the headlights out by the road after dark. All he was interested in was me donating my deer head to his CWD collection. He needed one more and wanted mine.
I never said that anyone should leave a critter. I’ve probably killed more big game critters late evening than the average hunter over the last 50 years plus. Many times I didn’t get back in until a couple hours after dark, sometimes later.Most of my deer and bear are gutted in the dark with a light, unfortunately. I have more time to hunt in the afternoon hours than in the morning. Most action I see is in the last half hour of shooting light. By the time you get to the deer dark. The only other option is to leave it til morning and gut it in daylight but I will never do that. The handful of times I've shot a morning deer was more relaxed because I felt no rush to get it done, had all day.
Karen,First off, the name is not Karen. Got that?
Secondly, you must be too simple to understand that even though it might have been legal, I can guarantee you that if a game warden, or anyone else for that matter, in this area sees you gutting out a deer under the headlights, they are going to assume it was a violated deer. Not that anyone could prove anything, but game wardens here will go deep into everything. And I mean everything. You do not have to quote legal hours to me. I’ve lived and hunted in 9 states and they are all the same. And yes, Ive killed many big game critters late evening over the last 50 plus years.
Third, I was not, in any way, putting you or your sons down. Simply stating that it’s not wise here.
As I have said, everybody to their own thing.
Have a nice day.
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