Trophy Deer Field Care

Taking Care Of Your Trophy Deer

Your aiming through your rifle scope, that trophy buck is only 80 yards away; you squeeze a round off, he drops, he trashes about a little, and now is motionless. What's next is the trophy deer field care your must perform to take care of your dead deer.

Location

Now the work begins. Before you get out of your hunting stand you should make a mental note of exactly where your buck is laying. Because, once on the ground and moving through a hunting area, things have a way looking a little different than they did from the hieght of a tree stand. Many deer hunters have had to climb back into their hunting stand and take another look in the direction of where they shot their deer to relocate it.

Field Dressing and Care

As you walk up to your deer or big buck you see that he really is a trophy deer. First thing you need to do before any field care is to make sure this whitetail buck is dead. The eye lids should be open; touch one of the eyes with a stick or barrel of your rifle, arrow if archery hunting, to make sure he's dead (many deer have been shot and as the hunter approaches they get up and run off). You notice that the buck has a nice shape to his deer antlers, an even spread, very symmetrical; you say to yourself, "there won't be much of a point deduction for this big buck".

Now, your first field care process will be to field dress him, or gut him out. Care must be taken if you plan to have a shoulder-head mount done. Be careful not to do to much cutting with your hunting knife; cut only as far as needed to get most of the wind pipe and entrails out. Roll him over and let the blood drain out while you clean up a little. Check out the video of this from my link on the home page "field dressing deer video001.AVI"

Hunting Camp

You will want to get him back to your hunting camp with as little dragging as possible. This where it is nice to have an A.T.V. (All Terrain Vehicle), some type of game hauler, or a deer sleigh to get your deer out of your hunting land as efficiently as possible. This part of your field care will also help keep your trophy deer clean and undamaged. Once back at camp you may need to clean and rinse out the entrails cavity with cold water if you cut into any organs during the gutting process. After rinsing, dry it out with a dry cloth as much as possible, this will help deep bacteria away. Now you should hang him to cool. Consider removing the hide. Removing the hide while the deer is still warm will be much easier at this point then if the carcass has cooled down. Removing the hide (wrap with cheesecloth to protect from flies), will help cool the deer down and may help keep the meat from being tainted, as some hunters believe.

Help Your Taxidermist

When removing the hide, if you must cut into the neck area, cut from the top and cut straight. This will allow the taxidermist the opportunity to sew the hide from the top where it won't be so visible. If in doubt, leave as much of the neck in place and be prepared to bring it to your taxidermist as soon as possible. It is best to talk to your taxidermist before the hunt for advise. Some will even come to your deer hunting camp and cape it for you. You may want your taxidermist to do this if you are inexperienced or uncomfortable doing the caping yourself. These tips will help insure you will have a quality shoulder mount with the set of trophy deer antlers your so proud of, on your deer hunting cabin or game room wall.

Plan Ahead

Along with good field care of your trophy whitetail deer, you need to plan ahead for processing. Before you go on your trophy whitetail deer hunting trip, you should know who will do your deer processing. If you are going to bring it to your favorite butcher shop; call ahead to find out if they do wild game, and what there procedures are. Most state's have specific laws and regulations that require the separation of wild and domestic animals during the butchering process, as well as site sanitation. By planning ahead for the care of your trophy whitetail deer; you will be prepared to take good care of it.

Age Your Venison

Plan to hang your venison for aging; about 10 to 14 days in a cooler (or refrigerate in quarters) at about 40 degrees. This aging process will help tenderize your venison; marbleize the meat.. Then you will be able to enjoy some great venison meals after the hunting season.

Articles: Click on article links below for more information.

Removing Entrails/Gutting a Deer,