Posted on 10/20/2016 5:53:43 AM PDT by w1n1
You've heard it before: you should never gut a deer near your treestand. At least, that is a popular theory. As the saying goes, if you gut a deer near your stand, it will scare all the deer that frequent the area away. However, are there any facts to back up this claim, or debunks it?
Well, yes. Here's what was found.
After quite a bit of research into this topic, I was able to find this study done by Dr. James C. Kroll, who replicated gut piles all over the woods and placed trail cams right on top of the piles. Two kinds of animals were always the first to show up to the pile within hours of its placement: shockingly, deer and crows. Some deer even licked the gut piles, but at the very least, they were heavily investigated. Deer did not respond negatively at all.
Watch the video to see this exact evidence. Deer and crows are right there to check it out. See it here.
Just like possum, deer will come check out what happened to their buddy. Seen it many times.
This was my families experience over several decades. Deer are not spooked by gut piles.
We also found they are not deterred by smoke from small fires.
I wish I had a gut pile to try this with.
Ever go back and try to find a gut pile the next day?
Happiness is a large gut pile! :-)
I’ve been a deer hunter for over 30 years. My observations are right in line with what is stated in the article.
As a matter of fact I did go back, I thought I was lost!
Note: Bears can climb trees
Anecdotal, but I’ve shot a deer out of a stand, gutted it, had a hunting buddy climb up and shoot another one within 5 yards of the gut pile. I’ve also seen a deer shot and laying dead, with a live deer standing right next to it as if it were alive.
I have gone back a number of times and not a trace.
Field dressed my elk within ear-shot of camp a few years ago just to see for myself what you asked...
Just before dark we heard the coyotes at the gut pile, and the competition for the scraps went on for quite some time...
Next morning went over to investigate...Nothing but a few bloody shreds left...Nature wastes nothing...
Bears repeating?
“Next morning went over to investigate...Nothing but a few bloody shreds left.”
I shot a ground squirrel near my garden about a week ago. I was also very busy making tomato sauce, so I decided I’d grab a shovel and dispose of its body a little bit later. I went out to move it just before dark and it was already gone! Either a coyote, a fox, or maybe even a skunk found it in just the few hours it had been laying there, and hauled it off for dinner. Nature certainly doesn’t waste much.
Shot a squirrel that was raiding the bird feeders (chewing them up). Put the carcass out in the field for the resident hawk & the vultures found it first. In about 2 hours, the only things left were a skull picked clean ... so clean, it looked like it had been boiled to get the meat off, the tail, and the two large hind leg bones. Everything else was gone. I am still somewhat in a state of disbelief at how clean that tiny skull was - how in the heck do they do that with their beaks (?).
The hunt club I used to hunt with leased about 6,000 acres in a county that was shotgun only due to mostly thick undergrowth. We used dogs to run the deer and hunters had to draw “stands” along cleared paths and stands 100 yds apart with clear safety rules, no shooting down the stand lines. So every deer we shot was on the stand line or near it and the gut piles were left there for the most part. We frequently used the same trails the next day and I NEVER saw a gut pile still there the next day. There was not even blood on the ground. You literally could not find any evidence at all.
“...the vultures found it first.”
It’s amazing how quickly and cleanly they can tear apart a whole animal or what’s left of it. I have a place where I move such squirrels or other formerly alive nuisances, and in the warmer months, when the vultures are around, they seem to always get there first. I’ll dump the remains and there won’t be a vulture in sight, but then very shortly there’ll be a few of them there picking it clean. They must have excellent eyesight and perhaps an incredible sense of smell.
Crows will do the same if the hunter is well camouflaged.
True story. Watched a doe come along, stop and stare at the gut pile. Didn’t bother her in the least. As far as gut piles disappearing overnight, I’ve seen that many times.
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