Posted on 10/24/2016 11:16:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Utah's general deer season is in full swing, and with only six days left (the hunt ends Oct. 30), hunters who weren't successful on opening weekend will be pulling out all the stops to bag the trophy buck they've stalked for months.
Sadly, the rush to fill the freezer with fresh venison can sometimes bring out the worst in some people. To help you have a great hunt this year, let's take a quick refresher course on hunting etiquette.
Dump the guts Regardless of how you harvest your deer's meat (gutting or boning it out), it's common courtesy to do so right where the animal died. While it may be easier to clean the animal in a parking lot, or even at a game check station, it's best to dump the guts in a remote area in the mountains. No one wants to arrive at a parking lot or trailhead and smell a ripe pile of deer remains.
Advertise with usReport this ad Share the mountain Remember, you're not the only hunter out there trying to fill a tag. Do your best to stay out of the way of other hunters, and don't make unnecessary loud noise while walking through the forest. One of the most frustrating things for hunters is to have a big buck in the sights, only to watch it spook after hearing other hunters somewhere down the trail.
Additionally, it's important to remember that unless you have permission to hunt private land, we all share the same public lands. You may have scouted an area heavily for months before the season, but if you're not there first on the day of the hunt you can't force another hunter to leave.
We're blessed to have so much public land on which to hunt, but it's just that — public. We all have to share it.
If you shot it, track it This bit of advice does more to keep the spirit and tradition of hunting alive than it does to make the hunting experience a pleasant one for others.
If you shoot a deer, but you didn't kill it and the animal takes off running, it's your duty as a hunter, sportsman and steward of public land to follow the animal until you can find it.
Dismissing the shot by thinking you hit the deer in the leg, or not at all and just spooked it, isn't only an un-sportsmanlike way to hunt, but it also teaches children the wrong way to honor the land and animals that are such a huge part of our heritage and traditions here in Utah.
It may take several hours — or even a day or two — to find the animal you shot, but it's the right thing to do. A few years ago, I helped a friend of mine find a buck he'd shot three days earlier; at that point we had hunting dogs and a dozen people out looking for the animal. It was finally found, tagged and cleaned.
Hunting is one of the American West's greatest traditions and it's up to every hunter to uphold the values and standards of hunting. Whether it's your first year or 50th out hunting Utah's Rocky Mountains, don't forget to be courteous.
Do you have any hunting etiquette tips? Share them in the comments below.
That is beautiful!
Are etiquettes hard to approach? hard to hunt? Do they provide good trophy racks? Are they dangerous?
Um, no thanks. At that point, he's food for the coyotes.
Aim small, miss small.
#4 - stay off private property unless you ask permission. We bought 30 acres that had gone unused by the previous owner. Our neighbor still seems to think it his personal hunting reserve.
Alabama bow and arrow and spear hunt either sex: Oct. 15 - Feb. 10
Gun Season, either sex: Nov. 19 - Jan. 15
That’s what I was thinking. Who’d eat a steak left out of the fridge for 3 days? Dogs would love it, though. Me, not so much, that’s what refrigeration was created for...
Never had to deal with it but would think freezing temps/snow would keep the kill from spoiling in 3 days.
Yes, hope for some cloud cover with that... I saw a roadkill deer that laid in the ditch, was there for many days, it bloated up like a balloon, thought “I don’t wanna be there when that thing pops!” Just before the big event, it disappeared. Ew, anyways.
We were always taught not to kill a doe.
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