"Wasting" Meat

[Nutterbuster]

Below is a deer that I shot Friday. Pic taken today.



Assuming you leave the carcass where it lies, nothing is wasted. I pulled quarters, backstraps, and tenderloins.

There's nothing left on that deer but bone and hair. Even the eyes and tongue are gone. Give it time and the pine roots will be glad for the nutrients from the hair and bones. If the coyotes had found it, I imagine the rib bones would already be gone.

Nature is neat. Be a good apex predator and leave your kill for the scavengers. Don't haul it off and dump it in a carcass pile where there's too much food for the area and it rots (or do...the bacteria will be grateful). Don't throw it in a trash can. Don't feel obligated to eat every last scrap. Eat what you kill, but don't worry so much. Matter and energy cannot, in fact, be created or destroyed.

 

[deerfly]

looks like it wasted away to nothin

 

[deerfly]

ok more gooder, I can see something now.

Totally agree.

Since I generally hunt alone and usually far from the access point as well, and I'm old, I either quarter and/or debone in the field and pack out. Leaves plenty of pickin's for the critters...

the doe I shot last month a gator ended up grabbing the carcass and hauling it off, probably didn't share much.

 

[Loopwing]

Good on you Nutter. When I was in Alaska, we put all carcasses back in the woods or river. The filleted fish went back into the river to feed the parr. It is funny how if you let nature takes care of herself, she does a pretty damn good job.

 

[Hunter260]

I got a hot take on this one.

Law should only require the backstraps be taken.

Ok ok I know that’s probably unpopular, and I take and use all of the animals I kill, BUT the fact is in most of the country whitetails are overpopulated. 99% of rifle only hunters or people who hunt a couple weekends a year and don’t really get that into hunting will only shoot 1 buck or 2 bucks and no does. That does not help control the population. These type of people see the processing of a deer as a chore. It needs to be socially acceptable to kill a deer for the sake of killing a deer, and maintaining a healthy population. I’m no biologist, but if you can see 40 of something in a hayfield at once that means there’s too many of them.

I’ve got 6 deer down so far this year. I also have giant freezers full of all the beef I want. I do not need more meat, but I need to kill more deer. We have found creative ways to use the meat and I encourage more people to do so. The fact remains, most people will not kill does until it becomes less of a chore.

 

[Vtbow]

I got a hot take on this one.

Law should only require the backstraps be taken.

Ok ok I know that’s probably unpopular, and I take and use all of the animals I kill, BUT the fact is in most of the country whitetails are overpopulated. 99% of rifle only hunters or people who hunt a couple weekends a year and don’t really get that into hunting will only shoot 1 buck or 2 bucks and no does. That does not help control the population. These type of people see the processing of a deer as a chore. It needs to be socially acceptable to kill a deer for the sake of killing a deer, and maintaining a healthy population. I’m no biologist, but if you can see 40 of something in a hayfield at once that means there’s too many of them.

I’ve got 6 deer down so far this year. I also have giant freezers full of all the beef I want. I do not need more meat, but I need to kill more deer. We have found creative ways to use the meat and I encourage more people to do so. The fact remains, most people will not kill does until it becomes less of a chore.

VERY location specific... "most of the countries whitetails are overpopulated" is a blanket and inaccurate statement, sorry...

 

[DroptineKrazy]

In the immortal words of Josey Wales "Buzzards gotta eat! Same as worms"

 

[TNSTAAFL]

"Nuttermusings"...so much fun to think about and discuss!

Be a good apex predator...

As opposed to the bad ones?

Don't haul it off and dump it in a carcass pile where there's too much food for the area and it rots (or do...the bacteria will be grateful).

Is there "too much food" anywhere? Was there not enough where it died? What were those scavengers going to eat had you not left that carcass? Acknowledging the bacteria which are just as much a part of nature as other species is a good call. Now how about the bacteria, or larger scavengers who feed off a landfill? Any energy differential there?

Don't feel obligated to eat every last scrap. Eat what you kill, but don't worry so much. Matter and energy cannot, in fact, be created or destroyed.

Excellent points, and thus it seems that it matters not where you leave any bit (or bunch) of an animal you kill, or whether you kill it at all. It makes no difference.



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[TNSTAAFL]

The fact remains, most people will not kill does until it becomes less of a chore.

Regional variation continues to amaze me. This is so different than where I live.


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[St.CroixArcher]

Best hope that cwd doesn’t show up or you’ll be seeing these all over and you may see your laws changed to not allow carcasses to be left in the field.

 

[Hunter260]

VERY location specific... "most of the countries whitetails are overpopulated" is a blanket and inaccurate statement, sorry...

Fair point. And “overpopulated” means different things to different people

 

[Sbrammer]

I’ve got 6 deer down so far this year. I also have giant freezers full of all the beef I want. I do not need more meat, but I need to kill more deer. We have found creative ways to use the meat and I encourage more people to do so. The fact remains, most people will not kill does until it becomes less of a chore.

I like doe meat. I don't mind the chore. I can do Columbia, MO next year to help you out.

 

[Hunter260]

Regional variation continues to amaze me. This is so different than where I live.


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I would bet it’s more groups of people than regions. We certainly have people here who are as close as you can be this day and age to subsistence hunters and rely on every ounce of meat. We also have people who shoot two bucks and let most of the meat go bad in the freezer.

 

[Vtbow]

I would bet it’s more groups of people than regions. We certainly have people here who are as close as you can be this day and age to subsistence hunters and rely on every ounce of meat. We also have people who shoot two bucks and let most of the meat go bad in the freezer.

He lives where i do. We're on the same page...

 

[Plebe]

Lots of public hunting areas don't allow it, for various reasons. CWD and the like may be a consideration for such policies.

But I'd venture most don't field process deer, or process deer at all, anyway. Still rarely are ribs cleaned like that, so I follow your point. I wonder if all hunters did this, what effect that'd have.

Anyway, I'm sure someone has a great Memphis bbq recipe. My wife asked me why I don't save them. Lol. They got junked.

 

[Plebe]

Fair point. And “overpopulated” means different things to different people

To the agencies in charge, it's often how many car accidents instead of how many deer can live here

 

[brydan]

Fair point. And “overpopulated” means different things to different people

I know guys that expect to see 20+ deer every sit and the woods look good when everything under 6' is barren

 

[Hunter260]

I know guys that expect to see 20+ deer every sit and the woods look good when everything under 6' is barren

Yes. That’s what hunting is like in a lot of the Midwest. My last sit during archery season i saw 12 different bucks and at least 30 does. 1 of these was a mature buck. Something is wrong when you have numbers like that

 

[Nutterbuster]

"Nuttermusings"...so much fun to think about and discuss!

As opposed to the bad ones?

Is there "too much food" anywhere? Was there not enough where it died? What were those scavengers going to eat had you not left that carcass? Acknowledging the bacteria which are just as much a part of nature as other species is a good call. Now how about the bacteria, or larger scavengers who feed off a landfill? Any energy differential there?

Excellent points, and thus it seems that it matters not where you leave any bit (or bunch) of an animal you kill, or whether you kill it at all. It makes no difference.



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I pretty much agree, but have an additional thought.

Increasingly species are forced into "islands" of habitat. I think it's possible to export biomass from a small parcel to its detriment. I don't know if we harvest enough deer to do this, but the principle is definitely sound. Grow crops on a parcel year after year, ship the harvest off site, don't amend the soil, and while on a global scale the equation doesn't shift, locally it very much does.

The CWD thing is odd. If the state has designated disposal sites, how are the remains ultimately disposed of? It seems to me that leaving it where it lies is a better solution that transporting it. Alabama DCNR seems to agree.

 

[Vtbow]

Lots of public hunting areas don't allow it, for various reasons. CWD and the like may be a consideration for such policies.

But I'd venture most don't field process deer, or process deer at all, anyway. Still rarely are ribs cleaned like that, so I follow your point. I wonder if all hunters did this, what effect that'd have.

Anyway, I'm sure someone has a great Memphis bbq recipe. My wife asked me why I don't save them. Lol. They got junked.

I always keep rhe ribs..Great crockpot meat...