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.
Do you gut your deer?
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Why does everyone forget the tongue! I love eating the tongue. Deer, Steer, Bison and Elk. 
CaptainKirk
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Do I gut my deer?
Well...yeah. Why would I not? Why would ANYBODY not?
Well...yeah. Why would I not? Why would ANYBODY not?
I always gut, skin and butcher my own deer. I do take some of the meat to my local butcher for snack sticks to be made, I cut my own steaks and make my own jerky other than that.
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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.
Black_Feather
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Where I hunt is a couple hours from home, I usually gut it in the woods and drag or haul it to my truck, drive it back to camp and hand it and skin it there, wash it down with water, then vinegar, then water, and pepper it to keep the bees off, then hang a breathable game bag over it. I quite taking it in cause all our butchers quit taking game. It’s usually very cold and I’ve been able to hang it for a week in camp SOMETIMES. Never lost any meat or any weird funky flavors or anything like that. Where I Deer hunt, it usually is a family gathering, my Dad and his Dad have hunted their sonar 1957, tag or no tag, we all show up anyways, one year we filled the camp with 50 family members it was quite something…
Everybody to their own thang but I would not want to be seen doing that whether legit or not.
The Appalachian
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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.
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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.
Henry Miles
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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.
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.
Squint
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The Appalachian
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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?
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It's a rare hunt here on the coast when the temperature gets into the 30s. Since we start August 16 on private land and go until January 1, it's quite often a high in the upper 70s and even 80s. Lots of sweat and mosquitos. Vast majority of hunters drag the deer to the truck and haul a** to a processer they trust. I've watched my deer go from hung to skinned and gutted in a matter of minutes, before they slide the deer on the meathook into the big chiller for aging. They are committed to "your deer, your meat." I have never had a strong- or off-tasting deer here despite the heat.
Growing up in Indiana was a different story. Many were the deer hung in our garage over the years, but deer meat tasted strong to me back then (1970s).
Regional differences. Go with what works for you.
Growing up in Indiana was a different story. Many were the deer hung in our garage over the years, but deer meat tasted strong to me back then (1970s).
Regional differences. Go with what works for you.
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;
Waiting their turn.
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;
Waiting their turn.
The Appalachian
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Yep.
We gut where we kill depending where it is but will haul em closer to the road and gut. I'm not totally convinced a gut pile ruins a good spot but why take the chance. Admittedly, gut piles are generally gone by the next day.
For carcasses after processing we have what we call "the bone holler" back in the farm that sees a LOT of scavenger traffic during deer season.
The worst case of waste I've seen was about 2020. A guy I knew had drawn a moose tag, so he and his buddy went out and found him one.
Well, he shot his moose, and it fell where they were able to run out enough cable to drag it to the trail, and then to their camp.
They had gutted it, but didn't skin it. It lay for three days while his buddy hunted for an elk.
When they got back, they hung the moose in his barn, and he called me to come skin it, as I was tanning a lot of hides back then.
I'd skinned several moose before, but never one that was hung up, I'd always did it on the ground.
You really realize how big a moose is when it's hung up. I had to stand on top of his pickup topper and stretch to get the first cut around the neck.
Yuck! The carcass had gassed so bad, I could hardly stand to skin it. I got the hide home, stretched and fleshed so I could get rid of the stink.
He went ahead and butchered the moose, and found what I had told him he would. All off the meat was ruined. He tried giving it away, different ways of cooking it, but it ended up going to the dump.
Well, he shot his moose, and it fell where they were able to run out enough cable to drag it to the trail, and then to their camp.
They had gutted it, but didn't skin it. It lay for three days while his buddy hunted for an elk.
When they got back, they hung the moose in his barn, and he called me to come skin it, as I was tanning a lot of hides back then.
I'd skinned several moose before, but never one that was hung up, I'd always did it on the ground.
You really realize how big a moose is when it's hung up. I had to stand on top of his pickup topper and stretch to get the first cut around the neck.
Yuck! The carcass had gassed so bad, I could hardly stand to skin it. I got the hide home, stretched and fleshed so I could get rid of the stink.
He went ahead and butchered the moose, and found what I had told him he would. All off the meat was ruined. He tried giving it away, different ways of cooking it, but it ended up going to the dump.
I killed and butchered 4 deer this year. One flintlock, 2 bow, one conventional. I cured a back leg off the last doe I got in muzzleloader season. I plan on curing some other cuts when I find some more round tuits.
First off, the name is not Karen. Got that?
Secondly, although 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 don’t have to give them a reason here.
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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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.
The only thing I’m saying is it’s not advisable to be gutting out deer in this area vehicle under headlights.
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The Appalachian
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Karen,
Not at all simple, just accustomed to a routine occurrence around these parts. Guess you missed the part where I stated what the GW did stopping by our gutting party one evening. Surely glad I don't live where irrational fears dictate the life we live.
If you weren't putting me or my sons down, then maybe go back and word your post differently, or delete it. You alluded as much, and that is what it is.
You have a nice day too....Karen.
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