where to gut your deer

[Gencountyzeek]

Talking with my neighbor the other day. He tells me they have a particular spot in their woods where they gut their deer. He says the smell will scare the other deer away. I have always gutted my deer pretty much where they lay. I've had deer walk by a recently downed deer. Just looking for thoughts, do gut piles spook deer?

[gfdeputy2]

Never heard that one before

I do not believe it will spook deer. Animals will come across dead animals all the time

Edited September 17, 2015 by gfdeputy2

[grampy]

Gut them where they lay. Most times yote's and crows among other critters will have the pile cleaned up within a day or so. Your scent in the area from gutting the deer will alarm them more than the gut pile itself.

[growalot]

camp there is a gutting spot...only because the drag up the hill would make a mess on the inside...Steep hill and have the buggy load with people ....

Home they are gutted where they lay and have shot deer the next day checking out the remains of pile...usually not much left.

Edited September 17, 2015 by growalot

[WNYBuckHunter]

I gut them where they drop.

[Hock3y24]

Where they drop, deer come and sniff the pile sometimes.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I shot a doe in the Am a few years back and in the afternoon shot one of the biggest bucks I have taken within 20' of the gut pile. The only time I could see an issue is if you draw in coyote activity and usually they will find it and clean it up in a night, unless the crows clean it up first. The smell is not an issue.

[wooly]

I try to gut them after I'm done cleaning them up and taking pictures. Sometimes that means I'll drag them a ways with the guts still in to a prettier location.

Generally gut them pretty close to wherever they fall though.

 

[jjb4900]

how would a deer know what guts smell like?

[Fletch]

Almost all the time I gut where they have dropped. I have had deer walk up and smell the guts within hours.

 

I do occasionally drag one or two down to a cam spot so I can get the pics of what hits the gut pile and I see all kinds of deer night and day unalarmed near the pile.

 

My opinion don't sweat it.

[Gencountyzeek]

I've never moved them to gut them, he just offered this special spot. 2 years ago I shot a doe that walked by a buck I shot an hour earlier.

[Five Seasons]

i find the closest open flat spot and a tree. gut it there, kick some leaves and crap on the pile just for the principal of it. Never saw any reason to get cute or be crazy about it. You've really sort of disturbed that area for a few days anyhow.

[fasteddie]

I will drag the deer off a trail to an open space . If shot in a field , I drag it to a spot on the edge of the field .

I have seen a deer walk through a gut pile . Usually the piles are gone in a couple days . They don't seem to affect deer travel .

Happiness = A large gut pile !

[Larry]

I’ll see if I can find the pic’s I have pic’s of deer feeding out of the gut pile. I keep a trail cam in my pack and if I kill a deer I put the camera on the gut pile. I gut a deer where it lays or just move enough to have a clear spot.

[G-Man]

Had one stand that by the end of the week had 7 gut piles around it. Deer kept.coming..

[wooly]

how would a deer know what guts smell like?

 

Deer guts smell like the inside of a deer... basically a "deer fart" when all those gasses are exposed.

It may even act as an attractant IMO to some extent.

Deer are constantly sticking their noses up each others rear ends sniffing what's going on on the inside..

Edited September 17, 2015 by wooly

[Five Seasons]

Deer guts smell like the inside of a deer... basically a "deer fart" when all those gasses are exposed.

It may even act as an attractant IMO to some extent.

Deer are constantly sticking their noses up each others rear ends sniffing what's going on on the inside..

 

like humans they're curious. you never know what might get their attention. I told a story last year on here about dragging out a dead doe breaking branches and talking only to have an 8 point creep up on us not 10 yards away on our trail.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

i find the closest open flat spot and a tree. gut it there, kick some leaves and crap on the pile just for the principal of it. Never saw any reason to get cute or be crazy about it. You've really sort of disturbed that area for a few days anyhow.

I actually prefer to gut on a slope if I am near one. the gravity seems to work great for rolling the guts out and draining the blood from the cavity.

[steve863]

I've always gutted them near where they fell if not the very spot.  Down south it seems as if it's a taboo to gut a deer anywhere near where you will be hunting again.  They will haul them away guts and all and then gut them just before they are ready to skin them.  Drop the guts into a bag or pale from a hanging deer.  Sometimes this is hours after the animal was killed.  This never made sense to me, being that the temperatures are generally warmer down there.  I guess traditions are a hard thing to break.

 

 

[GreeneHunter]

I gut them where they drop , less to drag and the Yotes  have the pile cleaned up by the next day !

[Sogaard]

Last year I took my twins out gun hunting for the first time.  One son shot a doe in the morning, we gutted it there and dragged it out.  We had lunch, then went back in for an afternoon sit.  My other son shot a buck that came in to sniff the gutpile of the doe later that afternoon.

 

I always gut them where they drop, or the closest convenient spot.  

[BizCT]

I gut them where they drop.

Same but I prefer to drag them first to nearest slight slope. I find it easier for draining.

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[Doc]

I once had a deer follow a drag from where I gutted it all the way down the hill to my back-yard. On my way home the next day, I took the same trail back home and there was a very good sized track in the snow all the way home. That drag was a bit more than a mile long. Apparently blood and guts didn't bother that deer any.

[Pygmy]

I don't have to look for a "slight slope" to gut my deer on...ALL of them are shot on a slope around here, except in the river bottoms, and I don't hunt there..

Out in Colorado I've had to tie them off to a tree or a sagebrush so they didn't roll or slide down the hill while I was butchering them..Both deer and elk...

[ATbuckhunter]

I actually have a spot that I like to gut them. But that's only because its next to a small creek that I can wash my hands, knife and deer in before i make the final drag to the landowners house.