A question for all you wild hunters out there of the elusive whitetail deer. I have seen deer do some pretty goofy things over the years but has anyone ever seen how a whitetail will react if comes up on a gut pile.
I sure haven't because I don't leave the guts of a previously killed deer laying anywhere near where I plan to hunt
In southern NY the deer do not tend to notice them at all. I have shot deer walking right over gutpiles.
I also hunt the central Adk Mts in the northern zone. This area is totally different from the agricultural southern zone. Food is much harder to come across for these deer esp once the ground starts to freeze. This being said, In this area I have seen where deer have pulled the stomach away from the pile and eaten the semi digested contents. Hungry deer.
I have seen where deer have come up and sniffed the gut piles(tracks in fresh snow).
swampstalker ,Its been so long sence I've seen a gut pile in the woods the deer more than kikely would not have a clue what it is. we use 4 wheelers to take our deer to camp and field dress and skin,,, maybe 20 years now . that is in our BYLAWS of the lease NO FIELD DRESSING IN THE FIELD!!!!!
I have hunted the same patch of woods for over ten years, and have left gut piles there every year and have watched deer walking thru the area, they don't seem to notice at all. Hasn't had any effect on the hunting either.
I would imagine that the guts wouldn't be there long enough to really affect anything. I've killed deer and gone out that same spot the next day and the guts are gone. Plenty of other animals out there that would be more than happy to clean up the guts before the deer even know their there.
Along a different line of thought... I received a flyer with my hunting license this year about gut piles.
The gist of it is as follows:
Most rifle shots are placed in the vitals (aside from Neck Shots). As we all know, when a bullet enters the body traces of lead and often times entire fragments are pulled from the projectile. This is especially true if the bullet strikes any bones.
Lead is VERY bad for any animal that consumes it. Gut piles are eaten by birds, racoons, coyotes, etc... And the first thing they eat are the lungs, liver and other favored vitals. According to the flyer, the gut pile should be disposed of in a way that it is not likely to be eaten, ie burried very well, or taken back to camp, wrapped up and placed in the proper trash recepticle.
Just an FYI
Te first deer i ever shot was out behind my inlaws house about 600 yds away, and being my first wasn't quite sure how dress him, so i dragged him homme guts and all. the next morning went back to finish burrying the gut pile (due to it being in a shallow grave in a sense)there were deer tracks right through where they were burried,amongst trks from coy dogs that decided to have a snack,but the gut pile didnt seem to deter the deer any.
remember this..... "happiness is a large gut pile!!" LOL!! usually when ever i leave a gut pile in the woods is almost always gone the next day . we have a large population of coyotes where i hunt. they do a pretty good job of cleaning up the woods. i call them the "park superintendents" LOLOLOLOL!
I would imagine that it might make the deer a little more cautious, but I haven't seen a gut pile make the deer leave the area
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