How to Gut a Buck in the Woods

It's an age-old question among whitetail hunters: Field-dress the deer where it dropped, or drag it far and away from the hunting area?

We asked the Deer & Deer Hunting Facebook fan base to provide their thoughts on gut piles and deer sightings.

Here's what your fellow hunters had to say.

Stephen Morgan, VA: Animals die in the woods all the time.

Harrison Seybold, IN: Had a gut pile about 40 yards from my stand, had a smaller buck running a doe and they got about 10 yards from it, stopped, looked at it (both buck and doe.) Stood there for about a minute and then turned around and went back the other way. So I'd say yes, but I think it depends

Tim Woodworth, MI: I shot a buck couple years ago in the evening. Hunted the same spot next morning and a doe came out, tore the gut bag open and ate the corn out of it. So no on this poll!

Vito Amiano, IN: Guts attract coyotes, so …

Brad Snyder, PA: Deer are curious by nature. They, in my experiences, often visit gut piles to see which one from the herd was there. They dont associate the pile with death in my opinion.

Douglas Barnes, NY: Seen them walk right up to them sniff then go about there day.

Jason Strom, MN: As far as the guts themselves no. But I've shot early season deer and had bear hang out for a couple of weeks after so it's debatable.

Adam Carlson, WI: Shot a buck opening day, and the two following days had a basket 8 sniff said pile and a doe lick the blood actually and hung around.

Ray Pender, KS: To each their own. I personally do not field dress in the areas I bowhunt.

Mike Bahr, WI: No, however the coyotes/wolves they attract definitely scare deer.

Jeff Sutton, PA: If you're hunting a mature buck why would you shot a doe and leave all kinds of scent in that area. I think in general probably not going to bother most deer. I voted yes but it is definitely debatable.

Andy Gnade, MO: It will effect some deer most definitely a big smart mature deer.

Dan Hajek, WI: The only reason I voted yes is the gut pile tends to bring in coyotes which tend to chase the deer away. But on the other side I've left gut piles and have had deer walk right past it the next day.

Bruce McCormick, NY: I believe deer recognize each other from scent, and they sniff the guts and the area out of curiosity.

David Pignataro, CT: It's not the gut pile that scares the deer. It's all the human scent around the gut pile that you put there while gutting. Sweat things your hands touched etc.

Daniel Amend, WV: They are cleaned up In a day or two by the other animals.

Jeff Jennings, TN: My reason for gutting them somewhere else is because they can attack predators which could scare deer.

Matt McKnight, VA: A few years ago at about 8 a.m. one morning, my buddy called me to help him load a deer he had killed. Since I was out there I decided to stay a little while to see what would happen. I hunted near the gut pile of the previous deer and had a big buck run up on me. He stood perfectly long enough for me to get a lung shot. Was the third deer to run up on me in three hours of sitting at the base of a tree. That buck field dressed at 180 pounds.

Bryan Srebnik, MI: Deer don't have the ability to reason and say, "Hey, a deer died here!" But I think all the scavengers a gut pile draws in tends to make deer a bit edgy.

Jesse McDaniel, MI: It's not a yes or no question. There are more variables at hand. It's a time of season, pressure and many more factors, including human scent. I've seen them spooked and avoid gut piles like the plague up to a week during the early season, ultimately changing their patterns for a while. I've also seen them approach gut piles as a potential source of food, I have never seen a mature buck do that, however, early or late season. Just like all things deer, it all depends.

Jason Schulze, OH: I've had deer walk right by them and not even look at them.

HM Cooper, MD: Deer don't know what deer guts are. They don't do surgery on each other.

Bobby Jones, IL: I once shot a doe on a trail. Along came another doe followed by a buck. The second doe went right past the arrow and blood. Didn't even phase her. The buck almost ran over his head when he hit the blood. His hair straightened and he pranced around like "Oh, NO!" before hauling out of there. There's blood with guts, depends on the deer and mood. Why take the chance with the one of a lifetime?

Dutch Sedivy, WI: For me, it attracts untold numbers of predators, but another thing is a gut pile near your hunting location on public land just gives other hunters a clue as to where to hunt!

— What are your thoughts? Join the conversation by logging onto our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/deerhuntingmag.

How to Gut a Buck in the Woods

Source: https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/articles/do-gut-piles-scare-deer-stump-sitters-insights

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