Deer found. What do I do???

[Rollo]

Found this scrub buck on my property this AM. He's cold but blood is red and not coagulated. High shoulder shot but no exit wound. Last night, just after dark, I heard "double tap" shots near my place. Had me a little spooked since my nearest neighbor is about 1/4 mile away as the crow flies. So 2 questions:
1) Do I call game warden to report it?
2) Not wantint the meat to go to waste, dress and eat it???

I've been watching this lil'n on my cameras the past few weeks. He's really been wearing the trees out where I found him. A cry'n shame though. Pisses me off...
So, what do y'all think??? Thanks

 

[Bone Collector]

This is easy.
Yes call the GW.
Talk to them and see what they say. if they say you can keep it and you are pretty sure it was shot last night, then It was under 40 degrees (at least it was here in M'boro) so he should be fine.

 

[cbhunter]

Call the GW. If its possible that you know who shot it, you could always try to find them and take it to them. Maybe they had enough respect not to cross the fence and keep on tracking it on your place. Lost deer happens. Its always possible that it was a young kid trying to get his/her first deer. If you do not want to go that route then process it and enjoy it yourself, afterall, it was on your land. Just giving more than one option but do what makes you happy.

 

[Rollo]

Thanks everyone. yeah, just talked to GW and he said it's ok to keep it. It was near the road that borders my property with no fence. I'll pull down there and pick it up. If i see the neighbor closest to that spot I'll ask. I don't want to take anyone's meat away, since I would want the same respect. But I don't want it to go to waste... Thanks for the replies

 

[TreyB]

GW and see what they say

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Glad they let you keep it

 

[Rollo]

yeah, I was a little leery when I cut him open. Did have a little bit of a sour smell but then noticed the bullet had destroyed his stomach and part of the liver. Cavity was full of blood. I went ahead and skinned and quartered. Meat smells fine. Icing down now. I'll use the antlers to rattle with. Small and will fit in my bag. GW was very cool about it.

 

[Dbllunger]

If the meat smells good, it's good to eat. Should be obvious either way. A friend called me recently to help him breakdown some roadkill. I took a look at the deer (it was bloated and STINKY and a coyote had knawed a little bit on it) and said "you can't eat that." He was bound and determined to not let it go to waste and proceeded to break it down. I told him I wouldn't help him but I would watch. He cut the belly open and it was rotten smelling. Y'all know me, I have a tolerance for this sort of thing, but I would have tossed that deer in the river for the catfish. Once he got it broke down, the meat all smelled fine. Even the tenderloins. He's been eating it. I smelled the meat once removed from the carcass and it smelled fine. I think he got it out just in time.


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Pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to eat it. With every bite I would be thinking about that smell and wondering if the next bite would be it.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

I had a buddy give me a buck he shot. He only wanted one side of the backstraps and some ground up stuff. He gut shot it though.. While I was trying to not be wasteful I took every little scrap of meat off the bones... but once I got it inside I kept smelling the gut shot and threw anything that came in contact with guts away. I went back to the Future and imagined myself thinking about gut shot deer and smelling that smell while eating it. Something about a gut shot deer... its the smell you never forget.

 

[xtremedeerman]

smells like country vittles