Field dress where they lay or nay?

[Oklahomabassin]

I don't see gut piles bothering deer.

As a tracker, a gut pile from a different deer upwind of the deer trail you are trying to track can be over powering and have to work around.

In our youth hunting program we will honor whatever the landowners wish is. We have some landowners that say to gut the deer nearest where it was killed and others that said absolutely no gutting of the deer in the hunting area.

 

[BobbyV]

I've gutted them on site and hauled them out to gut some place else . . . depends on what kind of mood I'm in I guess.

 

[retrieverman]

I rarely gut deer, because I usually have one hanging with the hide off in under 30 minutes from the shot. I debone the carcass with the guts in. It’s alot less mess.
The only reason I have gutted a few in recent years is because I was loading by myself, but I now have a ratchet winch for the bed of my Ranger, and a “hitch hanger” for my truck, so loading isn’t really a problem now.

 

[2busy]

I always gutted where they fell, that's just extra weight to have to deal with.

 

[Parks 788]

We gut them where they fall. Drag to 4 wheeler access which is usually pretty close. Take back to the cabins and take the lower legs, head/cape and skin making ready to take to processor. Rarely a gut pile is noticable the next day.

 

[Jared]

I doubt a gut pile has ever done anything to cause a deer to be fearful or have anxiety. Therefore, I believe it's a non issue.

 

[2busy]

I have personally had a buck following the path I was dragging a gutted buck out on. I had sat down to rest when the other buck came walking up on me where i had just came through.

 

[dennishoddy]

How many of you field dress the deer where you find it or take it somewhere else to do it? The buck I shot Sunday I tried to drag it to the edge of the timber by myself and it wasn’t happening with everything still inside him I barely made it after dressing him

I actually did a test on this.
Game cam on the feeder.
Killed a doe and put the gut pile between the feeder and the cam.
Probably 15' away with the feeder 30' away.
Deer were on the feeder the next night with the gut pile still there. The gut pile stayed there one more night when it disappeared. The old cams back then weren't as fast as what we have now. Pretty sure a coyote dragged it off.

 

[PBramble]

I've gutted them in the field out west, but that was really to buy me time to get it back to the truck before the coyotes ran me down. I once managed to drag a deer about 50 feet in the dark before I heard them fighting over the gut pile. It took all I had, but I threw it over my shoulder with my pack and gun and jogged back to the truck.

 

[HoLeChit]

I've gutted them in the field out west, but that was really to buy me time to get it back to the truck before the coyotes ran me down. I once managed to drag a deer about 50 feet in the dark before I heard them fighting over the gut pile. It took all I had, but I threw it over my shoulder with my pack and gun and jogged back to the truck.

Coyotes aren’t particularly intimidating, but something about a group of hungry dogs wanting what you have and following in the dark makes my skin crawl.