Question about a blood trail

[rbstern]

Sorry, not a cast boolit post, but there's so much experience in this forum, seemed like the right place to ask.

Was using 30-30 Core-lokts from my 336. I was sitting on a ridge overlooking a small valley when two does happened along the valley floor. Shot the lead one at about 70 yards. She was nearly broadside to me, slightly quartering away. Both took off running back in the direction they came. I waited about ten minutes and then walked down into the valley to the spot where the doe was when I made the shot. Found some decent blood and what looked like bits of lung tissue. Started following the trail, going slow. She was bleeding, but it wasn't profuse, just a few drops here and there, maybe a couple of places where the drops were more like tablespoons. After about 75 yards, I came to a tree that looked like a scene from a horror movie. The tree trunk was absolutely sprayed with blood. A lot of blood. Found the doe in a pile another 30 yards or so beyond that. The trail between the tree and the doe was a bit more profuse than the trail up to the tree, but nothing like what I saw on the tree. The hit was far back on the rib cage, maybe the liver, and the exit was in the middle of her chest, just between the fore legs. I dropped her off at the processor without gutting her, so I didn't examine the internal damage. I'm guessing the bullet deflected off a rib and went forward through a lung and/or the heart.

I've haven't seen a blood trail like that: 30 yards before the deer collapses, something must have given way and out came a torrent of blood. It just seemed strange. Anybody ever have a similar experience, where somewhere in the trail, the volume of blood was unlike anything along the rest of the trail?

[triggerhappy243]

friend of mine was guiding last year and came across a snow patch littered with blood and 2 trails of blood going one way. he followed the blood trail and found the deer(2halfs) hanging in a tree. the guy shot it with a 7MM mag rifle. blew it apart .............. way too much gun for deer.

[Leatherhead Bullets]

With the shot being that far back, you likely did hit the liver which is on the backside of the diaphragm. From your description, you may have only hit the top of the near side lung. It is my guess that it just took a bit for the blood to accumulate and purge from the abdominal cavity. Where you found the excessive blood loss may have been the point where she may have stopped prior to the death run when she ran out of juice. I have never had a heart shot run too far. Just my thoughts from your description.

[Yodogsandman]

She was running on adrenalin while leaking out. I would guess she ran into the tree before falling dead.

[milkman]

I saw the same thing several years ago with a deer shot by a friend with a .245 Win. It was lung shot, but small blood for 20 or so yards, then a tree painted with blood and lung tissue then several more yards till the deer collapsed. My thinking was that the deer ran the 20 yards before taking a breath or coughing, which pushed out the blood, then ran out of steam.

[Swede 45]

The short rush after shot can be made on the last breath they took prior beeing hit. They flee on instinct, and after 50-100 yrds they stop for a moment to assess the situation, and start to breath.
Just as a spooked animal does that realy didn´t identify what scared it! Short rush, stop, assess!
With a lungshot, there isn´t much blood in trail if they run on "holding their breath", but just as you noticed, where they stop there´s plenty! Light red, pinkish foamy sprays through the mouth from breathing.. and also sprays from any punctures of the chest cavity, as the expansion of lungs on breathing pushes blood out of the bloodfilled chestcavity with great power. Makes a mess!!
The animal is usually found within a few steps from that place. Just as in your case..

[JSH]

And I am sitting here scratching my head. You could have answered your own question if you had field dressed it. I have never left entrails in one no matter what.
Some will say it spooks deer, I used to think that myself. Quite a few years back I shot a doe in the AM, went back that night and shot a buck within 10 yards of the guy pile. And no it wasn't by a feeder.

[richhodg66]

I have always wondered about that too, and figured the same thing as what you say here. They see and smell dead deer from time to time where they live, a gut pile or blood shouldn't spook them that much. I would guess all the noise and activity of field dressing one and getting it out of the woods would spook them more.

[44man]

Deer bleeding out will start to shake their head to stay awake and panic. Just a short run from there.
I have hit deer with a RB from my .54 and they ran directly into trees, bouncing off a few, seems they can't see anymore.
But it can take a little time for blood to escape and as long as the heart pumps, it will spray. Heart shot deer can make 100 yards easy. Lung shot will spray from the nose.
Boolits can turn, my friend recovered 3, 320 gr LBT's that turned with his .44. Found them in guts or the hams after a sideways shot. Part of the nose was wiped on bone on all three.

[Swede 45]

Dressing and gutting tells alot and are good info to learn from.. but in this case it´s nothing unusual. Quartering away, probably abit more than realized.. shot took (probably) out the liver and one lung. The doe made a rush, stopped, lost alot of blood, managed to get another 30 yards and died.. done alot of this kind of trackings!

I shot a Roedeer buck once.. Swedish roedeers are small, about 40-60 lbs. I used a 308win with a sierra 150gr JSPFN (30-30bullet) at about 2700 ft/s
Took a clean broadside heartshot at 200yrds.. to my surprice the buck took of as a lightningbolt! I watched it run about 150yrds across an opening, and just as he entered the heavy pinecover at the other end, I heard him go down.. Phew, My first thought was that I missed, and now I thought i just made a poor shot!

I started to track from the point I shot him at, even thou I knew where he fell.. I was curious. Very little blood to start with, some hair and bonefragments was found. I identified the bone fragments as ribs.
Damn! A grazing shot to low? Not much blood along the trail until the last 30 yrds.. blood on both side of the tracks, to wide to be from a grazing shot, ( a bloodtrail right in the track would indicate a low grace). Good ,thats a complete passthrough. Found the buck a few yrds into a small patch of pine bushes..just where I heard him go down. On gutting him, I was surpised that the shot had been perfect, the heart was just a mess, and both lungs shot through, with a golfball exit on the far side of ribcage.

My explanation is that the heart stopped pumping (exploded) and lungs stopped to air the blood on bullet impact, but that the brain and muscles had enough oxygen to last those 5ish secs it took the buck to make that rush.
If I had placed the shot so at least one sholder had been taken out, he wouldn´t gone that far.
If the shot had been lungs only, he had probably made it further as the heart would had been able to circulate the blood to muscles and brain until the oxygen levels in the blood was to low.

[44man]

I have found a double lung shot will put deer down faster then a heart shot. The pump is running but blood can't get to the brain. I lost count long ago but have well over 560 deer kills and seen it all. Lost some too, not proud but it will happen.
A liver hit is very painful and a deer will walk a straight line until it drops. They don't like to run with one. Poor blood trail so just walk straight in the direction the deer went.
Yes you can have too much gun. Seen deer go near a mile after a hole shot in it you could stick your head in from a 7mm mag. Ragged holes seal faster then a clean cut. Deer clot faster then any animal.
I have a huge problem with anyone that says deer are easy to kill. You can't say that after only a few deer.
The OP got meat and what he seen is typical, more blood at the end. Good job.
My friend shot a nice buck with his 270 and I could not find him but found blood. Tracked it to him and asked how a deer could lose so much and go so far. Paint store does not have that much paint!

[MT Gianni]

Dressing and gutting tells alot and are good info to learn from.. but in this case it´s nothing unusual. Quartering away, probably abit more than realized.. shot took (probably) out the liver and one lung. The doe made a rush, stopped, lost alot of blood, managed to get another 30 yards and died.. done alot of this kind of trackings!

I shot a Roedeer buck once.. Swedish roedeers are small, about 40-60 lbs. I used a 308win with a sierra 150gr JSPFN (30-30bullet) at about 2700 ft/s
Took a clean broadside heartshot at 200yrds.. to my surprice the buck took of as a lightningbolt! I watched it run about 150yrds across an opening, and just as he entered the heavy pinecover at the other end, I heard him go down.. Phew, My first thought was that I missed, and now I thought i just made a poor shot!

I started to track from the point I shot him at, even thou I knew where he fell.. I was curious. Very little blood to start with, some hair and bonefragments was found. I identified the bone fragments as ribs.
Damn! A grazing shot to low? Not much blood along the trail until the last 30 yrds.. blood on both side of the tracks, to wide to be from a grazing shot, ( a bloodtrail right in the track would indicate a low grace). Good ,thats a complete passthrough. Found the buck a few yrds into a small patch of pine bushes..just where I heard him go down. On gutting him, I was surpised that the shot had been perfect, the heart was just a mess, and both lungs shot through, with a golfball exit on the far side of ribcage.

My explanation is that the heart stopped pumping (exploded) and lungs stopped to air the blood on bullet impact, but that the brain and muscles had enough oxygen to last those 5ish secs it took the buck to make that rush.
If I had placed the shot so at least one sholder had been taken out, he wouldn´t gone that far.
If the shot had been lungs only, he had probably made it further as the heart would had been able to circulate the blood to muscles and brain until the oxygen levels in the blood was to low.
I had a very similar situation with a larger deer, No blood trail for 25 yards and dead 125 yards away. The heart was loose in the chest cavity.

[truckjohn]

I think also that the blood first pools in the chest cavity... Then - it spews out of the chest cavity onto the ground.... That's why there isn't much blood at first - especially when you hit them higher up.... Once it fills the chest cavity - moving and running will slosh lots of blood out and leave a huge trail.

I also wonder if the reason the pure "Heart" shot leaves less blood than a Lung shot is that a true heart shot stops the heart... No more blood is pumping to spew everywhere... A solid Lung shot or one that hits a major blood vessel ends up with the heart still pumping - which drains the blood out of the entire system into the chest cavity and subsequently the ground.

I have shot several deer high and dropped them quick... The thing that worried me is that there was no blood at all.. If they would have run - it would have been tough to find them... When I gutted them - it was like gallons of blood poured out of their chest cavities... but there was no hole down low for the blood to leak out of.

I saw someone here mentioned a liver shot... Deer generally don't drop quick from a liver shot... That's usually a 6-8 hour wait and a subsequent long track to find one shot like this...

Anyway, thanks.

[rbstern]

And I am sitting here scratching my head. You could have answered your own question if you had field dressed it. I have never left entrails in one no matter what.
Some will say it spooks deer, I used to think that myself. Quite a few years back I shot a doe in the AM, went back that night and shot a buck within 10 yards of the guy pile. And no it wasn't by a feeder.

Well, don't beat me up too bad. Has nothing to do with scaring other deer away. As soon as I shot that deer, I was done hunting for the next few weeks.

Last year, my deer processor said, "If it doesn't matter much to you, and you get it here in reasonable time, don't bother dressing the deer. It takes us longer to process a field dressed deer than one that hasn't been opened up yet." So the last two I've shot, I just brought them to him whole. If the deer had been too heavy to lift onto my atv or truck, I would have gutted it. But she was only about 100lbs, so that wasn't a problem.

I didn't start seriously pondering the funny blood trail until about 48 hours later, while sitting at my computer, so figured I would ask for opinions here.

And I do appreciate all of the experienced responses. Thanks, fellas! This group is one-of-a-kind, in many positive ways.

[DeadWoodDan]

44man couldn't have said it better. As I don't think I have as many harvests but have seen it all. I am a huge bow hunter often taking points at work to hunt the rut. Haven't bow hunted hard in the last few yrs due to going back to school, but this year really enjoyed being in the woods. I put a bad hit on a Doe, my fault, and my brother shot her last day of first firearm season. It had been at least 3 weeks or more since I shot her and I tracked her over 100yds till no more blood, actually turned out we pushed her also that day. With the blood I found you would have swore I put a good hit on her, BUT end story is my arrow passed through both legs. These are strong animals I've seen alot over the years, deer with slugs just under their hides, assuming guys were shooting past there range. First doe I took this year with bow was a lung heart shot and she went every bit of 70yds in standing corn; easiest blood trial i followed never had to look down just supprised she went so far. then there were those membreable double lung shots and they fall in there tracks.


I have found a double lung shot will put deer down faster then a heart shot. The pump is running but blood can't get to the brain. I lost count long ago but have well over 560 deer kills and seen it all. Lost some too, not proud but it will happen.
A liver hit is very painful and a deer will walk a straight line until it drops. They don't like to run with one. Poor blood trail so just walk straight in the direction the deer went.
Yes you can have too much gun. Seen deer go near a mile after a hole shot in it you could stick your head in from a 7mm mag. Ragged holes seal faster then a clean cut. Deer clot faster then any animal.
I have a huge problem with anyone that says deer are easy to kill. You can't say that after only a few deer.
The OP got meat and what he seen is typical, more blood at the end. Good job.
My friend shot a nice buck with his 270 and I could not find him but found blood. Tracked it to him and asked how a deer could lose so much and go so far. Paint store does not have that much paint!

[Thumbcocker]

.44 man and truckerjohn mirror my much less experience. I have seen deer with a .44 groove in thier heart run much furhter than a double lung shot. A high lung shot will go down in a shorter distance but there my be little blood at the start. I think it takes a while for the blood to reach the hole.

[44man]

Deer are tough as nails. Shot 3 so far with 6" of arrows healed in the chest, almost cut myself. Shot many with .22 bullets against the rib cages. Small lump with a bullet in them. Seen deer out feeding with blood all over them. A deer can lay up and heal up even with a nasty wound.
Amazing animals.
Shot one once with the .44 and she went down. Belly up and moaned like crazy as she rubbed her back, got up and ran off, never found her. I should have shot again.

[Duckdog]

Not to ask a stupid question, but why wouldn't you gut it out in the brush. You definitely improve the quality of the meat, especially of the gut were to get nicked or hit. Besides, it makes for a lot nicer dragging!

[rbstern]

Not to ask a stupid question, but why wouldn't you gut it out in the brush. You definitely improve the quality of the meat, especially of the gut were to get nicked or hit. Besides, it makes for a lot nicer dragging!

See above.

[SeabeeMan]

I had pretty much the exact same situation about 5 years ago. Shot at a big doe at just under 100 yards with 150gr Core-lokt handloads from our old Westernfield 30-30. She turned around back the way she came at a dead sprint. I swore up and down that there was no way I missed and even knew right where she was standing based on a few trees that she was in front of or behind. We found one tuft of fur and no blood...I couldn't believe I had missed. We did our due diligence and worked to find a trail for almost 2 hours with no luck.

We were ready to give up and call it a miss so I looped around the knoll she ran towards to see if we could find where she crossed the logging track that had fresh snow on it, but there were no prints. I just started walking a grid back from that track and found her just shy of the road in a pile. We followed the blood back to the shot and there was the same horror movie scene about 15 yards before her and she ran nearly 70 yards without a drop. The top 2/3 of both lungs and the heart were jelly but she was moving quick enough and the holes high enough that there was nothing until right before she piled up.

[Boyscout]

Several years back I took a 15 yard broadside at a doe using Thunderhead 125's and a string tracker; the line played out for about 30 seconds or so and stopped. I waited 30 minutes and went to retrieve my arrow stuck in the ground. The arrow had hardly any blood and had green plant material on it. Assuming it was I gut shot, I went home and paced the floor for 8 hours, sick to my stomach about the bad hit. I followed the string and crossed the fence where she jumped and a massive blood trail was just on the other side. I found the deer another 30 yards past that.

The hit was a perfect double lung with a pass through. The only thing I can figure out is that the arrow also passed through the esoughagus and took some the food with it. She was eating green leaves off the tree in front of me when I released the arrow.

When I had suburban deer to hunt, I used a string tracker to minimize my time poking around late at night when someone might get suspious.

[M-Tecs]

Between the gun and bow I have killed about 175 deer. I have helped recover and butcher at least that many. I have never seen a well hit deer do anything other than expire quickly. I have seen poorly hit deer do amazing things. The will to stay alive in very strong but blood loss is blood loss and once out of blood death follows quickly.

I have had a couple higher double lung archery shots go close to a hundred yards with very little blood until the last 20 yards.

[Wolfer]

I've always been amazed at how strong the thread of life can be and at how fragile it can be.
Years ago I had a 150 gr Winchester power point from a 308 blow up on a does shoulder.
Lots of hair at the scene but not much of a blood trail. After about 60 yds the blood started getting better. Good blood trail at the end and it was coming out her nose.

Since I've always been a bullet/ wound tracker I inspected the wound carefully. A hole the size of my fist in the shoulder but nothing thru the shoulder blade. The wound was covered in lead/copper flakes.
Field dressing very carefully revealed a small piece of jacket material had came between two ribs and nicked a lung. The hole thru the ribs looked exactly like you had stuck a small pen knife thru it.

Distance traveled was about 100 yds. I've seen deer go nearly as far with no heart left.

[44man]

Should gut fast as you can. I had a horse die from a stroke. Started to stink real bad fast. friend came to dig a big hole and he just started when I put a rope on the horse. Gag city.
If cold you have time. Temperature is the key. You can go overnight if cold.
Helped a friend find a deer and it was bloated, I ran when he stuck his knife in but he ate it.

[FLHTC]

Sorry, not a cast boolit post, but there's so much experience in this forum, seemed like the right place to ask.

Was using 30-30 Core-lokts from my 336. I was sitting on a ridge overlooking a small valley when two does happened along the valley floor. Shot the lead one at about 70 yards. She was nearly broadside to me, slightly quartering away. Both took off running back in the direction they came. I waited about ten minutes and then walked down into the valley to the spot where the doe was when I made the shot. Found some decent blood and what looked like bits of lung tissue. Started following the trail, going slow. She was bleeding, but it wasn't profuse, just a few drops here and there, maybe a couple of places where the drops were more like tablespoons. After about 75 yards, I came to a tree that looked like a scene from a horror movie. The tree trunk was absolutely sprayed with blood. A lot of blood. Found the doe in a pile another 30 yards or so beyond that. The trail between the tree and the doe was a bit more profuse than the trail up to the tree, but nothing like what I saw on the tree. The hit was far back on the rib cage, maybe the liver, and the exit was in the middle of her chest, just between the fore legs. I dropped her off at the processor without gutting her, so I didn't examine the internal damage. I'm guessing the bullet deflected off a rib and went forward through a lung and/or the heart.


I've haven't seen a blood trail like that: 30 yards before the deer collapses, something must have given way and out came a torrent of blood. It just seemed strange. Anybody ever have a similar experience, where somewhere in the trail, the volume of blood was unlike anything along the rest of the trail?

They cough and try to clear their airway like any other animal. She most likely moved until she became asphyxiated by her own blood and had a coughing fit to clear her lungs. Obviously it didn't work.

[rondog]

I lost count long ago but have well over 560 deer kills and seen it all.

Wow! I've only killed one, and I'm still trying to eat my way through it! 560, jeeze.....

[44man]

Wow! I've only killed one, and I'm still trying to eat my way through it! 560, jeeze.....
You don't know how I hate to butcher. I was out of sorts this year when i had to cut and wrap for my lady friends where I hunt, they were not home. I gave three deer away. I only keep two each season. I much prefer small deer.
But to to be able to go where I want and take friends with me is precious. The ladies love my friends because they help me fix stuff for the ladies. I had farms all over Ohio to hunt and even stayed in their homes to sleep. You just don't know. None of you will ever have the life I had.
I never have to ask here either, just go and hunt. All properties. I can start at my house and go all day. I never have to ask. Anyone needs help and I will go.
Love and respect for all is what you must do. I don't think anyone has done what I have done from places to shoot to hunt.
Long ago we shot at a farm, got done and were coming out. Game warden heard the shooting and came back to meet us with garbage bags, Asked what was in the bags, told him the targets we shot. I told him we do not trash lands. The farmer trusts us. Game warden was out of words.
Then in PA game lands at the parking spot. Filthy. we filled garbage bags with trash. Game Warden stopped and asked. He could not believe Ohio hunters would do that. We had a friend for all the years we hunted there.
You do not really know me.
Shot the big 8 point this year. told my friend Don to take it. I tagged it for him. Do you ever understand what a friend is?
I am happy.

[FLHTC]

You don't know how I hate to butcher. I was out of sorts this year when i had to cut and wrap for my lady friends where I hunt, they were not home. I gave three deer away. I only keep two each season. I much prefer small deer.
But to to be able to go where I want and take friends with me is precious. The ladies love my friends because they help me fix stuff for the ladies. I had farms all over Ohio to hunt and even stayed in their homes to sleep. You just don't know. None of you will ever have the life I had.
I never have to ask here either, just go and hunt. All properties. I can start at my house and go all day. I never have to ask. Anyone needs help and I will go.
Love and respect for all is what you must do. I don't think anyone has done what I have done from places to shoot to hunt.
Long ago we shot at a farm, got done and were coming out. Game warden heard the shooting and came back to meet us with garbage bags, Asked what was in the bags, told him the targets we shot. I told him we do not trash lands. The farmer trusts us. Game warden was out of words.
Then in PA game lands at the parking spot. Filthy. we filled garbage bags with trash. Game Warden stopped and asked. He could not believe Ohio hunters would do that. We had a friend for all the years we hunted there.
You do not really know me.
Shot the big 8 point this year. told my friend Don to take it. I tagged it for him. Do you ever understand what a friend is?
I am happy.

Now when you park at some of the gamelands, you come back to find your windows broken out and your vehicle ransacked. I hate gamelands

[truckjohn]

Not to ask a stupid question, but why wouldn't you gut it out in the brush. You definitely improve the quality of the meat, especially of the gut were to get nicked or hit. Besides, it makes for a lot nicer dragging!

Many places down here - there are deer processors within a stone's throw.. Certainly many within the same county... Literally - from the shot to the processor's freezer in under 2 hours.... I know guys who shoot the deer - back up the pickup truck, and drive it straight to the processor - 30 minutes...

That's a really nice thing sometimes when it's 85 degrees outside and there are hornets all over the place because of the meat and blood.... Especially nice if your hunt club doesn't have a meat pole or running water.

Thanks

[M-Tecs]

In the north it is very uncommon to not gut a deer ASAP. In the south it is much more common to not gut at all or to take it to the processor not gutted. One of the benefits in gutting is to aid in cooling. This works great when its 20 degrees. Not so much when its 95 degrees.

Personally I gut ASAP and I process everything myself. If it is warm out it goes into a cooler or frig. ASAP.

A buddy lives in SC and the processor he uses will not take a gutted deer.

[taco650]

You don't know how I hate to butcher. I was out of sorts this year when i had to cut and wrap for my lady friends where I hunt, they were not home. I gave three deer away. I only keep two each season. I much prefer small deer.
But to to be able to go where I want and take friends with me is precious. The ladies love my friends because they help me fix stuff for the ladies. I had farms all over Ohio to hunt and even stayed in their homes to sleep. You just don't know. None of you will ever have the life I had.
I never have to ask here either, just go and hunt. All properties. I can start at my house and go all day. I never have to ask. Anyone needs help and I will go.
Love and respect for all is what you must do. I don't think anyone has done what I have done from places to shoot to hunt.
Long ago we shot at a farm, got done and were coming out. Game warden heard the shooting and came back to meet us with garbage bags, Asked what was in the bags, told him the targets we shot. I told him we do not trash lands. The farmer trusts us. Game warden was out of words.
Then in PA game lands at the parking spot. Filthy. we filled garbage bags with trash. Game Warden stopped and asked. He could not believe Ohio hunters would do that. We had a friend for all the years we hunted there.
You do not really know me.
Shot the big 8 point this year. told my friend Don to take it. I tagged it for him. Do you ever understand what a friend is?
I am happy.

Classic example of why the Good Book says "Whatever a man sews, that's what he'll reap". Way to go 44man!

[richhodg66]

"A buddy lives in SC and the processor he uses will not take a gutted deer."

Why would a processor not take a gutted deer?

For the past several years, I have been butchering most of the ones I shoot all the way down to packaged and in the freezer. I'm kind of slow at it, but like the results. Most of what we eat is ground or stew meat anyway, so that's easy.

A few years ago, I ended up leaving one overnight (long story, she didn't go far, but I had convinced myself wrongly I had pulled the shot and gut shot her and it was dark soon after the shot). She stayed out until dawn in mid 40s temps. I was worried, but skinned and quartered her in the field and all looked OK. Miracle the coyotes didn't get to her, but they didn't. We ate the deer and it was good, but I ground the whole thing for use in chili and such and was careful to always cook it thoroughly.

I'm in the "field dress as soon as you get to it camp" myself.

[M-Tecs]

Some interesting reading.

http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1467104

http://www.deerprocess.com/

http://rugerforum.net/hunting/91850-who-process-what-they-harvest.html read post 10

http://www.qdma.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38142

http://www.elk-hunting-tips.net/gutless-field-dressing.html

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165798

[44man]

I have a friend that quit gutting deer. He skins and quarters on the ground where the deer fell and hauls the meat in pack baskets.
One year he had a deer hanging in front of his garage, we got the skin started at the neck, tied a rock in and hooked the rope to his hitch ball and drove it off. Funny to have a deer sticking straight out and then swing like mad but it worked. Been wanting to make an "A" frame and use a winch.
I bone my deer but he uses a saw. He has a big stainless sink in the basement and a band saw with a side grinder.
I won't freeze deer meat with any fat on it.

[Forgetful]

Why would a processor not take a gutted deer?

Here you have one industry forcing it's will on the people. Where I live, we have to leave the entrails behind, so they have to be gutted by law. This is probably similar for everyone. In their eyes, they want to make harvested meat worthless because it didn't come from a farm, it didn't "pay into the system." They might try to say you're taking away somebody's unionized job by gutting your own animal. In many ways this is similar to places that are beginning to refuse to accept cash, only allowing digital payment (plastic and whatever). Currency that forces people to use banks.

[waksupi]

I have a friend that quit gutting deer. He skins and quarters on the ground where the deer fell and hauls the meat in pack baskets.
One year he had a deer hanging in front of his garage, we got the skin started at the neck, tied a rock in and hooked the rope to his hitch ball and drove it off. Funny to have a deer sticking straight out and then swing like mad but it worked. Been wanting to make an "A" frame and use a winch.
I bone my deer but he uses a saw. He has a big stainless sink in the basement and a band saw with a side grinder.
I won't freeze deer meat with any fat on it.

I won't eat venison that has been sawed with the bone in it. Gives it a bad flavor.

[MT Gianni]

Some folks leave enough fecal matter when they "clean" a deer it could turn your stomach. I imagine a processor wants to grind everyones deer at once without cleaning the grinder for each person. Like many things, doing it yourself means you know it is done right.

[rbstern]

I've watched the processor work on deer I gutted and deer that I did not gut. He definitely does it faster, with less knife strokes, on the deer I didn't gut, so I can see why he prefers that. It doesn't change the finished product. The carcass gets hung in his meat locker, well-cleaned and neat, no matter what.

He'll do it either way, so he's not forcing anything on me. I like the guy, have a lot of respect for his skills and how he runs his business, so I'm fine on doing it his way unless I have a motivating reason not to.

[Duckdog]

Up north where I'm at, it'd be a lot of extra work to drag a deer with the guts in it. I hunt pretty big tracts of land, so it takes quite a while just to get a deer back to a four wheeler or truck, and most times I'm dragging them myself, so I am definitely in the guts out clan!

I personally have never paid a processor and never will. To each his own on that issue. I know a lot of guys who do use someone to process their deer and they just don't ant to deal with it. Fortunately I live out in the sticks and can just drive down the road to dump the bones for the yotes and eagles, so I guess it might be easier for me than some others.

As far as the blood trail, after you kill enough of them, very little about a blood trail surprises me any more. The texture, pattern, and even color of the blood will most times tell all. It sounds like you guys pegged the OPs blood trail exactly! The only thing that does surprise a guy sometimes is how far they'll go with a damn serious hit!

[M-Tecs]

One year he had a deer hanging in front of his garage, we got the skin started at the neck, tied a rock in and hooked the rope to his hitch ball and drove it off. Funny to have a deer sticking straight out and then swing like mad but it worked. Been wanting to make an "A" frame and use a winch.


Until recently I have always used a gambrel from the hind legs. Last couple of years I have started hanging from the neck using an ForEverlast Claw http://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/the-claw-game-skinning-tool?a=588020 Works the same as a rock or a tennis ball but its done by hand. Benefit is less hair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oflrZStlkKM

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/foreverlast-the-claw-skinning-tool/pid-32732

[44man]

I use a claw I got from Cabela's, works good but I need to gain more weight for some deer.

[M-Tecs]

Good point. I have a pair and we use two at a time. That's the only thing I can get the wife to help with.

One cut around the neck and an upside down Y cut from the neck to the forelegs and the hide get peeled off like a glove. Almost zero hair.