Do you gut in place or what?

I see a huge turnaround in the forums from back just a few years ago when this subject was discussed. Back then, nearly everybody who responded gutted where they fell. I was nearly the only one who would transport the whole deer back to camp for gutting. I did not want to disturb the deer any more than necessary.

It was easy. I'd call for the truck to pick me up, load the deer on the shelf on the back and run it back. Often times we would have it hung up at camp within a half hour of the shot. I used to crow about how they always ran directly for my stand when shot, and how I was going to teach them to run for the truck.

That was then. Then came Hubert. We only name bucks that have a real significance in the history of our camp. Hubert was one of them. He had an estimated live weight of 204lbs. He filled the freezer back in 2005, and I think we're still have ground Hubert we're using for chili. Hubert took 3 rounds from of 35 Whelen and just stood there looking at me. When he finally went down, he rolled to the bottom of a ravine. There was no way I was going to get him out without gutting first. It was also warm that weekend and I think that unless you can get the carcass out within a two hour window from the time it's shot, you should gut as soon as possible.

Since then, nearly every deer I've shot has decided to roll to the bottom of a ravine. The one I bagged last weekend ended up less than 50 feet from Hubert's last resting place. I'm beginning to think it's a curse. This one turned out to be 204 dressed weight-- we had over 70 lbs of viscera to carry up out of the bottom to deposit in the far pasture. I shot this one at 0730 and we finally got the gutted carcass back to camp for pictures at noon.

Lastly, let me mention that Moose shot a button buck this year on the second weekend of October and the bullet took a freak turn and ripped the bottom out of the deer. He ran and left his innards all the way down the trail. When we got to him, there was nothing left to clean out. We left it all there there. I came back a month later and shot the biggest buck of my life out of the same stand. So go figure.

Score me as 1 vote for gut at camp whenever possible, and 1 vote for don't leave the viscera when possible. I can't see where it does any good to attract dogs and such to your stand. We put the gut pile out on an exposed part of a pasture. The plan is always to sit and wait for coyotes to show up, but after we get back from the processor, the gutpile is usually gone and the grass licked clean.